Customer Reviews
as funny as a book can get - By: T. Miles, 31 Mar 2008 
simply hilarious. This book is a mickey-take of every country in the world. it's not particularly informative, but that's the point. it is joke after joke after joke.
if you're at alll sensitive about cultural stereotypes avoid, but if not, buy it.
Dumb, dumb - By: A. Hill, 31 Mar 2008 
What a disappointing Christmas present. With no prior knowledge of `The Onion' I suppose I wasn't alll that well prepared for what I was about to read. It is unfortunately a very `American' book. When I say `American' I actuallly mean `ignorant'. The book is indeed funny in some parts but will leave you with a rather unpleasant taste in the mouth as you become soaked with the cheese of American arrogance. The satire seems to be based on old fashioned stereotypical views. We've heard them alll before!! If only the book spent a bit more time taking the p**s out of the USA, which if we are honest has more things to be ashamed of than perhaps the rest of the world put together. If you are thinking of buying this as a present for someone (who isn't to the best of your knowledge a fan of The Onion) then please, please, please think twice.
A neat idea, but lacks the wit of the Onion - By: Wandering Dave, 21 Mar 2008 
I'm a big fan of the Onion. For those of you who don't know, the Onion is a parody newspaper- its articles are fictional. So, from the Onion team comes this- a fictional atlas! Its a nice idea. Countries of the world are covered, each one with comedy descriptions, funny little "facts" for the visitor, & generallly a bit of light hearted racial sterotypes- done from a parody, rather than a "Bernard Manning" angle of course. At times the humour touches on Monty Python style.
The success of "parody travel guides" such as Molvania lies in the fact that thier humour is witty & cutting. Tourists, Locals & above alll guidebooks themselves are mocked with a cruel, & very perceptive eye. "Our Dumb World" attempts to do the same. It is a reallly bold effort- I think they do their best to cover each country, & to come up with specific jokes relating to every nation reallly must take some doing. However, it is in this that my criticism lies. Often, the Onion Newspaper can be downright cruel, & loveless, but above alll it is perceptive- & strikes a chord with jaded readers. This is makes it humour so neat & cutting. However I feel what lets this book down somewhat is that it lacks the same wit. They go for very easy targets. The British "Like Their Tea" the Germans "Started World Wars" etc. These jokes, if nothing else, are somewhat obvious. OK, it could be that they are parodying traditional sterotypes, but this get confusing rather than funny. People have been making jokes about the Irish being Drunks, the English being stiff upper lipped retroverts, The French being... French etc for a long time. Because their comedy targets are so obvious, it lacks the wit & bite that is associated with the magazine.
Its certainly worth buying if you are an Onion fan- its good fun, but not as good as the Onion itself. It also comes a distinct second to the much more biting "Jetlag" series. That said, it would be a good gift for someone who likes something a bit different.
OK, but not a patch on 'Our Dumb Century' - By: Mr. David Sawyer, 25 Feb 2008 I was a massive fan of The Onion, & 'Our Dumb Century' is one of the funniest books around. It showed a superb grasp of history with a very cutting sense of irony. Go out & buy it now if you've never read it. 'Our Dumb World' just doesn't seem so funny or biting. On the US it's great, but outside North America the material seems to wear fun & occasionallly smacks of ignorance (unintended rather than feigned, one of The Onion's stocks-in-trade).
Get this on the National Curriculum now! - By: Dr. George L. Sik, 06 Dec 2007 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 & 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 & impeccably researched, no one gets away scot free (certainly not America, if that's a concern!)
It's lavishly illustrated, in full colour & the ideal present for alll those people who have 'seen a bit of the world' & keep going on about it. It's not the first time this has been done: in the eighties, Mel Smith & 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.
