Is it Just Me or is Everything Shit?: The Encyclopedia of Modern Life

Remember that last book I said had the best title ever? Well, I was wrong, because this book actually has the best title ever.

UPDATE: Just threw this book across the room. Here's why: in an entry purporting to demonstrate why people who use audio books are philistines, the authors refer to Joyce's Finnegan's Wake (sic).

Now, here's a rule I consider elementary: if you're going to write a book that's essentially a long, sneering diatribe that purports to demonstrate your intellectual superiority over everything and everyone, you'd better not also demonstrate to your readers that you don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing wrong with a good sneering diatribe that purports to show why everyone but you (and perhaps your reader) show more is stupid and benighted -- it has a long and distinguished history in American letters. But if you're going to write one, you'd better be smart and you'd better be knowledgeable. That means that you don't get to make mistakes like writing Finnegan's Wake, especially when you're looking down your nose at people who use audio books. Once you do that (and they did it three times in one paragraph, so I know it's not a typo), you've told the reader that, in fact, not only are you are not intellectually superior to people who use audio books, but you're also an arrogant, witless, self-satisfied fuck who shouldn't be allowed to try and read a book, much less write one.

So you know, shut the fucking fuck up, don't expect me to read your book, and actually, don't be writing it in the first place. show less

The authors of this book do have a point; much our world’s culture today really is morally bankrupt, dishonest, and just plain hopelessly insane. In alphabetical order, Is it Just Me’s authors eviscerate these modern foibles with a sarcastic and humorous wit like Louis Black on speed with a potty mouth. There is little that escapes the authors’ ire from all sides of the political and cultural spectrum, although they seem to reserve a special disdain for the Bush Administration and certain music industry figures (including, no doubt, the term “music industry figures”). Some of their targets, like Hip Hotels, simply won’t resonate with the daily experiences of busy dads (our definition of a hip, trendy hotel is more likely to show more be the Nickelodeon Suites near Disney World). Others, like Organic Consumer Scans, are annoyances that we all share. But still others speak directly to the experience of being a modern father, and it’s both empowering and outrageously amusing to hear the authors say the things that we’ve all been thinking about topics like:

• Bratz: “It’s a sort of celebutard training course for six-year-olds.”


• Designer Baby Clothes: “Yes, it’s so important to dress the baby right – you know, to dangle wealth off it.”


• DVDs with Ads You Can’t Skip: “Just in case you thought it was perfectly legal to burn copies of DVDs but only if you went to Norway and did it.”


• Juice Drink: “What happened there, then? What did you do with all the juice?”

Whatever you may think of their opinions on other topics, when it comes to kids and fatherhood, you’ll find yourself nodding along and even laughing out loud to the authors’ observations of the modern and often baffling world that we’re raising our children in. (caution for extremely strong language). Review by Book Dads show less

A somewhat dated but still entertaining short piece of A trough Z pablum, with a blend of Anglo and Yank cultural irritants. Cheney, Che Guevera, China, Dubai, Michael Jackson Fans, Internet cafes, Kabbalah, Mac lovers, lists, SUVs, bottled water, food courts, and waits on Everest are some of the irritating topics.

Entertaining world class cynicism that I found myself enjoying. My sometimes fleeting thoughts on issues came back, it was uncomfortably invoking my predjudice.

Mildly titallitating at first but quick bores into easy cheap cynicism. I love a good rant every so often but collated like this it just gets a bit tiring. The contents would have been ideal as a weekly column in a weekend newspaper supplement.

Above average toilet reading. Made me chuckle to myself a few times.

This book is basically a list of things which annoy the authors and their views on those things. You will find yourself nodding in agreement at a lot of their observations. Worth a read.

Some of the rants are well thought out but some are just plain rants for the sake of it. I did agree with some of them, but others just made me want to shake the writer, lots.