I had read the print version a few years ago and found it a joke too clever by half, spread too thin over too many pages. What a difference the audiobook makes. Still, it's probably best consumed in small doses, such as a brief morning/afternoon commute. I'd probably reestablish a 2-star rating had I been forced to listen to the whole thing in one sitting. ( )

I had read the print version a few years ago and found it a joke too clever by half, spread too thin over too many pages. What a difference the audiobook makes. Still, it's probably best consumed in small doses, such as a brief morning/afternoon commute. I'd probably reestablish a 2-star rating had I been forced to listen to the whole thing in one sitting. ( )

I had read the print version a few years ago and found it a joke too clever by half, spread too thin over too many pages. What a difference the audiobook makes. Still, it's probably best consumed in small doses, such as a brief morning/afternoon commute. I'd probably reestablish a 2-star rating had I been forced to listen to the whole thing in one sitting. ( )

I learned several important things from [book:The Areas of My Expertise]:* it is possible to sell a book of total nonsense* one can put a funny spin on The Great Depression* I should be more suspicious of the large black squirrel population in my home town.I was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more about pirates in this thing encyclopedia of total world knowledge. Apart from that, I would say that this is not a book to be missed. ( )

I learned several important things from [book:The Areas of My Expertise]:* it is possible to sell a book of total nonsense* one can put a funny spin on The Great Depression* I should be more suspicious of the large black squirrel population in my home town.I was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more about pirates in this thing encyclopedia of total world knowledge. Apart from that, I would say that this is not a book to be missed. ( )

I learned several important things from [book:The Areas of My Expertise]:* it is possible to sell a book of total nonsense* one can put a funny spin on The Great Depression* I should be more suspicious of the large black squirrel population in my home town.I was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more about pirates in this thing encyclopedia of total world knowledge. Apart from that, I would say that this is not a book to be missed. ( )

This book is worth reading for the list of 700 hobo names alone. ( )

Hodgman's sense of humour is about as dry as the centre of the Atacama Desert—and, I would imagine, one of the few to give rise to a list of 700 pseudonyms employed by hobos. (who, as we all know, long waged a war against the USA)—which means this book gels nicely with what I tend to find funny. Most of The Areas of My Expertise is brief and episodic, which I think makes it more a book to dip into rather than read straight through; there are parts of it which are more amusing than others. It's only towards the end of it, as Hodgman allows himself to engage in something closer to a narrative, that the humour goes beyond the simply wry to the truly sharp—I'd love to see what he could do if he gave himself the scope of a novel(la). ( )

Strange. Clever. The author's mind clearly wanders off in some interesting abd bizarre directions, from werewolves, to hoboes, to the secrets of Yale University. I really enjoyed this; but in small doses. ( )

Well worth getting the audiobook version so you can hear it read by Hodgman. ( )

The thing that makes "fact"-filled books like this work so well is that the reader recognizes something in Hodgman: even if he is talking out his ass a lot of the time, that is one extremely intelligent tuckus. The only way a tome like this works is if the creator has both the ability to let brain synapses stray into bizarre directions AND he is already brilliant.

Of course, one also needs the sticktuitiveness to follow through on a concept to its end, whether that end ends up proving his genius or becoming painfully laborious. No better example can I point to than the chapter on hoboes, the centerpiece being a list of 700 hobo names. (I hear the audiobook version of the hobo list is especially wonderful, and so to try to replicate it, I read much of that list out loud. Don't worry, my wife was fast asleep.)

Truth be told, this book works best as the damned funniest bathroom reader I've ever come across. Though I read most of it in bed (and can speak, by the way, to its utter lack of aphrodisiac qualities), I believe I just might leave a copy of this in the guest bathroom. Of course, I'll have to drill a hole through it for the titanium chain that will attach it to the water pipes. ( )

Between the hobo names and the analysis of literature, this is one funny and eternally surprising book that you can go back to when you need a laugh. ( )

I don't suppose I need to add a review, but I want to urge this smart wordplay along. An author could have fun writing a book like this, and I hope that Hodgman did. It was fun to read; I read it in sequence on two evenings. The dead pan inventiveness kept it rolling for me and will get me to buy the sequels as they come out in later printings of trade paperback editions.

