If you had to told me in Grade 8, that when I was in my late 20's I would write a book review for the fun of it, I likely would have tried to refer you to drug counseling. Reading for me when I was young was painful, frustrating, and I was uninterested. It was not because I was not a good reader nor was it that I had trouble understanding any content, it was that reading for fun did not provide much entertainment value and of course I did not actively look for anything that did. Over time, my appreciation for reading has grown and now that I have read a number of books that have made impressions on me, I am ready to do this.
I first heard of John Hodgman when he appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart back on November 16th, 2005 when he appeared in the interview session to promote this book, The Areas of My Expertise , and spend some quality time entertaining the host and the audience. His interview was so memorable and by the end of the interview, I had to get the book. It did not disappoint. Maybe you don't know who John Hodgman is and maybe this will also help. He has recently appeared in numerous commercials for Apple Computers promoting the Mac. He's the guy who always plays the PC in the commercials. Even the commercials are amusing.
The Areas of My Expertise is a wildly entertaining book that can be read in sections and is broken into many unconnected parts. This makes it relatively easy to put down but at the same time as I read the book, it was so hard to put down because the curiosity of what else was between the covers was overwhelming. Full of incredible sarcasm, outrageous claims, and subtle innuendos, I was entertained from start to finish, well, sort of. The layout of the book is such that you don't have to read it from front to back like a typical novel but you can really read it in any order you choose. It was sort of like a choose-your-own-adventure book for me (the only kind I really enjoyed as a kid) because throughout the book there are references that encourage you to flip to another section of the book to some loosely related material.
Example... In a section on "Common Short and Long Cons" he discusses the ideas of grifting and practices such as The Thieving Ferret, The Spanish Prisoner, or the Pig In The Poke. He also mentions The Portuguese Hypnotist which may take months to set up your "mark". Footnote follows saying "Please see How to Win A Fight" on p.129 which is somewhat related in case the grift goes bad. The book is full of these wild connections which made the book an unusual read and very entertaining.
Here are some other sections of the book just to name a few
- Idiosyncrasies of the Great Detectives
- Basics of Snow and Ice Warfare
- Hints on Building Snow Forts
- History's Worst Men's Haircuts
- Dog people vs. Cat people
- Hobo Matters
- Seven Hundred Hobo Names (my favorite is Rex Spangler, The Bedazzler)
- Lobster-Claw vs Pigeon-foot deformities
- Short Words for Use on Submarines to Preserve Oxygen
- Nine Presidents Who had Hooks For Hands
- Herbert Hoover and his Dream-Thieving Machine
Need I continue? The book of course is not factual and is often ridiculous but is so entertaining. American history through Hodgman's mind is a bizarre ride. I was hooked by the cover of the book alone which states,
The Areas of My Expertise Which Include: Matters Historical, Matters Literary, Matters Cryptozoological, Hobo Matters, Food, Drink & Cheese (a kind of food), Squirrels & Lobsters & Eels, Haircuts, Utopia, What Will Happen In The Future, and Most Other Subjects.
I highly recommend this book. What do others think of this book?
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