The Areas of My Expertise (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Traditional almanacs regularly included information about what to expect in the coming year with regard to crop yields, tidal patterns, moonrises, and so on..." (more)
Key Phrases: professional literary agent, pajama man, John Hodgman, George Washington, Mall of America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With his Daily Show appearances and his "I'm a PC" Apple ads, John Hodgman has only become more famous since the hardcover edition of his all-you-need compendium of facts, The Areas of My Expertise was released. He has also become smarter. To reflect this, the paperback edition of The Areas of My Expertise has been expanded to include 100 new hobo names and new, additional complete world knowledge. John Hodgman and his fur-hatted associate, Jonathan, have prepared an exclusive video for Amazon customers explaining the above.

Click here or on the image above to watch John Hodgman describe the only book you'll ever need.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In this super-literate, ultimately exhausting exercise in literary parody, New York Times magazine contributor Hodgman has produced "a compendium of COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE." From sections titled "What Will Happen in the Future" to "What You Did Not Know About Hobos," he piles up smart-alecky nonsense in layer upon layer of surreal, wholly fictional factoids. Whether highlighting American presidents who had hooks for hands, or sketching out the mythical secrets of Yale University, Hodgman creates a strange and intermittently hilarious parallel universe where lists of history's worst haircuts (in addition to the Mullet, there are the Scrape, the Scab and the Shag-Swoop) are printed alongside descriptions of "famous novels that were not originally published as books." Sprinkled throughout with breathless "factual" interjections—"Were you aware of it? The body of Thomas Edison was never buried. Instead it was displayed for many decades in a traveling carnival.... DOES IT EVEN SEEM POSSIBLE?"—this "almanac" demonstrates Hodgman's formidable imagination, if not his ability to amuse consistently. The individual passages are funny but get lost in an already overstuffed work. For the hyper-well-read fans of publications like McSweeney's, this is a treasure trove of twisted absurdist miscellany. For others, however, it may just be too much of a good thing.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (October 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525949089
• ISBN-13: 978-0525949084
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (144 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #167,808 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

530 of 543 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars regarding mailing lists, January 19, 2006

By	John Hodgman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am the author of the book in question, and I am concerned by the report here regarding multiple, unwanted mailings on my behalf.

I have a small mailing list to whom I sent a weekly update about my book during the fall. Those updates have now ceased, though they may resume in the future. Membership on this list is voluntarily and frequently discouraged by me in order to avoid fraying readers' nerves as little as possible.

If you feel you have received spam in my name, please feel free to contact me via my website. So as not to seem wholly crass, I will not list the URL here, though you can figure it out, I trust. Once you are there, simply click on the words "John Hodgman" and then "desperate."

I would be glad to investigate this matter and resolve it if I can. I also have some excellent investment opportunities and low rate mortgages on prescription drugs that I am sure you will want to hear about.

Sorry to briefly commandeer these reviews for this matter. It is cheesy, I realize, to give my own book five stars; but I am not going to give it zero stars on principle, because despite what you may have heard, I do not loathe myself quite that much yet.

I apologize for the interruption. End transmission.

That is all.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth it for the Cover Alone, November 7, 2005

By	Tim (Des Moines, IA) - See all my reviews

Hodgman's contributions to McSweeney's led me to this book, and THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE is almost entirely without disappointment. This isn't a book to read straight through, in a week; it's a book to sample from all year long. This is the sort of collection of stories and musings and articles that's best kept nearby to be accessed when the mood strikes.

The style here is vaulted, relaxed, and perfectly ridiculous all at the same time. Some authors have imagination, some have language, and Hodgman has both, in excess.

120 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funniest Book I have ever read, November 2, 2005

By	M. G Navadomskis (west chicago, il USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

That last couple days, during some quiet moments, I have picked up this book and read a few pages. Within moments my 5 year old is asking me "Why are laughing?" I don't usually laugh out loud during books or movies. I'm more of a quietly reflecting in the back of my brain "that was amusing" kind of guy. But this book is amazingly funny.