The Areas of My Expertise 174
Hemos writes "Most of the books sent to Slashdot for review have words like
"Java", "hacks", or "802.11b" in the title, but occasionally an odd
general book arrives after a publicist hits the wrong button on the
keyboard. At first, I thought that John Hodgman's The Areas of
My Expertise , was a mistake, but now I'm not sure. Because
this is Slashdot, I'll spend the rest of the review wondering
whether the Internet is really changing jokes, humor in general,
and even all narrative form. But before that, I can tell you now
that there's something sly, odd, and very funny about the book even
though it is little more than a disconnected collection of lists
and details. It's a coredump from a mind filled with 700 names of
Hobos, the ways to use a ferret to rob a bank, the secret to
winning every fight (use henchmen!), and the first draft of T.R.
Roosevelt's famous command: speak softly and pierce their eyes with
a golden hook." Read on for Peter Wayner's review.
| The Areas of My Expertise | |
| author | John Hodgman |
| pages | 230 |
| publisher | |
| rating | 8 |
| reviewer | Peter Wayner |
| ISBN | |
| summary | |
Let me help the curiosity of the general reader before I get to the meat of the review where I reveal enough Internet-releated theories to satisfy the nasty trolls who like to wonder why Slashdot is wasting valuable bits on silly topic. As John Hodgeman is fond of promising on his book's cover: "THE ANSWER IS PROVIDED".
The book is said to be a relatively complete collection of all of the important expertise in the mind of John Hodgeman, the author referred to on the cover as "A PROFESSIONAL WRITER." There's one section that contains the "700 Hobo names you requested." ("Irontrousers the Strong", "Fleastick" are 55 and 79). Another includes random crap about the 50 states. The sections are all very silly and the humor emerges from a form of metaphysical misdirection. I still chuckle when I think about the list of jokes that "have never produced laughter." The jokes really aren't funny, but there's something insane in their very deliberate and plodding failure.
The book can be sampled like a box of chocolates. I tried to read it through directly to see if any grand arc emerged, but my mind couldn't extract any great signal from the cultural noise. For all I know, he wrote each bit on an index card and then shuffled the cards before typesetting the book. The gags are all about the randomness of the wrong information cluttering his minds and, to a large extent, the texture of the words.
Long ago, an editor would have thrown this guy out on his ear for even suggesting that 230 some pages of chuckles would be worthy of getting people together for a book publication party. I don't think the editor or the publisher let those worries get in the way.
Which brings us to the answer I owe you about why this is a post- internet book. As the non-funny "unified theory of the web" in Small Pieces Loosely Joined pointed out, the web is made up by many small pieces of information arranges with hyperlinks that join them, loosely if you will. Well, that's this book. Random pieces of crap, given an additional shuffle to make it seem all the more random. It's all very loosely joined.
Long ago, professional writers like John Hodgman included narrative arcs and well-wrought plotlines with their books. Perhaps we don't need them any more. Maybe the Internet has changed our brain and made us happy to graze from the bar without the need of a sitdown meal. To put on my PROFESSIONAL POSTER hat, I think that the Internet has made us accustomed to getting our stuff in loosely joined pieces.
In fact it's worse than that. Most bloggers write complete paragraphs, but many parts of the book are just a collection of tiny bits that don't even qualify as full paragraphs. Many of the entries are just lists and many of the items in these lists aren't even complete sentences. This modern approach to writing is everywhere. Even the old dead-tree-based print media is producing magazines filled with so-called stories that are nothing more than lists of cool things to do, watch, or eat. The high-toned magazines may even have two or three sentences per list item--enough, I guess, to qualify as a paragraph, but most are nothing more than lists.
Some folks seem to feel that this fragmented, attention-deficit- whatever life is a good thing. Steven Johnson, for instance, argues in his book that the jumpy plots made of many short scenes are evidence of an expanding intellect. Modern TV seems almost unwatchable to me. But I also find old Starsky and Hutch episodes to be terribly plodding. Won't they just get to the point and catch the killers? But, back then, the journey was 9/10ths of the fun. The point wasn't really the point.
But maybe I'm just making too much of it. Plenty of comedy has always been filled with short pieces. Steve Martin's Cruel Shoes , for instance, was broken into a number of very short bits, although there really were a few threads woven throughout the book. Absurdist comedy like Monty Python's Flying Circus was just a collection of wacky riffs, but they did try to come up with clever and even more absurdist segueways to carry the viewer from scene to scene. It was not usual to have a bunch of guys walk into the frame of a sketch and carry one or more of the characters off and into the frame of another set.
At this point, I sort of feel that I need to add what PROFESSIONAL WRITERS call a "kicker", some sort of question or twist that connects us with the top of the piece and gives the reader a sense of closure. They're hard to find and even harder to craft. Ones that are even slightly funny or insightful can get you promoted. But, given the spirit of the book, I feel inclined to invoke the spirit of a hobo, slack a bit, and steal the ending from the book itself. (I can do this without spoiling the book for you!) As Hodgman writes when he comes to the end of the deck of joke cards, "That is all."
You can purchase The Areas of My Expertise from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
FTFR: (Score:4, Funny)
Yep. That'd be slashdot.
Sounds interesting (Score:4, Funny)
At first, I thought... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:FTFR: (Score:0, Funny)
2. ?
3. profit
Re:T.R. Roosevelt... (Score:0, Funny)
what kind of word is this? (Score:5, Funny)
and even more absurdist segueways to carry
is that pronounced seg-way-ways? Reminds me of the "ATM Machine" joke...
Re:what kind of word is this? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sounds interesting (Score:5, Funny)
I've since moved on to the corner of Ironwood and Edison. Better traffic flow.
"Won't they just get to the point" (Score:5, Funny)
Titles? (Score:3, Funny)
I thought most books had the words "Google", "Apple", or that up-and-comer "Ubuntu".
Oh wait, that's articles. Never mind.
Re:New Form of Book... (Score:5, Funny)
Uh...
He didn't really mimic anything, because there's no such place as planet Tralfamadore. He made it all up.
Sorry I had to be the one to tell you.
Re:what kind of word is this? (Score:4, Funny)
This is Insightful? OK, every time I try to put on my shoes, I forget how to tie them.
Found in the Slashcode source code: (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe Hodgeman was just really stoned? (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like a very baked-out idea to me. Plodding failure is a joke in itself.
PS what in the world is 'metaphysical misdirection?' is that like ending up in purgatory? Or getting lost on the way to church?
Reminds me of what Lord Byron wrote in Don Juan:
"Explaining metaphysics to the nation, I wish he would explain his explanation."
Re:Welcome to the new Dark Age (Score:3, Funny)
Perhaps my view of the world was skewed since I came from a family that read a lot, while working 8+ hours a day. And in my busy schedual I still manage to finish a book a week (of nonfiction, generally), not counting all of the other reading I must do in the run of my life, all the articals, forums, books, etc.
But then again I haven't turned on my TV for 3 months, and have started limiting my online times, because they were taking away from intellectual activities.
Re:New Form of Book... (Score:3, Funny)
That's what it looks like to me.
Re:what kind of word is this? (Score:3, Funny)
"RTFA the article, moron!"
Surprisingly, it wasn't on