Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition

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 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 show more 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

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 didn't know that, in an anti-communist effort in the early fifties, Truman outlawed sharing.

Good stuff. All stellar, laughs on every page.

This is a sometimes silly, sometimes grotesque and sometimes moving work, with the trademark Onion humor. Overall, I found it quite enjoyable, with some countries getting rather silly entries, but most countries receiving keen commentaries from the writers and editors.

"The Onion" has been tickling funny bones for decades now and "Our Dumb World" is further evidence that the Onion writers are amongst the best in the funny bone tickling business.

Focusing on nations of the world and their stereotypes, readers may bristle at what "Our Dumb World" choose to satirise but whether it's Australia's deadly animals, the United Arab Emirates's beautiful princess or Greenland's Mercator projection related size, there is much knee slapping to be had.

I don't think it is possible to actually read this entire book. As always The Onion goes over the top in presentation with every little nook and cranny being filled up with hilarious stuff. This book is great as a coffee table book. I think I'd get overwhelmed if I sat down and tried to read it straight through. From wonderful comments about countries (Canada - See U.S. on pages 9-12, Ethiopia: Africa's Extended Belly) to spoofing on world politics (Now Bono Awareness Rated!) it is just a fun read especially if you have a great sense of humour. I'm moving into the read section just because I'm crazy about organization but I'll be flipping through and appreciating it for a long time.

This spoof on a world atlas is inconsistently funny. Sometimes the humor is spot on, other times it's flat or worse. There is a map of each country, but usually only the capital city is marked, the rest of the points being "funny" locations. Each country appears to have a theme for the jokes, such as the negative effects of radiation in Belarus (the site of Chernobyl) or the long-distance running records of Kenyans. That approach works some of the time, but it became tiresome for me after several dozen countries. On the other hand, the level of effort that went into preparing this detailed volume is quite amazing, and most of the historical references are not entirely made up.

As with the articles and webpage from the Onion, this atlas has something in it to offend anyone. And despite this and it's incredible tongue-in-cheek attitude, it requires a good deal of background knowledge to even get what they are joking about and harpooning. Provided the Onion (or the Daily Show, Colbert Report, Family Guy, etc.) is your style of comedy, this book will leave you cracking up. I read this during lunch breaks at work, which allowed me plenty of time to appreciate the style of the book (really, it is an atlas) without getting overloaded with the sardonic tone. The only downside what that when I kept cracking up, my coworkers wanted to hear what was so funny, and I didn't dare repeat most of what I read. Obviously not show more meant for serious research. show less