Author: John Hodgman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 9780525950349 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 376
Book Description
The best-selling author of The Areas of My Expertise presents a tongue-in-cheek compendium of made-up facts that fall under such headings as "The Method by Which We Elect Our Presidents," "How to Be a Famous Minor Television Personality," and "Gambling: The Sport of the Asthmatic Man." 150,000 first printing.
Author: John Hodgman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101653612 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
In the great tradition of the American almanac, The Areas of My Expertise is a brilliant and hilarious compendium of handy reference tables, fascinating trivia, and sage wisdom on all topics large and small. Although bestsellers such as Poor Richard’s Almanack and The Book of Lists were certainly valuable, they also were largely true. Here is a different kind of handy desk reference, one in which all of the historical oddities and amazing true facts are sifted through the singular, illuminating imagination of John Hodgman—which is the nice way of saying: He made it all up. John Hodgman brings his considerable expertise to bear in answering all of the questions book buyers have been asking: -What are the mottoes of the 51 United States? THE ANSWER IS PROVIDED -Who were the U.S. presidents who had hooks for hands? THE ANSWER IS PROVIDED -What role does the Yale secret society “Skull and Bones” play in the secret world government? THERE IS NO SECRET WORLD GOVERNMENT -What was the menu at the first Thanksgiving, and did it include eels? Technically, that is two questions, but do not apologize, for John Hodgman shall answer them both . . . LATER. -Aside from a compendium of fake trivia, what is the best kind of book to write? A SIMPLE TABLE OF THE 55 MOST DRAMATIC LITERARY SITUATIONS PROVIDES THE ANSWER, and John Hodgman is the author of that table. Imagine if The Book of Lists had been rewritten by Peter Cook and Jorge Luis Borges under the pseudonym of “John Hodgman” and then renamed The Areas of My Expertise, and you will only begin to have a sense of the dizzying, uproarious, sublimely weird, and strangely wise journey that is contained within this book (along with all the pages and words). Perfect for anyone who thirsts for knowledge, and especially for collectors of books of fake trivia, The Areas of My Expertise offers through absurdity a better understanding of the world we share—and recognizes that while the truth may be stranger than fiction, it is never as strange as lies . . . or as true. Look out for John Hodgman's latest book, Vacationland, available from Viking in Fall 2017.
Author: John Hodgman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101653493 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 402
Book Description
The New York Times bestseller by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman—The Daily Show's "Resident Expert" and the "PC" in the iconic Apple ads—picks up exactly where his first book left off. In fact, "the new volume is in every way a continuation of Areas of My Expertise, except in the ways it's clearly superior." (The Onion AV Club) In 2005, John Hodgman published his first compendium of Complete World Knowledge, The Areas of My Expertise, a handy volume of fake trivia and made-up facts. Hodgmania was born. Virtually overnight, John Hodgman was whisked from tweedy obscurity to the high ether of minor celebrity. And from his strange new vantage point as a Famous Minor Television Personality, Hodgman realized that there is some world knowledge yet to be documented. And so he returned to exactly where he had left off—namely, page 256 of the paperback edition of The Areas of My Expertise. And he brought with him: MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE. Which, naturally, begins on page 257. Like its predecessor, More Information Than You Require consists of brief articles, overlong lists, frighteningly complex charts, and beguiling narratives on new and familiar themes such as: THE PAST (because there is always more of it) THE FUTURE (because they say there is still some left) MOLE-MEN (including a list of 700 Mole-man names) GAMBLING, THE SPORT OF THE ATHSMATIC MAN (including hermit crab racing) CRYPTOGEOGRAPHY (including Canada) HOW TO BE A FAMOUS MINOR TELEVISION PERSONALITY (Hint: Go on television) AND NOW, the relatively pocket-sized and inexpensive paperback edition includes even more. MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE, updated to include the very latest in implausibility. PLUS!: This paperback edition includes a special self-expanding fold-out edition of THE TAXONOMY OF COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE, which you have probably never seen before because it has been carefully hidden. UNTIL NOW. Look out for John Hodgman's latest book, Vacationland, available from Viking in Fall 2017.
