Product Description

If you really want to know about the world and understand how the planet works, look no further than Our Dumb World, the atlas that reveals the real truth about each country. 'Located direcctly at the centre of the universe, around which everything else revolves, the nation of xxxxxx is the sole beacon of life and civilisation in an otherwise empty void' - who else could it be but France? Meanwhile, we get to understand why Iraq was invaded by the USA, not only were they guilty over 9/11, 'the worst attack on US soil since Iraqi pilots bombed Pearl Harbor' but Saddam Hussein also assassinated JFK. So if you want to know which is the sleepiest country in Europe, which nation has the hottest queen, or where the rubble from previous conflicts is now buried under the debris of today's wars, Our Dumb World will provide the answers. Every country's pretensions are skewered, their hopes squashed and their fears laughed at. In short, by the end of this book, you will never be able to visit any country in the world without seeing it in an entirely new and hilarious light.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13001 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
"Essential reading for all." (Brian Campbell Irish News )

About the Author
The Onion is a satirical newspaper that began in 1988 and has a website, theonion.com, that attracts over 3 million viewers each week which now features the video-based ONN, Onion Network News.

Customer Reviews

Fewer clouds on maps
Have a quick flick through this book and you might think it was a Dorling Kindersley world gazeteer. It has all the DK appeal: well produced maps and state flags, interesting photos plus very clean layouts and typography but as soon as you start to read the words you realise you're on planet Onion.

The two hundred and two countries mostly get a page each with two pages given to topical (in the American sense) nations like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, North Korea or Cuba for instance. Pages 207-209 covers The Stans: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan. Did you know this last nation has a space programme? Probably not but there is a photo of a rocket strapped to the back of a donkey to prove it.

The two pages on Nigeria kick off with a page email: REQUEST FOR URGENT ASSISTANCE. Dear Reader, WE NEED YOUR HELP May the blessing of God be... and so on in the usual 419 scam prose. The sub-head under Chile says: 'Preventing Argentina From Enjoying The Pacific Ocean Since 1818'. It's this offbeat quirky copy that has made The Onion rightly famous and this book contains page after page of it.

As with a real atlas you're not meant to read it all but this is one of the Onion's better efforts and with its high production values I think this will be a well-thumbed book.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Get this on the National Curriculum now!
I hated geography at school, almost as much as I hated history. If this book had been around then, things would have been very different.

For those unfamiliar with The Onion, think Mad for older readers or perhaps a US equivalent of Private Eye and Viz. It is unrelentingly funny, but also incredibly educational. In many ways, it can be seen as a companion to Our Dumb Century, The Onion's 100 years of spoof newspaper articles (I'd have loved history, too, if that one had existed when I was at school). Witty, obscene (when required), daring and impeccably researched, no one gets away scot free (certainly not America, if that's a concern!)

It's lavishly illustrated, in full colour and the ideal present for all those people who have 'seen a bit of the world' and keep going on about it. It's not the first time this has been done: in the eighties, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, having just finished Not the Nine O'Clock News, put their name to a 'World Alas', too. That was very funny in its time, but the world has changed unbelievably since then. This atlas (or should that also be 'alas'?) hits the spot.

Tears of laughter from Onions
Oinions really do make me tearful and I occassionally chop onions just to clear my eyes! But the Onion's Our Dumb World 73rd Edition, brought tears of laughter to our family like never before. It was the healthiest catharsis we'd ever shared together. I cannot recommend too highly, this book as a great boost to one's health in these challenging times. The courageous satire and wit on every page, make it worth it's weight in gold. Do your family and friends a favour, buy them this book and share the side-splitting mirth with them. It is one of the sharpest and funniest books I've ever come across in my life. Blessings on the authors, may they die laughing!