Product Description

Mistakes, mishaps, cock-ups – they just aren’t given the recognition they deserve. They make life interesting and human beings (some more than others) have a genuine flair for them. So why does history only record the world’s dull and worthy achievements?

Annus Horribilis sets the record straight by celebrating good old-fashioned failures. From the man whose spectacular escape from prison was spoiled when he was eaten by a crocodile to the husband who choked to death on his own wife, via several exploding whales, numerous celebrity meltdowns and countless predictions that proved to be wholly inaccurate, Annus Horribilis proves once and for all, that there’s no success like failure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272935 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
'Enjoy a little schadenfreude... One for fans of the Darwin awards' --Guardian

Synopsis
Mistakes, mishaps, cock-ups - they just aren't given the recognition they deserve. They make life interesting and human beings (some more than others) have a genuine flair for them. So why does history only record the world's dull and worthy achievements? "Annus Horribilis" sets the record straight by celebrating good old-fashioned failures. From the man whose spectacular escape from prison was spoiled when he was eaten by a crocodile to the husband who choked to death on his own wife, via several exploding whales, numerous celebrity meltdowns and countless predictions that proved to be wholly inaccurate, "Annus Horribilis" proves once and for all, that there's no success like failure.

About the Author

Sam Jordison lives in Oxford. He is the author of Bad Dates, a book about romantic disasters, The Joy Of Sects, an A-Z of cults, cranks and religious eccentrics and co-editor of Crap Towns and Crap Towns II, two books about the worst places to live in the UK. He first realised that success isn't everything when he failed a (compulsory) audition for his school choir and thus avoided years of bullying, boredom and church music.

Customer Reviews

Meh.
Original and funny. Unfortunately the funny bits aren't original and the original bits aren't funny. A re-hash of Stephen Pile's 'Heroic Failures' with much of the same material but with all the humour squeezed out via a rusty iron clock-work juicer of shame into a frosted glass of ice-cold ignominy and gulped down through the plastic straw of hubris. How about a follow up to 'Crap Towns' and 'Crap Towns II'; 'Crap Christmas Book Ideas'? Whoever commissioned this nonsense should be force-fed live wasps.

hilarious and chronological! brilliant!
I love all the books of Sam Jordison, he loves to make us laugh at the absurdities of this world, I love to laugh with him.
To share the gift of laughter at Christmas is such a special thing, what a happy coincidence that this book is published just before Christmas so I can share this happiness, this laughter with all my friends. I will buy them all a copy for Christmas.
Every hilarious story is ordered by date, any day of the year you can refer to this book and discover a mishap or tale of ironic misfortune that happened on the same date in years past.
The author (Sam Jordison) is not guilty of schadenfreude, he tells every story with an objective compassion, he does not care to mock these people, fate mocks them. Some deserve to be mocked, others do not. Sam is not here to judge. I love to mock them all, and laugh at their misfortune, deserving or not. I suspect the author (Sam) knows many of us will do this.
I would recommend this book to everyone, it is very, very funny.

A really, really, really great book
Obviously, I'm going to give my own book five stars.

Shameless, I know.

At least, I guess, I did it under my own name.

And I am quite fond of this one, if that's any mitigation.

And, er, if it gives you as much pleasure as it's given me, it's a sure fire winner.

Yeah!

Now that I read over that last bit, it does kind of stand out that the book won't actually bring you as much pleasure... not in the financial sense anyway, which is the added pleasure that I'm hoping for from the book. But you know what I mean. I think...

So go on anyway! Buy a copy! Please! Thanks!

I love you!