Reddit reviews The Areas of My Expertise: An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order

All three of John Hodgman's books (The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That is All) are fantastic almanacs of made-up facts.

Hodgman has a really unique voice that shines through in his writing, and his signature move of CAPTALIZING SOME WORDS for emphasis will always be funny to me - for example:


>DECEMBER 16 1936, PARIS: Walter Benjamin writes his seminal essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," in which he argues that ancient works of art, such as sculpture and pottery, have an "aura" that cinema and books, which exist only as copies, do not. Benjamin went on to claim that only he could see this magical aura, and when the time was right, he would tap its energy to fuel the massive PSYCHIC RESONATOR he was developing to halt the rise of the Nazis. IT WOULD HAVE WORKED, TOO, had the Nazis not destroyed his enormous cache of urns.

I think "More" is probably the best of the three, but they all have a through-line where Hodgman charts his path from unknown Apple commercial personality to reclusive millionaire, so the whole series is worth checking out IMO.

I think he's hilarious. His book, The Areas of My Expertise is an awesome read.

I read it, it's pretty good.

I prefer John Hodgman's The Area's of My Expertise. He's like an older, wiser Trey Hamburger.

It's also endorsed by the Church or of Satan.

You have to throw about £3 at it but green laser ponter would be cool.

Or maybe I Am America (and So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert.

And you can never go wrong with a classic.

Edit: I almost forgot both book by John Hodgman are great.

The Areas of My Expertise: A Compendium of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order by Myself

More Information Than You Require ( Paperback )

To be fair, John Hodgman once put out a book of complete world knowledge...and then he released two more.

The Areas of My Expertise

Reminds me of track 9 of the first cd of the audio book of The Areas of my Expertise