The Onion

Clever book. It takes time to read cover to cover because of small font and some of the jokes are a little too crude to read a lot of in one setting, but it's worth eventually reading everything. There's gems everywhere, and for some reason I'm impressed that a satire book has impeccable editing even with odd ball grammar situations. However, there were two times the maps were off, like Libya's inset map was of Sudan, the previous country as the book worked in its geographic direction. As a show more Canadian I loved the Canadian page, but also Madagascar and Greenland stand out now that I've finished. It's fascinating how The Onion incorporated raw fact, slight ironic twist on fact, and outrageous stereotypes. It's something of a mind game to look past inner laughter and decipher which statements are which. Being a geography nerd likely enhances the experience because it's easier to appreciate where certain comments origin and adds to the game, "Fact, Fiction, or Both?" Also, the cover is priceless. All in all, I'll leave this book in the living room to mess with people who visit me. show less

If you've read "The Onion", you know what you are getting with "Our Dumb Century"; lots of laughs, as well as some satire that cuts so close to the bone it stops being funny.

Set out as headline stories from throughout the Twentieth Century, with satirical jabs at the eras they were covering, so we get a story from the early 1900s of rich people enjoying the spectacle of poor people dying, then the Titanic makes an appearance, as do wars and the pill. Highly recommended.

I find it amazing that the folks at The Onion can remain so consistently hilarious. Here the Onion guys turn their razor-sharp wit to the world, and they do an amazing job. They excoriate EVERYBODY, nobody gets a free pass. Putin, Nazis, Texans, the French, Djiboutians, everyone. On the map of Australia, for instance, there is a symbol denoting "The Paul Hogan Institute of Knife Identification." Hilarious. In AD 1245, the atlas informs us, in China, "Everybody was kung fu fighting." I also show more didn't know that, in an anti-communist effort in the early fifties, Truman outlawed sharing.

Good stuff. All stellar, laughs on every page. show less

I love the Onion. On a serious note, the edition right after 9/11 should be required reading for anyone who means to kill in the name of G-d.