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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 808
EAN: 9781594483646
Edition: Reprint
ISBN: 1594483647
Label: Riverhead Trade
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: November 03, 2009
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Studio: Riverhead Trade
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
Amazon Best of the Month, October 2008: While writer and former literary agent John Hodgman had a considerable cult following before the publication of his first book, The Areas of My Expertise, the exact moment when Hodgmania hit fever pitch can be traced to his November 16, 2005, appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, when a "Famous Minor Television Personality" was born. Since then he has welcomed a new level of visibility as the Resident Expert on The Daily Show, appearing as the PC in the ubiquitous "Get a Mac" ads, and in bit roles in movies and on TV, so the world should be primed to embrace More Information Than You Require, Book Two in his Compendium of Complete World Knowledge (or, as it says on the cover, "New Ferret, Same Old Con"). Fun facts, bizarre trivia, and oddball photos ("Figure 51: Jane Addams, Pre-Antlers") are crammed into every corner of the page with extended riffs on How to Tell the Future Using a Pig’s Spleen, What to Expect While Serving as a Juror, Gambling ("Sure Thing Number Three: Star Wars Slots"), How to Deal With Some Common Infestations, and of course, How to Be Famous. And what he did for hobos in The Areas of My Expertise, celebrating their free spirit and conniving ways (and a list of 700 hobo names), Hodgman does for mole-men, the "race of humanoids who live in the complex warren of tunnels and vast caverns beneath the earth." Did you know, for instance, that Thomas Jefferson uncovered on his "mole-manic palace known as Monticello" a "small group (or 'Parlor') of mole-men dining on weevil pie and discussing world affairs... 'They touched my face,' wrote Jefferson, 'and hissed, as is their custom.'" Naturally there are 700 Mole-Man Names and Occupations included ("No. 281: Mr. Wallow Dripstone, a worm rider"). Hodgman may be up to the same old con, but this brand new ferret of a book is a wise (and wise-ass) little predator who will swindle away your reading time with endless hours of rabies-free laughs. --Brad Thomas Parsons
Product Description:
The New York Times bestseller by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman-The Daily Show's "Resident Expert" and the "PC" in the iconic Apple ads-picks up exactly where his first book left off. In fact, "the new volume is in every way a continuation of Areas of My Expertise, except in the ways it's clearly superior."(The Onion AV Club)
In 2005, John Hodgman published his first compendium of Complete World Knowledge, The Areas of My Expertise, a handy volume of fake trivia and made-up facts. Hodgmania was born. Virtually overnight, John Hodgman was whisked from tweedy obscurity to the high ether of minor celebrity. And from his strange new vantage point as a Famous Minor Television Personality, Hodgman realized that there is some world knowledge yet to be documented. And so he returned to exactly where he had left off-namely, page 256 of the paperback edition of The Areas of My Expertise. And he brought with him: MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE Which, naturally, begins on page 257. Like its predecessor, More Information than You Require consists of brief articles, overlong lists, frighteningly complex charts, and beguiling narratives on new and familiar themes such as:
THE PAST (because there is always more of it)
THE FUTURE (because they say there is still some left)
MOLE-MEN (including a list of 700 Mole-man names)
GAMBLING, THE SPORT OF THE
ATHSMATIC MAN (including hermit crab racing)
CRYPTOGEOGRAPHY (including Canada)
HOW TO BE A FAMOUS MINOR TELEVISION PERSONALITY (Hint: Go on television)
AND NOW, the relatively pocket-sized and inexpensive paperback edition includes even more
MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE, updated to include the very latest in implausibility.
PLUS!: This paperback edition includes a special self-expanding fold-out edition of THE TAXONOMY OF COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE, which you have probably never seen before because it has been carefully hidden. UNTIL NOW.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I'm not sure what more I can add to the brilliance of John Hodgman's works, other than, "More, please!"
I found 'MITYR' to be - as a whole - mroe entertaining than his previous faux-lmanac, 'The Areas of My Expertise,"' but that isn't to say that the book is wholly superb. I appear to be in quite a minority, but both the sections on the hobos ('TAoME') and mole-men ('MITYR') just sort of irritated me. Having to flip page after page of mole-man names was at least mitigated to some extent this time around by having extra "facts" about the mole-man society in the margins.
I particularly liked the inclusion of the "calendar pages" as they added interesting blurbs of randomness - which may or may not then either reference or be referenced later on in the book.
I have high hopes that Hogdman will continue past his plan of writing three of these sorts of books, if for no other reason that good comedy can be hard to come by.
Rating:  -
John Hodgman does it again. The piece on poker is priceless. Read every word of this insane book-- it's a work of genius.
Rating:  -
Hodgeman's previous book - Areas of My Expertise - was enjoyable, witty and moderately original. More Information Than You Require feels like the scraps that didn't make it into Areas of My Expertise. The jokes aren't quite funny and the writing style feels like a poor caricature of Hodgeman's usual pithiness.
Rating: -
I was worried, when I got this, that it couldn't live up to Areas for sheer insanity and hilarity. I was right. It doesn't live up to it - it surpasses it. Packing in even more information, including a page-a-day calendar, Hodgman returns to the pseudo-almanac form for another barrage of fictional facts, and the results got me more strange looks in public as I cracked up through every bizarre page. From the Teddy Roosevelt facts to the sequels to The Prince, from a strange weather feud between Milwaukee and Richmond to lost souls destined to become Ralph Macchio, More Information Than You Require is side-splittingly funny throughout, and the fact that he's already planning a third book is just icing on the cake for me.
Rating: -
I can't remember now what caused me to order this book, but it is hilarious. I laugh out loud every time I pick it up. I wouldn't mind hanging out with the author, John Hodgman.
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