Rating: 
Summary: Possibly funny, but childish
Review: The concept for the Darwin Awards is flawless. Think about it: the colected stories of people whose utter lack of common sense brought about their own demise. One cannot imagine these "sublimely idiotic" people as having much of a positive contribution to society. This book is proof that God has a sense of humor.
I wish Wendy Northcutt had. Her writing is childish and silly, making light of events that could be funny in the right context. She writes as though she is explaining the whole thing to small children, and trying to impress them with big words. I will make no corny puns about the author having not evolved (that sounds like something Northcutt would write), but I quiver at the thought of meeting the loyal fans of her website and book.
Pick the book up at your bookstore. Flip through, read some of the stories (I recommend "JATO," "One, Two, Three, Heave," and "Living on Zionist Time."). However, if you find yourself laughing at every single one, please stay away from my house.
Rating: 
Summary: The Darwin Awards
Review: The Darwin Awards Plume Books, 2000, 308 pp., $6.99
Wendy Northcutt ISBN: 0-452-28344-2
"Only two things in this world are infinite-the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein. Einstein said it all; humans can be stupid. Do you know about the darwin awards? These awards are handed out to idiots who do really stupid things. This book has a ton of short stories about idiots who either something really dumb or die trying. It's full of awards, honorable mentions, personal accounts, and urban legends. If you want to read something funny then read The Darwin Awards.
I think that anyone that would want a good laugh between the ages of nine and up would like this book. This book is only good for laughs, though there are some parts where there is an explanation or two on how something happened in the passage. On a scale of one to ten I rate it an eight. I rated it an eight, because it's one of the funniest books I've read, but that's all it is.-Ryan Scott
Rating:
Summary: dark humor but gives you stories to talk about at parties
Review: At first I thought this book was going to be very funny. Or at least give me stories to share with my friends. The book even warns in the beginning not to read it like a regular book but rather to read a story here and there. So at first it was interesting to see how people do stupid things but after a while it got dark and depressing because everyone in the book must die of their stupidity to be eligiable for the book. The book was good in the way that it verified all stories so you know they are true. But this book is not for the faint at heart. This book would be great for that family member that we all have who has that dark cynical quirky sense of humor. Well I hope we all have one and I am not the only one who has one lol. It did give me some stories to tell at parties and social occasions.
Rating:
Summary: Stupid deaths or stupid reading???
Review: Let me start by saying that I love black humor. If not, I would not had purchase this book. So it is not a matter of being "tenderheart" or "without sense of humor". The thing is that this book is simply not funny. I used to read the Darwin Awards e-mails until I noticed the abundance of urban legends and that once an award "honored" an eight years child that died in an accident. Browsing the book in a bookstore, I found that these two flaws were attended: 1) Urban legends were identified as such 2) Children are no longer elegible, as "stupidity" and "ignorance" are two complete different attributes. Well, I purchased the book, and now I am sorry. Here are some of the weak points: 1) Many of the stories does not qualify as "Darwin Awards", but just stories of plain stupidity (like a burglar that selected a team of olimpics runner as victim) 2) In some stories innocent people die, and still that is supposed to be funny. It will be like laughing of somebody who died while drunk-driving, even if he killed innocent people. 3) Too many stories are "urban legends", dubious "personnel accounts" and "honorable mentions" (just tales of stupidity and close calls with death). By example, of the first 60 stories, 26 fall into these categories. 4) The stories are funny when there is some poetic justice, as in the case of macho behaviors (like the guy who opposed to treat a cobra bite because he can take it "like a man") or people who think that they are smarter than the rest (the guy who electrocuted the fishes in the river, and then proceeded to collect the fishes without removing the electrical cables). These stories are the exception. Most of them are simply momentary bad judgement. However, I enjoyed the author's description of the evolution theory, the educative notes added to some of the stories, and information regarding the controversies arised by some of the stories. If you have read the other reviews, you will notice readers are strongly divided regarding this book. This is obviously a matter of tastes. I suggest you visit their official site before you make a decision.
Rating:
Summary: Mean-spirited
Review: This book pours salt on the wounds of bereaved families.-That's all I want to say. But Amazon says I have say what I want to say in several sentences rather than one sentence for this review to be posted. So here's some chatter. I don't think this book is a great book. I don't think there is kindness or humility in this book.-But you can decide on that yourself. What I want to say is that this book pours salt on the wounds of bereaved families.