This book should be on the bookshelf of everybody who reads fictional non-fiction. ( )

I like Hodgeman on The Daily Show, but this book came off as shallow, monotonous, and quite un-funny. Compared with Louis Black's recent book Me of Little Faith, a book with substance and funny at the same time, Hodgeman comes up way short. ( )

I wanted to like this book, but it was just *too* absurd. ( )

You've got to love an author who admits to the reader he's just making things up. John Hodgman's "Areas of my Expertise" reads like an almanac (think Farmers' Almanac or Poor Richard's) that happens to be entirely fictional, yet is written with such authority you almost want to believe it's true. A great book to skip around in, it can and should be read out of order. My favorite part was the history of hobos, a little gem of a chapter and a masterpiece of dry humor. ( )

I am in love with The Daily Show, so when I saw that one of their "reporters" wrote a book, I had to read it. I like Hodgman's presentation on the show, so I decided to listen to the audio version of the book. This was a mistake. Hodgman works well as the straight man, but he needs someone to play against, to mirror his over-the-top button-down appearance. This is lacking in his book. The idea is very clever-present all the information one could ever need, regardless of whether or not it's true. It's Wikipedia with a better editor, I thought. However, it wasn't funny at all. The oral presentation of the tables, guest readers, and other gimmicks throughout were simply annoying. I'm not sure if the print version is any better and I am loathe to check it out to find out. ( )

This is an almanac of COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE. It will replace all other books on your shelves (by secretly overwriting their text with its own.)

It is an essential reference for anyone who is curious about different types of squirrels, American utopian communities, or the mysterious hidden state of Hohoq; is is particularly necessary for anyone creating a bibliography of reference works related to the great nation of Uqbar. The detailed Werewolf Transformation Timetables are also greatly recommended for all werewolf-hunters, as the most accuate of their kind currently in publication.

No reader of this book should miss e-hobo.com , at which a group of noted hobo artists have taken it upon themselves to create historically accurate portraits recording for posterity all 700 named hoboes in this book.

Also, aid me in combating the dire calumny being perpetuated by the catalogers of our great nation's libraries (in league with the Secret World Government of Yale University), who insist on classifying it under 800 (dewey) or PR(library of congress) as fiction, instead of 001 (knowledge) and AY (almanacs) where it self-evidently belongs. ( )

I don't usually pick up books of humour, because I often don't find them funny. I tend more toward clever in print than I do in other media. But Daily Show expert Hodgman has such a brilliantly skewed way of seeing things, that I couldn't resist. It didn't all work for me, but the majority of it did. Most of all, it reminded me of my long-standing awe and envy for comedians. ( )

I owned the paper copy of this book and could not get into reading it, but then iTunes was offering a free download of the complete audioversion at the same time we were planning a long car trip, so we got it and loved every minute of it. There is nothing more hilarious than being given an audio description of a chart, but perhaps that's just me. Four stars for the audio version! ( )

http://www.wetasphalt.com/?q=node/105... ( )

Hoboes. ( )

I am a fan from Hodgman's Daily Show appearances. I enjoyed this very silly book on a recent vacation. He is very talented at the mock serious tone important to pull off the exhibited areas of expertise. Not really a book to read straight through like a novel.

A humorous fake almanac. I was kind of disappointed by this, actually. It's certainly bizarre and quirky, and there were definitely moments that made me smile, but all and all it was just...much less funny than I thought it was going to be. Hodgman's humor is *very* dry; maybe I just picked this up when I wasn't quite in the right state of mind for dry. Will possibly try again later—the hoboes will still be there, of course, planning their revolution.