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The World's Worst: A Guide to the Most Disgusting, Hideous, Inept, and Dangerous People, Places, and Things on Earth (Paperback)

by Mark Frauenfelder (Author, Illustrator) "Bookstore shelves are lined with volumes dedicated to the finest things in the world: the most exquisite dining experiences, the greatest athletes, the most brilliant..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Eiffel Tower, Oral Roberts (more...)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Bookstore shelves are lined with tomes dedicated to the finest things that life has to offer. This is all well and good, but the real entertainment is to be found not in the cream of the crop, but at the bottom of the barrel. The World's Worst is a celebration/indictment of nearly 50 infamous and little-known exemplars of the awful. In thoroughly researched, scathingly funny essays, author Mark Frauenfelder avoids the obvious and digs deep to tell the fascinating tales of the worst people, places, and things on Earth for the reader's amusement and edification. Half of the entries are also mischieviously illustrated by the author. Addictively readable, and sure to appeal to fans of the popular Worst-Case Scenario and Darwin Awards series, The World's Worst is hilariously unafraid to wallow in the mire. Selected Horrible Highlights: Most Unappealing Fetish Most Disgusting Coffee Drink Most Horrific Self-Help Technique Least Adorable Pet Saddest Fate for an Island Nation Worst Molasses Related Disaster

About the Author
Mark Frauenfelder is the author and illustrator of Mad Professor (0-8118-3554-5) and has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, LA Weekly, Wired, and Playboy. Co-founder of the popular bOING bOING weblog, he lives in Southern California.

Product Details

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 5, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811846067
ISBN-13: 978-0811846066
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #175,991 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Bookstore shelves are lined with volumes dedicated to the finest things in the world: the most exquisite dining experiences, the greatest athletes, the most brilliant military strategists, the most powerful automobiles. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Eiffel Tower, Oral Roberts, Pizza Hut, Miracle Mike, Sierra Leone, East Germany, Environmental Protection Agency, North America, South American, Sri Lanka

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 2 books:

Living on Light - The Source of Nourishment for the New Millennium by Jasmuheen on page 44
Mad Professor by Mark Frauenfelder in Back Matter

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	74% buy the item featured on this page: The World's Worst: A Guide to the Most Disgusting, Hideous, Inept, and Dangerous People, Places, and Things on Earth 4.0 out of 5 stars (8)
	11% buy Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore 4.1 out of 5 stars (32)
	10% buy Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places: 5th Edition (Robert Young Pelton the World's Most Dangerous Places) 4.3 out of 5 stars (109) $15.61
	6% buy That's Disgusting : An Adult Guide to What's Gross, Tasteless, Rude, Crude, and Lewd 4.7 out of 5 stars (12) $11.65

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews

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4 star:		(2)
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4.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Short Book on a Long Subject, July 10, 2005

By	William Holmes "semloh2287" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

"The World's Worst" is really entertaining as far as it goes, but a cursory review of this morning's newspaper suggests that it should have been a much longer book. Still, each of the book's fifty short chapters is quite witty and enoyable to read. Among the entries: kopi luwak, the world's most disgusting beverage, which involves processing coffee beans through the digestive tract of a civet cat (can't wait to order that at Starbucks); the most disgusting fruit (the durian, "like eating ice cream in a sewer"); the most gruesome bug bite (revenge of the brown recluse spider); the worst-smelling flower ("corpse flower" says it all); the world's worst molasses-related disaster (it killed 21 people in Boston in January 1919, so apparently "molasses in January" isn't so slow after all); the most disgusting behavior on an airplane (I think I'd rather take my chances with the civet cat); and the lamest former dictator (now living on his Mom's couch).

"The World's Worst" is light, fluffy, entertaining and a quick read. And it's very sequel-friendly--the next volume(s) will no doubt be just as amusing.

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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A lot of filler, July 5, 2005

By	J. LeBrecht (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Indeed, this book made me laugh and grossed me out. All good, in my opinion.

My beef is that although the book is 176 pages long, it really has about half of that in content. Each "chapter/entry" starts off with a whole page dedicated to a sentance stating what the subject is, "Most Disgusting Drink", for example. Then the entry usually starts off in the middle of the next page. The lay out of this book makes it seem like it's a lot longer than it really is. Take a look at the example. I would have hoped for a longer tome.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Can Always Get Worse, January 14, 2007

By	J. Brian Watkins (San Dimas, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The World's Worst: A Guide To The Most Disgusting Hideous; Inept, And Dangerous People, Places, And Things On Earth (Paperback)

Mr. Frauenfelder has scoured the globe for interesting bits of trivia related solely by their ability to horrify. Whether natural perils or stomach turning drunken antics, the book holds one's attention. Perhaps in reading of such events and things we can take solace in our normal and safe lives. Seriously, who first decided to make a drink out of berries scavenged from the dung of a wild cat? Who first opened a fruit that smells like rotting flesh and decided to taste it?

My only complaint was that the format was extremely limited. Perhaps in keeping with the jocular tone of the work the author didn't want to get into too much detail, but detail is precisely what makes many of these things fascinating.

If you have a friend or acquaintance who is discouraged, this would be an excellent gift. Perhaps we have an innate need to constantly reestablish that things can always be worse.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars you can tell some books by their cover
The title and the cover graphic says it all. For the right niche in the right situation, this book would be, at least briefly, a focus of attention and a source of gross-outs,... Read more

Published 21 months ago by basically brief

3.0 out of 5 stars Amusing but thin
This book consists of a couple dozen "chapters" of 2-3 pages each. Each chapter focuses on an arbitrarily-chosen "world's worst/disgusting. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Arthur Digbee

5.0 out of 5 stars Super-Duper!
All I can say is that this book was fan-to-the-tastic! I just could not put it down. It kept me so amused that I wanted to go out and give Mark Frauenfelder a big hug. Read more

Published on September 13, 2005 by Calvin McDoogle

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
From the unusual to the bizarre this book holds your interest throughout.

You wonder where and how the author was able to research the information provided.

Published on July 13, 2005 by David L. LaRue

5.0 out of 5 stars What a fascinating read!!!
Once again, this awesome author has put together another book that I could not put down! Mark is such a talented writer who found such great sories for all of us to enjoy. Read more

Published on June 30, 2005 by M. Conway

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