Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?: The Encyclopedia Of Modern Life (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
IIJMOIES? is an encyclopedic look at what, in the authors’ opinions, is wrong with today’s culture. They skewer across the board, literally taking us from A- to –Z, targeting Alpha Males (“does your boss sprawl over his chair like he’s got two prickly pineapples for testicles?”), Bono (“the world’s most important man, who has come here to save us, each and every one of us.”), Dick Cheney (“has often been called the architect of the Iraq War. However, an architect would have had a plan – so let’s just say it was ‘his fault’”), etc. etc. The liner notes explain that this book was originally published by two Brits, and then adapted for the US market by author and The Daily Show producer Brendan Hay.How can a book which purports to shine a light on everything that is wrong with today’s culture, have a passage decrying observational comedy? Isn’t this book nothing but observational comedy? “Books pointing out the short-comings of modern culture? Those are shit.”This should have been an ‘IIJMOIES?-A-Day’ calendar, and not a book. It’s truly encyclopedic, beginning with the As and ending with the Zs. There’s no foreword or afterword to provide context, it just starts right out with Abstinence Programs (“how can anyone think that sex is not going to happen because of Jesus? How is the sex not going to happen? In fact, an eight-year study in the US showed that 88% of people taking pledges of abstinence fall off the non-screw wagon before marriage.”) and goes on from there. Many of the bits are truly funny, but many more are not, and the presentation gets old really quickly. I did enjoy it more when I just picked it up and read a couple-three passages at a time. Which is why it took me a month-and-a-half to get through its 259 pages.
Apparently there's a new American edition of Is It Just Me or is Everything Shit? by Steve Lowe. Brendan Hay of The Daily Show collaborated on the Americanization of this encyclopedia of all things shit. Although I'm an American and an active book blogger, I apparently missed the memo on this new edition.By strange book karma I got a copy of the original British edition through BookCrossing and that's the edition I read. So when reading my review please keep in mind I am reviewing an older and different book. For your convenience, I am providing links to reviews of the 2009 American edition.Is it Just Me or is Everything Shit is an encyclopedia of whinging on the worst pieces of modern culture: it's excesses, it's celebrities, government, politicians, food and so forth. As it is a critique of British (for the most part) pop culture as it was in 2005 the biting humor by 2010 has lost a few teeth.My two biggest problems with the book stem from just how dated much of it felt and the constant whining from the author. Yes I got the jokes and the references and the slang but after about letter F or G, I stopped caring.I don't think the Daily Show revisions will make the book any better. If you've read both versions, let me know in the comments how they compare.
What do You think about Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?: The Encyclopedia Of Modern Life (2006)?
My boyfriend pretty much forced me to read this. It's one of the few books he owns and when he was looking for something underneath the bed the other day, he was all "This is the best book ever".It's not actually but it had some funny bits, like his rant on IKEA or the words "smart casual".I really need to get it back out from underneath the bed and add a few quotes to this review.Anyway, the author is also a bit moronic at times and says things that are kind of dumb. And there are other times where his rant will go on for pages on an uninteresting subject. It is what it is. It's a humour book and I'm sure there are wayyyy better out there. It was brilliant at moments but other parts were boring and tedious.Good idea, flawed execution.
—Lisa
Remember that last book I said had the best title ever? Well, I was wrong, because this book actually has the best title ever.UPDATE: Just threw this book across the room. Here's why: in an entry purporting to demonstrate why people who use audio books are philistines, the authors refer to Joyce's Finnegan's Wake (sic).Now, here's a rule I consider elementary: if you're going to write a book that's essentially a long, sneering diatribe that purports to demonstrate your intellectual superiority over everything and everyone, you'd better not also demonstrate to your readers that you don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing wrong with a good sneering diatribe that purports to show why everyone but you (and perhaps your reader) is stupid and benighted -- it has a long and distinguished history in American letters. But if you're going to write one, you'd better be smart and you'd better be knowledgeable. That means that you don't get to make mistakes like writing Finnegan's Wake, especially when you're looking down your nose at people who use audio books. Once you do that (and they did it three times in one paragraph, so I know it's not a typo), you've told the reader that, in fact, not only are you are not intellectually superior to people who use audio books, but you're also an arrogant, witless, self-satisfied fuck who shouldn't be allowed to try and read a book, much less write one.So you know, shut the fucking fuck up, don't expect me to read your book, and actually, don't be writing it in the first place.
—Laura
