This is a book I hugely hugely recommend. It made me laugh so much that I felt I would die - there are parts where I had to take long breaks before I could get started again. It's just so stupidly funny. The entire book continues in much the same vein as the title - pompous, irreverent and full of useless information. But then you need to like the Dave Barry kind of humour which is something like 'France's National Underwear Changing Day is March 12'. I love him to death.
The book has helpful maps which will lead you nowhere. I also love his carefully drawn tables, line drawings and so on in his earnest manner to help us. But what I like the most is his footnotes which are incredibly funny and for the first time in my life I am actually looking forward to reading footnotes in my life. Let me get the first one. Footnote for this sentence 'Singapore is in an entirely different continent' is this - 'possibly Africa'. This is one of the funniest books I have ever read!
Dave Barry makes fun of every type, person, country, thing and spares no one and all I did was laugh so much till I felt my body behaving in a manner that I was not used to - eyes reduced to slits, tears streaming down, uncontrollable laughter that others can only shake their heads at. Ah god, thank you so much for giving this man this wonderful gift. But there I must also thank Vinod for introducing me to Dave Barry in a big manner, giving me several of his books, and keeping the tradition of laughing helplessly alive. (Truly enough, the New York Daily News review on the blurb goes - Read it and die laughing. You know, you just could.)
The book has helpful maps which will lead you nowhere. I also love his carefully drawn tables, line drawings and so on in his earnest manner to help us. But what I like the most is his footnotes which are incredibly funny and for the first time in my life I am actually looking forward to reading footnotes in my life. Let me get the first one. Footnote for this sentence 'Singapore is in an entirely different continent' is this - 'possibly Africa'. This is one of the funniest books I have ever read!
Dave Barry makes fun of every type, person, country, thing and spares no one and all I did was laugh so much till I felt my body behaving in a manner that I was not used to - eyes reduced to slits, tears streaming down, uncontrollable laughter that others can only shake their heads at. Ah god, thank you so much for giving this man this wonderful gift. But there I must also thank Vinod for introducing me to Dave Barry in a big manner, giving me several of his books, and keeping the tradition of laughing helplessly alive. (Truly enough, the New York Daily News review on the blurb goes - Read it and die laughing. You know, you just could.)
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