Fact raconteur John Hodgman is back with his third and presumably final faux almanac, THAT IS ALL. It’s such a straight continuation of 2005′s THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE and 2008′s MORE INFORMATION THAN YOU REQUIRE that ALL begins on page 607.
That’s merely the first of many jokes that make ALL one peculiar, bizarre, unique and consistently hilarious read. Another is a day-by-day, page-per-page countdown of the events leading up to the forthcoming end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012, as predicted by those infernal Mayans. If you haven’t started reading the book already, DON’T DELAY! Precious little time remains. WERE YOU AWARE OF IT?
Anyone’s who read Hodgman’s previous works knows what to expect: erudite, wry and more-deadpan-than-deadpan entries of important knowledge, whether on British zoo etiquette, how to make wine in prison, and the 700 ancient and unspeakable ones who soon will port into our dimension (you’ve heard of Nick Nolte, the Plumed Serpent and Click Clack, the Easily Offended God of Spokes and Wheels, no?).
As the end of the book nears, the content increasingly centers on apocalyptic matters, such as things you should have on hand with which to barter, such as “2,923 cans [of] Dick Van Patten’s Hobo Chili for Dogs.”
Packed with charts, graphs, footnotes, sidebars and sidebars within sidebars, THAT IS ALL can be challenging if devoured in large chunks. While this is not encouraged — after all, aren’t almanacs designed for daily reading? — your doom approaches. No rush. —Rod Lott
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