Rating:
Summary: The Darwin Awards
Review: The Darwin Awards Plume Books, 2000, 308 pp., $6.99
Wendy Northcutt ISBN: 0-452-28344-2
"Only two things in this world are infinite-the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein. Einstein said it all; humans can be stupid. Do you know about the darwin awards? These awards are handed out to idiots who do really stupid things. This book has a ton of short stories about idiots who either something really dumb or die trying. It's full of awards, honorable mentions, personal accounts, and urban legends. If you want to read something funny then read The Darwin Awards.
I think that anyone that would want a good laugh between the ages of nine and up would like this book. This book is only good for laughs, though there are some parts where there is an explanation or two on how something happened in the passage. On a scale of one to ten I rate it an eight. I rated it an eight, because it's one of the funniest books I've read, but that's all it is. -Ryan Scott
Rating: 
Summary: Some funny moments but I had hoped for better
Review: This book takes a look at human stupidity which either results in the stupid one's demise or at least sterilises them so that they can not reproduce. A lot of the tales in here are not confirmed and are written under urban legends. I have actually heard most of the urban legends before, some told a lot more funnier than in here. They are pretty funny though for example the scuba diver who was scooped up by a fire fighting plane and dumped on the middle of a fire. This book is divided up into eleven sections which group together deaths under specific headings. Unfortunately the writer seems to like to waffle on with boring introductions to each chapter. Obviously they have good research and collating skills but not such a good writing ability when it comes to being creative off thier own bat. You also have to get to page 32 before even getting to the first death tale which is a bit ridiculous. This is a good read but a bit of a let down. If you buy it expecting a few laughs you'll be satisfied but if you expect to be laughing your head off from cover to cover then maybe purchase something else. I've been told the sequels are a lot better, and this book was good enough to tempt me to read them and find out.
Rating:
Summary: Funny at times
Review: Charles Darwin's theory of the "survival of the fittest" implies, by extension, that idiots will die, thus the premise of this humorous volume. Wendy Northcutt has compiled a series of anecdotes of fatal stupidity, from the drunken pilot who took off with a gust lock in place to the prison guard falling through a skylight as he "supervised" conjugal visits. Many of these stories involve alcohol, which is not so much stupidity as it impairment. The story of a man awakened in the middle of the night by a phone and mistaking his bedside gun for a receiver speaks less of a lack of intelligence than it does nighttime confusion. Other anecdotes are truly hilarious in their lack of common sense. A person must die to be awarded a Darwin Award, so these stories aren't for the fainthearted. They have all been carefully documented to avoid inclusions of urban legends. Unfortunately, as a whole, the book is simply not as funny as the individual stories I used to receive in my inbox. Too many borderline anecdotes are included. Although this book makes a good gift for those who revel in the stupidity of others, don't expect laughs on every page.
Rating:
Summary: This is either hilarious or sickening.
Review: For those that enjoy macabre humor and find strange-but-true stories interesting, this book is indispensible. Otherwise, it depends upon whether you find the death of the fish farmer who harvests his fish by running electric current through his man-made pond, then wades into said pond before shutting off the current, or the energy plant employee who uses an coal furnace's conveyor as an exercise treadmill, as humouous or disgusting. One criticism: A sentence on the inside of the dust jacket mentions a story of a terrorist who opens, and detonates, his own mail bomb, after it was returned to him for insufficient postage. Although this story has been circulating the internet for some time (enter "Khay Rahmajet," the guy's name, on a search engine), it appears nowhere else in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Laugh Out Loud Funny
Review: While this book is not a book that you read from cover to cover in a day, it is worth the time. To read it correctly, you should pick it up everyday and read a couple of pages. The pure stupidity of some of the people in these stories is sure to make you feel better about your life. Best of all, this book encourages you to laugh at other people. No story in this book is as funny as the story titled "Scrotum Self Repair". Just use you imagination to figure out what that story is about. While it may disgusting, it is funny. Other favorites of mine include "Lightning Date" and "The Dog and The Jeep". Since I purchased this book, I have shown it to others who have also loved its off-key humor. I suspect that since you are looking at this review, you will love these stories too. As a bonus, you can visit the Darwin Awards web site to get new stupid human stories daily. However, it is not always for the faint of heart.
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