Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth

by The Onion

Book Overview

Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of The Planet Earth, 73rd Edition features incorrect statistics on all of the Earth's 168, 182, or 196 independent nations. It also features maps, including a fold-out world map at actual size. Readers will learn about every country from Afghanistan, "Allah's Cat Box," to the Ukraine, "The Bridebasket of Europe." Today's news-parody consumer cannot possibly understand made-up current events without the context of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316018422
• ISBN13: 9780316018425
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 2.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.8" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

Banned at Junior High School

Apparently social satire is not a popular topic among today's educators. Our son was suspended for three days from Junior high school for bringing this book to school and showing it to some classmates. My wife and I did not go through the book in detail and realized (too late) that it does contain some offensive language, pictures, and racial references. It was a lot easier to find this offensive content after a school district employee spent an afternoon flagging all of the offending pages with post-its. In my opinion it was all (well mostly all) relevant social commentary, but offensive non the less. We thought the punishment pretty extreme, given the offensive content is minimal compared to an episode of "South Park" or any version of Grand Theft Auto. I guess you can chalk this one up to bad parenting. Too bad really, as the book humorously attacks some pretty serious issues, it easily engages young adults, and promotes a lot of good discussion.

Not for the thin-skinned

This book is hilarious but it's also about as un-PC as it gets. If you're sensitive about that, it isn't for you. ODW is funny from cover to cover, and some of it is laugh-out-loud, in the manner of an insult comic's take on the world. The Onion cleverly and often outrageously exploits every national, ethnic, and cultural stereotype there is, both historic and present day. If you can get into that, don't miss this book, and don't miss a word of it including the tiny map notations. If insult comedy bothers you, and no corner of the globe escaped their merciless barbs, spend your money on something else. I've bought 3 more copies as gifts for family members. When I showed them mine, they so enjoyed leafing through they couldn't wait to borrow it and show it to others themselves. I doubted I'd get it back, though, so I got them their own. It's a terrific gift, as long as you're sure you won't be inadvertently stepping on tender toes.

For Those With or Without ADD

For people who are unfamiliar with "The Onion", it is a publication of made up stories presented in news print that circulates in major metropolitan areas of the US. This is not a factual atlas so people who buy it as reference are sure to be disappointed. This is probably the funniest book I have come across in a long time. I can turn to any page and find side splittingly funny content. Others may not share my taste and may even find some of the content offensive. I bought the book after listening to the audio cd (which is extremely well done, but goes through a lot less regions than the book). For someone who is skeptical, turn to any page (preferably about a country or region you have interest in or know something about). The layout is amazingly simple. The book is devided by regions (US, South America, Europe, Asia, Middle East Asia etc). The punchline is right at the top of the page. There is a map, not detailing geograhic landmarks, but making humurous and intelligent observations about the region.Each page has "facts about the region" (national pastime, conflicts etc), history and pictures with subtitles. While there is is little in terms of actual facts, one does learn something about each region (albiet twisted for the sake of humor and extremely exaggerated). This is just about the perfect book for someone who likes to be entertained, has a short attention span and does not have time or interest in reading books in general

Area Man Enjoys Book About Areas

Are you tired of world atlases that lie about how every country is full of scenic and cultural riches, with charming and friendly people? Wouldn't you like to see an atlas that tells the truth about how dreary and desolate the world really is, with 99% of the human population facing endless suffering and exploitation until their dying breath? Well the erudite social realists at The Onion have delivered an atlas that tells it like it is. For example, you were probably unaware that the leading cause of death in Tanzania is lion tipping, and that Georgia is even more Christian than the other Georgia. Of course The Onion is known for its subversively satirical humor, and here that cracked yet strangely intelligent worldview is applied to the Earth in a fashion similar to the historical coverage of their earlier comedy masterpiece "Our Dumb Century." Sure some of the national entries in this atlas are built on thin stereotypes (Poland is subjected to never-ending Polish jokes) or cheeky one-issue gags that run out of steam (the entire entry on Jordan is about what a hottie Queen Rania is). But overall, Onion fans will certainly appreciate the depth of humor in this book, because to get the most out of the humor you need some real knowledge on geography and history (for instance, you'd have to know something about mapmaking to figure out why the entry on Greenland is so funny). Meanwhile, that Onion intelligence shines though, sarcastically, in entries for the most suffering countries on Earth (for instance, the genocidal slaughters in Rwanda and Sudan were peacefully resolved because you went to that rally), and there is sinister political satire in the entries for all the many countries that currently have wars going on. WARNING: Read this book with a magnifying glass, and a knowledgeable sense of satire. [~doomsdayer520~]

Huge Book

When I first saw that that the Onion had done a spoof atlas book covering every country in the world, I thought it would be moderately funny. I mean, how are they going to make jokes about places most people know nothing about? Somehow, they manage to do it, and what results is a f-in hilarious, HUGE book. So much better than the Colbert book.