Home › Impressions › The Darwin Awards by Wendy Northcutt

The Darwin Awards by Wendy Northcutt

By RachelUndefined on February 25, 2009 • ( 1 )

Opening Sentence:Most of us know instinctively that the phrase “trust me, light this fuse” is a recipe for disaster.
Synopsis:http://www.DarwinAwards.com is the legendary website that commemorates the remains of people who have improved our gene pool by killing themselves in really stupid ways! Started in 1993 by Wendy Northcutt, it honours those people for whom warnings such as ‘coffee is hot’ and ‘this superman cape does not enable the wearer to fly’ were made.
Genre:Non-Fiction/Humour
Rating:@@@@@
Pages:265
ISBN:o-75284-451-2
Year:2000
Format:Paperback
Comments:If you enjoy laughing at the stupidity of other people, then this book is for you. Some of these stories are hilarious. Others will have you shaking your head. All of them will leave you feeling glad you aren’t related. The Darwin Awards contains over 180 stories in the following categories:

Darwin Awards: nominees lost their reproductive capacity by killing or sterilizing themselves, thereby removing themselves from the gene pool.
Honorable Mentions: survived their escapade but still illustrate the innovative spirit of Darwin Award candidates.
Urban Legends: these are cautionary fables with various versions circling the internet, but any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental.
Personal Accounts: these were submitted by loyal readers and are plausible but generally unverified.

Darwin Awards and Honorable Mentions are further divided into:

Confirmed by Darwin: indicates that a story was backed up by multiple submissions and more than one reputable media source.
Unconfirmed by Darwin: indicates fewer submissions and the unavailability of direct confirmation of media sources.

This is a seriously funny book and I highly recommend it.

Brothers Blow up House While Celebrating Lottery Win (newsy.com)
Darwin award nominee (samefacts.com)
Texting on motorcycle at 1AM? Darwin is there [Florida] (fark.com)
Re: Fireworks gone terribly wrong (libertycaucus.net)
January 16—–2012 Darwin Awards (familysurvivalprotocol.com)

‹ This Is the Way the World Ends (Gollancz SF Collector’s Edition) by James Morrow

Selling Sickness: How Drug Companies are Turning Us All Into Patients by Ray Moynihan & Alan Cassels ›

Categories: Impressions

Tags: australia, books, darwin, Darwin Award, Gene pool, humour, Northern Territory, Oceania, Urban legend, Wendy Northcutt

1 reply

Trackbacks

Books I Read In February 2009 « Rafferty's Rules

What are your thoughts? Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

How do I rate my books?

½ Star: I disliked it to the point where I didn’t even finish it and I would actively discourage others from reading it. This will definitely be released.
1 Star: I almost didn’t finish this book, but I powered through. I strongly disliked it and I would actively discourage others from reading it. This will definitely be released.
1 ½ Stars: I read this book, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it and I wouldn’t recommend it. This book will be released.
2 Stars: I don’t really have an opinion on this book. I didn’t particularly like it, but I didn’t particularly dislike it either. I won’t read it again and probably wouldn’t recommend it. This book will be released.
2 ½ Stars: This book is alright, I guess. Other people might enjoy it, but it’s not for me. I might mention it in passing, but I won’t reread it. This book will be released.
3 Stars: This book is average. I enjoyed it, but I’ll probably forget it within a year. I might recommend it to fans of the genre, but I won’t be rereading it. This book will be released.
3 ½ Stars: This book is above average but unexceptional. I enjoyed it, and I would probably recommend it, but I doubt I’ll read it again. This book will be released.
4 Stars: This is an excellent book. I enjoyed it quite a bit and would recommend it to others. I may or may not reread it. This book might be kept, or it might be released.
4 ½ Stars: This book is fantastic. I absolutely loved it and I fully intend to read it again. I would definitely recommend it to others. This book will be kept.
5 Stars: This is an amazing book which I’ll reread multiple times. I quite likely sacrificed sleep or skipped meals for this book and will shamelessly promote it to all and sundry. This book will definitely be kept, and I’ll probably buy an extra copy just to release it.

What books have I been reading?

The City & The City by China Mieville
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
V For Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd
The Black Death by Philip Ziegler
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
What Were the Crusades? Fourth Edition by Jonathan Riley-Smith
We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch
The Pelican History of Medieval Europe by Maurice Keen
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
12-21 by Dustin Thomason