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The Darwin Awards : Evolution In Action

The Darwin Awards : Evolution In Action

List Price: $23.95
Your Price: $23.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very funny
Review: A great book for your coffee table! The stories are very very funny although some are pretty sick. A good book to read in between studying for students ^_^

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Leaves you wanting more!
Review: The stories in this book are great, but there are too few and they leave you wanting more once the book ends!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sick, sick, sick... loved it!
Review: Although I can't get my brain around the logic required to support an anti-procreation gene, this book makes me wonder. I'm a lot more careful around vending machines, electrical current, wild animals, weather balloons, and automobiles than I used to be, that's for sure! And now I know better than to break into anyone's house by wrapping a light jacket around my arm and throwing a manly haymaker into a glass door. Be warned-- this book is so funny you can read too much of it at once, and you'll temporarily numb yourself to the humor. Also, resist taking it to the coffee shop if you're self-conscious about people staring when you laugh so hard. (Anyone brave enough to ask you what's so funny will probably smile politely, then back away from you very slowly, when you tell them.)

If you don't ever find death or stupidity funny, then this book is not for you. Otherwise, the combination will keep you entertained for quite a while.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The 'dumb' gene is universal
Review: A good book for those low self-esteem days where reassurance there will always be somebody with less common sense is the best prescription...or at least there used to be someone. Best appreciated if read over an extended span. As indicated by the repetitive irrational choices of the honorees, the urgency to finish quickly is not necessarily the optimum course of action.

Besides, after scanning a large group of these accounts at one time, you might begin to contemplate your personal values, which pretty much takes you back to where you started.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ABSOLUTE GARBAGE
Review: If you think it's funny to laugh about people dying, buy this book. But if you think it's disgusting that the author is making money by mocking hundreds of people's deaths, don't buy it. I've never been more disgusted with a book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gruesome, yet exceptionally funny
Review: We really shouldn't laugh at human tragedy, but it's darn hard not to when faced with true stories of people who meet their demise, for example, as the couple who crashed their car at 80 miles an hour while having sex at the same time. (question; were they on cruise-control?)

Now, the premise of the Darwin Awards is that the species is enhanced when carelessly stupid people don't reproduce (the couple above was in the act of reproduction, but obviously stopped short.) Of course, the sad thing is that many of the award-winners have already produced kids, and their idiocy has left orphans. Hopefully, their offspring might be wiser adults, learning of their parent's folly. One can only hope...

My favorite is actually not a full award-winner; it's the guy who rose 16,000 feet in a lawn chair bedecked with helium balloons. Reported by passing aircraft, he was to descend by shooting out the balloons with a pellet gun. He missed getting a full award because he survived, presumably to reproduce. This is funny stuff, great for passing around the office to lighten the mood during layoffs.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Dangerous Pseudo-Science
Review: Many reviewers have remarked how the contents of this book are unfunny, poorly written and unverified. I'd also like to add that this book is dangerous. Can you imagine finding it funny that a friend or relative was killed? But this willingness to laugh at the misfortune of others, however insensitive that is, is not the main reason this book is dangerous. The danger lies in the pseudo-science behind the "removing themselves from our gene pool" nonsense. At one point, the author talks about a Sleepy Smoker Gene, referring to people who die after falling asleep next to their lit cigaratte. Does she honestly believe that such deaths improve our gene pool? This is the problem with all these stories. Darwinism has nothing to do with any of this! (If you have any doubt, read The Origin of Species, which talks about how it takes thousands of years, at least, for species of plants and animals to vary. Darwin never uses short-term human behavior to back up his theory.) However, a certain regime that rose to power in 1930s Germany did believe in the pack of idiocies known as 'Social Darwinism.' They also were greatly entertained by human death. I am certainly not putting the author in this camp, as she seems to be writing with a sense of black humor, not cruelty. But unfortunately, she is using pseudo-science to advance a very dangerous idea. Please pause to think about this for at least 24 hours if you intend to buy this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wendy Northcutt is Not Politically Correct, But...
Review: I occasionally visit the politically incorrect website... This is one of my guilty pleasures that perhaps opens me up to blackmail. Wendy Northcutt does not claim to possess divine powers. She can only do so much to discourage others from lapsing into self destructive behavior. Northcutt has limited herself to putting together some of the best examples of those individuals who have amply earned a prestigious Darwin award. My favorite is "Ronald" who rubbed crazy glue on his hands and then placed them on the buttocks of a rhinoceros. Needless to add, the zoo animal wasn't too thrilled to have this Bell Curve loser attached to its behind. What's more, the rhino had just been given a laxative. Do I really need to be more explicit? Regrettably, though, many of Ms. Northcutt's well researched examples involve the death of the Darwin Award winner. The humiliated and foul smelling Ronald at least lived to see another day.

Should we feel uneasy concerning the dark humor exhibited in --The Darwin Awards?-- Isn't there something yucky and cruel in laughing at the plight of these unfortunates? Alas, all humor intrinsically is at someone's expense. Laughter on this planet would immediately cease if we were unable to joke about ourselves. Although a line has to be drawn somewhere, Wendy Northcutt is not violating the minimal norms underpinning our civilized world. This collection of hilarious disasters can even save lives. It might encourage all of us to think twice before doing something comparably stupid. Am I getting too serious? OK, just ignore my existential babbling, and obtain this splendid book because it's downright funny. Also purchase a copy for your friends. If they are anything like mine, they definitely need to read --The Darwin Awards--cover to cover.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Funny!
Review: Its a very hilarious book! I enjoy science and biology very much and know quite a bit of Evolution and Natural Selcetion, but who cares about the scientific irregularities in the book it was only made for our enjoyment and I strongly recommend buying this book if you want a good laugh.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Just plain unfunny.
Review: Humor is a totally subjective thing, of course. For instance, I love the Onion, the Simpsons, Buster Keaton, and "A Confederacy of Dunces." If you're not familiar, I'll just let you know that that's quite a range. The Darwin Awards was not funny to me at all. There were some bizarre stories, but I couldn't help feeling that the book was supposed to be a humorous one, and it failed miserably. The stories are like clinically-told jokes, which just doesn't work. Too bad.


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