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Hodgman's humor is great, but I think it translates better in spoken/visual media than written. Still better than 98% of other books in any given humor section. ( )

Hodgman is a little more hit and miss with the funny in this sequel. When he hits he hits hard, but there are too many misses for me to give this book the highest rating. Still, if you liked the first book, this one is definitely worth picking up. It's hard to find a better book of fake facts and trivia. ( )

My first reaction to More Information Than You Require that it is piss-in-your-pants hilarious. Or maybe not hilarious? I don't know, but it's exactly the type of humour that keeps me in stitches. You know, lots of deadpan language stuff, and puns. The running gags of "literally*" and the other one of "bullroar" instead of "bullshit" to keep the language clean (while meanwhile using 'shit' or 'fucking' quite regularly) absolutely delighted me.

Also, there were any number of literary allusions as well as pop culture allusions and I'm sure that I didn't catch all of them.

I really like the way Hodgman starts off with a rather mundane idea, then grows it until it's completely absurd and perhaps even suggesting mental imbalance? when taken out of context. But within the context of the list or anecdote or whatever, it's utterly logical and oh my it's just like Renfield's Madman Logic from Dracula. But anyway.

There were a few things that didn't entirely work for me - some of the anecdotes were a little too long without reprieve by lists or tables, which was one of the things I loved about Areas of My Expertise. I mean, the mole-manic stuff was funny, but it felt a little forced in places, like Hodgman was trying to make sure he hit the 366 page count. Likewise, I liked the millionaire minor television celebrity persona used as a character in the book (think of how Colbert the actor/comedian plays Colbert the right-wing pundit), but the egoism of this character (many, many self-references and tangents to talk about himself) started to become wearisome by the end of the book. That said, the outlandish aspects of the character (such as his Upper West Side Observatory, or his Zeppelin) were fantastic.

I guess what I'm saying is that this book doesn't follow the "almanac" format quite so closely as the first one, which is occasionally detrimental to the humour. I find that rather than reading it all in one go, it was better to read a section or two at a time, so as not to be overloaded by the whole thing. I suppose it's rather like savouring a particularly sumptuous chocolate cake by cutting a small piece for dessert for a week rather than eating the whole thing for supper.

Amongst the things I particularly enjoyed were the daily "this day in history" notes at the top of each page. I was caught up in the weather feud between Richmond and Minneapolis and wondered what strange precipitation would show up next. The notes about the Yale Feline Research had me in stitches. And the section about Coulton, the feral man, was absolutely fantastic (it was referenced in one of the Yale Feline Research notes, too, which literally* slayed me). Oh, and that reminds me of another fantastic point of the book: it's done up as a second volume of a three volume work, with Areas of My Expertise as the first. So the page numbers continue from the first book and there are references and notes pointing to the first book. For example, in the section about Coulton's cat-killing ways, a note instructs the reader to the read about that story in the first book.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book (a little bit at a time) and I am so very glad that I purchased it and it's sitting next to the first one on my bookshelf (hopefully they do not spawn and create a blackhole! I actually do not keep my hardback and paperback copies of Areas of My Expertise together, due to the recommendation not to). If you're not a fan of Hodgman, or you didn't particularly care for Areas of My Expertise (or else you found it pretentious or too long or whatever), then you're likely not to enjoy More Information Than You Require, since it really is very much "MORE." But if you love Hodgman and can't get enough of him? This is definitely worth your time.

*not literally ( )

Generally quite funny. The guide to our American presidents and the daily almanac entries were perhaps the funniest, but Hodgman really breaks out as a terrific essayist in his consideration of alien abductions, his only explanation for how his wife could have ever ended up with him. Eloquent, warped, and funny, this chapter really struck a chord with me. Wonderful!

Perhaps my only real complaint is that in most parts of the book, the writing seems to follow the same formula as works by other Daily Show alumni (Colbert's book, America: the Book, etc.): Start with a seemingly serious paragraph and add a twist at the end with some absurd punchline, keeping a deadpan tone throughout. Of course, it's effective in isolation, but feels a bit tedious if you've read previous books from the same clique.

That's really a minor quibble, though. Bravo to Hodgman for this. If I gave extra stars for copious (and humorous) footnotes, this would easily warrant a 5. ( )