Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition | 
| Author: The Onion
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.99
Buy Used: $8.94
You Save: $19.05 (68%)
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Rating:  106 reviews
Sales Rank: 1531
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 73
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 11 x 8.6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0316018422
Dewey Decimal Number: 081
EAN: 9780316018425
ASIN: 0316018422
Publication Date: October 30, 2007
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Product Description
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 fake world history and geography. That is why The Onion is publishing a world atlas: to help us.
Our Dumb World is an invaluable tool for any reader interested in overthrowing a weakened government in East Asia, exploiting a developing nation in Africa, or for directions to tonight's party at Erica's. It is a reference guide to 250,000 of the world's most important places, such as North Korea's Trench of Victory, the Great Human Pyramid of Egypt, and Saudi Arabia's superhighway, the Mohammedobahn.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 101 more reviews...
 Hilariously Funny December 1, 2008
RebeccasReads.com (Austin, Texas)
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (1/08)
"Our Dumb World" is The Onion's "Atlas of the Planet Earth" and definitely will not disappoint! Anyone who is familiar with and appreciates the humor of The Onion will enjoy reading this book! I am sure that to some people the way that some of the events and people are made light of in this publication may seem insensitive and cruel but that is the type of humor that The Onion uses. If you easily offended or sensitive to things like that then this is not the book for you. You will not find any political-correctness in this book!
"Our Dumb World" starts out with a "How to Use This Atlas" section which is as funny as the book itself! My favorite part of this introduction is "A Note to Barnes & Noble Browsers" which begins with "What do you think you're doing? Seriously, what does this look like to you? Some kind of library? Did you really think that you could just come in here and spend the afternoon reading the book for free? The line to pay is over that way, buddy. What's that? Just trying to decide whether or not you want to buy the book? You don't think we're really that stupid, do you?" (p. 004) The humor takes off from there and holds strong throughout the rest of the book that focuses on every region of the world.
The remaining part of the book is divided into seven sections: North America, South America, Africa, The Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Although I enjoyed the book in its entirety, I would have to say that my favorite part was the section on North America just because obviously from living here I have more familiarity with the area and the things that were being poked fun at. From the history timeline informing us that in 1980 "A Plague of Pac-Man Fever ravages the U.S. Treasury's quarters supply" (p.12) to the individual features making fun of different aspects and occurrences in each state this section will absolutely have you laughing out loud! I haven't read a book this funny in some time!
The GREATEST book ever written October 26, 2008
mrliteral
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Occasionally, a book comes along of such great importance that to not buy it--even if it means letting your kids go hungry for a couple nights--would be a crime. In fact, it should be a crime, and I advise you to write your local legislator. Such a book is Our Dumb World, the Atlas of the Planet Earth from the Onion.
The seventy-third edition of this magnum opus offers an even more profound look at the world we live in than any of the previous seventy-two. Some of the new features are mentioned on the cover, including curvier latitude lines and 30% more Asia. And unlike lesser atlases, Our Dumb World includes all the continents, even the ones you'd rather not think about.
The featured maps for each nation are worthy of the Cartography Hall of Fame, should such a Hall of Fame exist. Even obscure countries like France have detailed maps which point out the locations of important sites and regions like the Institute for Pretentious Mustards and the sole acre of France that has never been surrendered to a foreign power.
Of course, a great atlas--and this is the greatest of them all--is more than just maps. There is history: did you know that in 1200, Japan invented karate to defend against invading stacks of wooden boards, or in 1968, it formed a tentative peace treaty with Mothra? There are cultural facts: for example, Ecuador has a Gross Domestic Product of $5.62 and tried to privatize the equator.
I would not recommend this book for children, as its intense brilliance may cause their small brains to explode. For everyone else, however, it is imperative that you buy this book (or it will be once we get that law passed). Sadly, Amazon's rating system restricts the number of stars you can give a book to five, which may be fine for minor writers like Shakespeare or Steinbeck, but inadequate for this book, which merits 1,356,298 stars.
A comic tour de force October 24, 2008
Sean Hoade (Tuscaloosa, AL United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Our Dumb World" is amazing -- it is one of the most consistently funny books I've ever read. It has more content than it seems, and takes quite a while to read, which I consider a plus. It keeps a sustained level of humor that shouldn't be surprising to any fan of The Onion.
Also, and I hate to admit this, but I learned quite a bit of geography from this "atlas." A definite must-read!
Funny AND educational October 20, 2008
armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This paperback edition of the 2007 hardcover version of Our Dumb World contains "30% More Asia"! If only high school geography was this sarcastic and realistic, maybe Americans would know exactly where the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, or Jordan are, but as it is, geography is so dull that Our Dumb World brings a breath of fresh air and levity to our world. Laid out like a regular Atlas, you see the land mass, flag, facts and major contemporary details about each country.
Taking after their irreverent humor that their weekly newspaper elicits, with headlines that could read: "Florida fallen off Continental Shelf, orange juice production low, adult diapers high," this Atlas pokes jabs at every major country as you guffaw your way around the globe. Even the most uptight, humorless individual would read these pages and laugh. Everyone has heard of Palestine, but has it been thought of in the context of, "On 24-Hour Suicide-Bombing Watch"? Or Yemen & Oman, "Doing Terrorism's Grunt Work." These are all headliners that sum up a specific land mass pretty adequately with that snide Onion `we know you love reading us because we're such good writers of cynicism.' This book delivers a good belly laugh and perhaps even some education thrown in for good measure.
Armchair Interviews says: Beautiful layout, well written, and funny. A must have for your high school student; then you can borrow it.
 Waste of $$$ September 17, 2008
Headmaster
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
The writing is juvenile, pedestrian, and even mean. The writers try too hard to be funny. It is a stupid concept. I can't believe it got by a reputable editor. Don't waste your money unless you get it for a dime at a garbage, oop, garage, sale.
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