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"Complete & Utter Failure is an original comic meditation on a universal human experience: crushing, abject, humiliating defeat. Here is a book that will allow you to laugh at yourself, and, more important, laugh at other people." "Neil Steinberg happily explores the many fascinating facets of failure, and writes about them in unique if sometimes twisted ways. Here you will encounter the horrifying Dickensian ritual of the National Spelling Bee, how products like toaster eggs get on the market, the quest for the perfect Shiny New Bike, doomed brainiacs, slightly dim British mountaineers, the poor sap who really invented the telephone, the shocking truth about Isaac Newton, and many other interesting failures, famous and obscure. Along the way, Steinberg ruminates about his own myriad miscues and disappointments, beginning with his inability to perform a magic trick at age four (he blames Captain Kangaroo)." "Complete & Utter Failure is a wonderfully literate, witty book that issues a ringing message for our time: If at first you don't succeed... have a scotch and forget about it."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved