Matt Inman

I already loved The Oatmeal; I already loved this book when, about 3/4 of the way through, I got to "The 7 Types of Crappy Pedestrians." And that's when I learned that Matthew Inman and I are soul mates. Okay, that's when I learned that I'm not the only one who flips out when people walk like idiots. I don't mean like they just graduated from the Academy of Silly Walks; I mean they step out into the middle of a busy street during rush hour without checking, usually carrying a cup of hot show more coffee that they apparently quite literally care more about than life itself. Or carrying a baby whom they apparently don't care about at all. They heard somewhere that "pedestrians always have the right of way," and that's all they know and all they need to know. Oh, and they *saunter.* (*God*, I hate saunterers.)

These, by the way, are usually the same people who make life such a joy for those of us who have to share a sidewalk with them. They're the ones Inman describes as "The Stop-and-Goers" (people who take up the whole sidewalk and stop for lame reasons, making you spend your whole errand trying desperately not to bump into them) or "The Text Messengers" (the ones who can't stop sending and receiving messages while they walk and act as one-person obstacle courses for anyone lucky enough to be going in the same direction).

There are other terrifically funny comics in this collection as well. But this one made me really happy, because now I know *I'm not the only control-freak pedestrian out there*. show less

Reviewing comic books like 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth is tricky because it all comes down to sense of humor and personal preference. Immediately from this title, I’m sure you all are thinking “she found a book about punching dolphins hilarious? She’s a monster!”. … This book isn’t really about punching dolphins so much as it is full of observational humor and a lot of clickbait-sequel titles. I, yes, found it hilarious, as I often do with Matt Inman’s show more comics. My husband, on the other hand, was not amused when I kept handing him the book with, “hahaha read this one about the cracked up T-Rex”.

So you know. Humor is humor and I have the sense of humor of a thirteen year old boy, apparently.

5 Reasons is a collection of Inman’s early work, so if you’ve been following The Oatmeal for as long as I have been, you’ve probably seen a few of these things before. If you’ve only been following him the last couple years and haven’t combed through the archives in his site, then you are missing out on some funny stuff. I think it’s funny, anyway. As aforementioned, my husband does not.

The art style is a bit different in most of these as he was settling in and finding his way to how he wanted to draw everything. Some of the comics are complete rubbish randomness, like the pterodactyl one… I have no clue where that came from. Some, like the web design one, is clearly personal to Inman’s experience in life (although in accuracy – can confirm. My father’s a web designer and I grew up watching this craziness go down). I personally found it to be a well-curated collection, particularly keeping in mind the time frame this book represents and that many of his pet-related comics had not been drawn yet, the arrangement is good too so you don’t get too many informational comics in a row.

Generally speaking, 5 Reasons is a solid collection for anyone who enjoys The Oatmeal and if you want a funny coffee table book that will either make people laugh at its ridiculousness or offend them with a completely un-understandable sense of humor, then this is a great book.

And, honestly, it’s just great fun to pull out a comic book every once in a while to decompress. For me, The Oatmeal is a good way to do it. show less

Much as I like the website (http://theoatmeal.com/), this collection is hit and miss. My favorites:

Why it’s better to pretend you don’t know anything about computers
Why Nikola Tesla is the most awesome geek who ever lived
Why I’d rather be punched in the testicles than call customer service
Motorists cutting each other off vs. Pedestrians cutting each other off
How the Male Angler Fish gets Completely Screwed

Occasionally of interest were the tutorials - how cheese is made, how beer is show more made, how coffee is made…are you getting the idea? And also those relating to grammar, which seemed like public service announcements.

There were bits that were too simple, or at any rate, not funny, which included most of the ‘Failed’ series spread through the book (‘Failed Bearcut’, ‘Failed Hugs’, ‘Failed Experiment’, …). I had a similar reaction to pieces like ‘7 Reasons to keep you Tyrannosaur off crack cocaine’, ‘6 Ways to fight a crack whore’, ‘Why it would suck to live next to a volcano’, and ‘4 reasons to carry a shovel at all times’. It seems Inman was stretched for material in the first year he left his job creating websites to create The Oatmeal, which is what this collection represents. Worth picking up and browsing, just as the website is though. show less

Matthew Inman is a genius and The Oatmeal is his brainchild. As a child, I was never a fan of oatmeal, but it was better than cornmeal. Inman altered my reality with the magic of stinging pterodactyl laser piss in my eyes.

5 very good reasons to punch a dolphin in the mouth ( and other useful guides ) was a great read. There are a number of classic Oatmeal comics in this book, including “Why Nikola Tesla is the most awesome geek who ever lived”, “7 reasons to keep you Tyrannosaur off show more crack cocaine”, and “How to use a semicolon, the most feared punctuation on earth”

There are also a number of new comics featured only in the book. “5 reasons to have rabies instead of babies” being the one i enjoyed the most.

I cannot say this is a book for everyone. The humor of TheOatmeal is a special brand, If you are unfamiliar, go hit up TheOatmeal.com and get a taste.

Brand new it can be purchased at online retailers for under ten bucks, so it is really quite a steal. show less