All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction (The Darwin Awards - Wendy Northcutt)

Member Name: CrimsonAvenger

Product:	The Darwin Awards - Wendy Northcutt
Date:	12/05/01 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, Short Stories, Doesn't require huge amounts of concentration

Disadvantages: Sense of humour may not appeal to all, The web site could provide you with enough of a fix without buying the book

“Only two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe” – Albert Einstein, Scientific advisor to the Darwin Awards.

The Darwin Awards by Wendy Northcutt is a collection of 180 stories of how dumb humans have met their maker. The whole Darwin Awards thing started in 1993 by Wendy herself at www.darwinawards.com and continues to be updated on a regular basis. Visit this site first and you will find if these types of stories humour appeals to you or not. Some people may call this humour in bad taste but I am not one of them.

Beginning with an introduction into what these awards are it goes on to explain the various levels of award.

A Darwin - whereby the nominee has lost their reproductive capacity by killing or sterilising themselves.

Honourable Mention – foolish misadventures which stop short of the above.

Urban Legends – Stories of evolution in action, fables as they are.

Personal Accounts – Loyal readers who have told of such stupidity but usually unverified.

The initial chapters go on to explain about rules and eligibility, basic evolution and advice for reading the stories – this advice was something I followed which was to read a chapter each day so a few stories are consumed at a time. The book itself is divided into 11 chapters such as “I fought the Law”, “Fire and Explosions” (A personal favourite of mine), “Military Intelligence” (Or not), Testosterone Poisoning” and the one which I struggled to read “Favourite Toy:Penis Envy”. This chapter was the one and only chapter which made me shudder with each story that was told. You can probably guess why. When I go back to read again this is probably one I will miss out!!!! (Okay so I am squeamish)

Living on Zionist time is a favourite of mine which tells the tale of some Palestinian Terrori
sts and their demise due to shift from daylight savings time to standard time in order to accommodate a week of Slihot. They refused to live on Zionist time and kept their clocks on daylight saving time. The bombs were unfortunately prepared during this unsettled period. They were armed in a Palestine controlled area and set on daylight saving time. The confused drivers however had already switched to standard time. As a result, the cars were still en-route when the explosives detonated, delivering the terrorists to their demise.

Overall the book is well structured with a decent introduction to all things Darwin followed by 11 chapters that will have your sides hurting with some of things people do. The urban legends although not true will still raise a smile even after you have read why the story itself could not be possible. There are probably a variety of ways people would like to read this book and none of them would be wrong. Just dive in and lose yourself in other peoples stupidity for a few minutes.

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