Author: Omri Ben-Shahar Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691161704 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 239
Book Description
How mandated disclosure took over the regulatory landscape—and why it failed Perhaps no kind of regulation is more common or less useful than mandated disclosure—requiring one party to a transaction to give the other information. It is the iTunes terms you assent to, the doctor's consent form you sign, the pile of papers you get with your mortgage. Reading the terms, the form, and the papers is supposed to equip you to choose your purchase, your treatment, and your loan well. More Than You Wanted to Know surveys the evidence and finds that mandated disclosure rarely works. But how could it? Who reads these disclosures? Who understands them? Who uses them to make better choices? Omri Ben-Shahar and Carl Schneider put the regulatory problem in human terms. Most people find disclosures complex, obscure, and dull. Most people make choices by stripping information away, not layering it on. Most people find they can safely ignore most disclosures and that they lack the literacy to analyze them anyway. And so many disclosures are mandated that nobody could heed them all. Nor can all this be changed by simpler forms in plainer English, since complex things cannot be made simple by better writing. Furthermore, disclosure is a lawmakers' panacea, so they keep issuing new mandates and expanding old ones, often instead of taking on the hard work of writing regulations with bite. Timely and provocative, More Than You Wanted to Know takes on the form of regulation we encounter daily and asks why we must encounter it at all.
Author: John Hodgman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1101653507 Category : Humor Languages : en Pages : 397
Book Description
John Hodgman—bestselling author, The Daily Show's "Resident Expert," minor television celebrity, and deranged millionaire—brings us the third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge. In 2005, Dutton published The Areas of My Expertise, a handy little book of Complete World Knowledge, marked by the distinction that all of the fascinating trivia and amazing true facts were completely made up by its author, John Hodgman. At the time, Hodgman was merely a former literary agent and occasional scribbler of fake trivia. In short: a nobody. But during an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, an incredible transformation occurred. He became a famous minor television personality. You may ask: During his whirlwind tornado ride through the high ether of minor fame and outrageous fortune, did John Hodgman forget how to write books of fake trivia? The answer is: Yes. Briefly. But soon, he remembered! And so he returned, crashing his Kansas farmhouse down upon the wicked witch of ignorance with More Information Than You Require, a New York Times bestseller containing even more mesmerizing and essential fake trivia, including seven hundred mole-man names (and their occupations). And now, John Hodgman completes his vision with That Is All, the last book in a trilogy of Complete World Knowledge. Like its predecessors, That Is All compiles incredibly handy made-up facts into brief articles, overlong lists, and beguiling narratives on new and familiar themes. It picks up exactly where More Information left off—specifically, at page 596—and finally completes COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE. Look out for John Hodgman's latest book, Vacationland, available from Viking in Fall 2017.
Author: John Hodgman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0525561110 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
“[An] affecting and hilarious meditation on fame and prestige as seen through the lens of an airline loyalty program.” —The AV Club A hilarious and honest new book in which John Hodgman, New York Times bestselling author of Vacationland, leaves vacation behind and gets back to work as a still somewhat famous person . . . and then loses his job. An uproarious read. After spending most of his twenties pursuing a career as a literary agent, John Hodgman decided to try his own hand at writing. Following an appearance to promote one of his books on The Daily Show, he was invited to return as a contributor. This led to an unexpected and, frankly, implausible career in front of the camera that has lasted to this very day, or at least until 2016. In these pages, Hodgman explores the strangeness of his career, speaking plainly of fame, especially at the weird, marginal level he enjoyed it. Through these stories you will learn many things that only John Hodgman knows, such as how to prepare for a nude scene with an oboe, or what it feels like to go to a Hollywood party and realize that you are not nearly as famous as the Property Brothers, or, for that matter, those two famous corgis from Instagram. And there are stories about how, when your television gig is canceled, you can console yourself with the fact that all of that travel that made your young son so sad at least left you with a prize: platinum medallion status with your airline. Both unflinchingly funny and deeply heartfelt, Medallion Status is a thoughtful examination of status, fame, and identity--and about the way we all deal with those moments when we realize we aren't platinum status anymore and will have to get comfortable in that middle seat again.
