This was terribly disappointing. The annoyances were numerous including, but not limited to:

- The format of the book - It's printed in newspaper type with two columns per page as if it were still a zine. It makes reading it difficult.

- The introduction - This is printed as in a regular book and starts out okay, but quickly devolves into self-congratulatory drivel. Yes, yes, you are the coolest, gothest ever. We all bow to your amazingness.

- The writing - Almost universally mediocre. These were the 40 best items?

- The illustrations - If you had a goth friend in high school who doodled cartoons in their notebook, you'll recognize these.

Out of 298 pages and 40 or so essays only one of them was worth reading - Souvenir of Hell by Brian Thomas - about visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. Thank you, Mr. Thomas, for writing about this experience in an intelligent and honest way.

This book got two stars because of Mr. Thomas' essay - a long-winded way of saying you might as well skip this. ( )

I have to confess that I enjoyed this book for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it made me feel profoundly, deeply normal. I can't tell you if that's because some of the stories made my peculiarities seem really benign, or if it was recognizing that other people are just as strange in the same ways as I am. No matter, it's a comforting volume, or was for me.

What surprised me, though, was how incredibly human and even humane these stories are. This isn't shock journalism, these are stories about people who find themselves doing things most people can't even imagine doing. They do them, not for the hell of it, not because it seems cool or perverse or wicked, but because they need the money, or because they find that there is something compelling them, some need to understand a thing which remains so incomprehensible to most people that they avoid thinking about it at all. The visit to the Holocaust Museum at Auschwitz is a fine example of the latter, and it's a well-written and thoughtful examination of one man's confrontation with a past that remains so painful, so horrific that some people refuse to believe it could have happened.

Honestly, if you're looking for some kind of perverse sexual thrill here, don't bother. These pieces will provoke you to use a wholly different organ. If you want to give some serious thought to the human condition, this is a wonderful resource. ( )