Author: Hans Rosling Publisher: Flatiron Books ISBN: 125012381X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 353
Book Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “One of the most important books I’ve ever read—an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” – Bill Gates “Hans Rosling tells the story of ‘the secret silent miracle of human progress’ as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see it clearly.” —Melinda Gates "Factfulness by Hans Rosling, an outstanding international public health expert, is a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Former U.S. President Barack Obama Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends—what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. --- “This book is my last battle in my life-long mission to fight devastating ignorance...Previously I armed myself with huge data sets, eye-opening software, an energetic learning style and a Swedish bayonet for sword-swallowing. It wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be.” Hans Rosling, February 2017.
Author: John Hodgman Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0735224811 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 274
Book Description
“I love everything about this hilarious book except the font size.” —Jon Stewart Although his career as a bestselling author and on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was founded on fake news and invented facts, in 2016 that routine didn’t seem as funny to John Hodgman anymore. Everyone is doing it now. Disarmed of falsehood, he was left only with the awful truth: John Hodgman is an older white male monster with bad facial hair, wandering like a privileged Sasquatch through three wildernesses: the hills of Western Massachusetts where he spent much of his youth; the painful beaches of Maine that want to kill him (and some day will); and the metaphoric haunted forest of middle age that connects them. Vacationland collects these real life wanderings, and through them you learn of the horror of freshwater clams, the evolutionary purpose of the mustache, and which animals to keep as pets and which to kill with traps and poison. There is also some advice on how to react when the people of coastal Maine try to sacrifice you to their strange god. Though wildly, Hodgmaniacally funny as usual, it is also a poignant and sincere account of one human facing his forties, those years when men in particular must stop pretending to be the children of bright potential they were and settle into the failing bodies of the wiser, weird dads that they are.
Author: Michael Port Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 1118611357 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 480
Book Description
A visual way to easily access the strategies and tactics in Book Yourself Solid Learning new concepts is easier when you can see the solution. Book Yourself Solid Illustrated, a remarkable, one-of-a-kind work of art, transforms the Book Yourself Solid system into a more compelling and easy-to-consume playbook for any business owner. You won't find business school graphs or mind maps. Instead, you'll find compelling, visual stories that reinvent old and tired business concepts, making Book Yourself Solid Illustrated a fun and playful book that you will revisit year after year as you get more clients than you can handle. There isn't a business book on the market that can show you how to apply the strategies, techniques, and skills necessary to generate new leads, add more clients, and increase profits through visuals. Previously you could only read or listen to advice, now you can see it and get it faster. This illustrated version is organized into four modules: your foundation, building trust and credibility, simple selling and perfect pricing, and the Book Yourself Solid 6 core self-promotion strategies. Reengineering the book with visual strategist, Jocelyn Wallace, has given author Michael Port new ways of explaining and expanding his gold-standard material. Author Michael Port has been called a "marketing guru" by the Wall Street Journal and "an uncommonly honest author" by The Boston Globe, and wrote Book Yourself Solid (in it's 2nd edition), Beyond Booked Solid,The Contrarian Effect which was selected as a 2008 top ten business book by Amazon.com and the 2008 #1 sales book of the year by 1-800-CEO-READ, and The New York Times Bestseller, The Think Big Manifesto. Author is one of the most popular business coaches in the world and headlines events all over the world. Master the techniques in Book Yourself Solid Illustrated, and take your service business to the next level today. For the first time ever you can have the Book Yourself Solid Mobile app. Install it on any device and the Book Yourself Solid System comes to life. Do all of 49 exercises from the new book on any device, including your desktop computer. This thing rocks.
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Author: John Hodgman
Author: John Hodgman
Author: John Hodgman
Author: Omri Ben-Shahar
Author: John Hodgman
Author: John Hodgman
Author: Hans Rosling
Author: John Hodgman
Author: Julie Morgenstern
Author: Michael Port