Not much I can say about this one: it's a collection of Darwin award winners (and the honourable mentions) and their stories.  It's both hilarious and possibly a sad commentary on the advancement, or lack thereof, of common sense.

 

For anyone who might not be familiar with the Darwin Awards, they are given each year for:

significantly improve the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way. They are self-selected examples of the dangers inherent in a lack of common sense, and all human races, cultures, and socioeconomic groups are eligible to compete. Actual winners must meet the following criteria:

 

The Darwin Awards commemorate ""individuals who ensure the long-term survival of our species by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion." The subtitle is "evolution in action." The description on the back cover asks you to "Marvel at the thief who tries to steal live electrical wires. Gape at the lawnchair jockey who floats to a height of 16,000 feet suspended by helium balloons." These purport to be true, verified stories: I guess that's why in the end I just can't find them funny. The book is filled with short notations explaining how these individuals overachieved, and are usually less than two pages each, often just a few paragraphs. Let me give you a flavor by sharing a short one with you: Silenced by the Lambs (28 January 1999, England) A flock of sheep charged a well-meaning British farmer's wife and pushed her over a cliff to her death. Betty, 67, was charged by dozens of sheep after she brought them a bale of hay on the back of a power bike. The sheep rushed forward and rammed the vehicle, knocking Betty and her bike over the edge of a vacant quarry near Durham. "I saw the sheep surround the bike. The next thing she was tumbling down the incline," a neighbor told reporters. Her husband is being comforted by friends. I guess I'm a party pooper, and I admit I've snickered at "Darwin Award" anecdotes told to me over instant messenger and email. But being told these are verified and realizing there was a real person (and this story doesn't make her sound all that stupid, just unlucky) takes all the fun out of it for me. I should add though, I'm really not a joke book person and this is very unlike my usual read. I read it because it was in the Humor Section of "The Ultimate Reading List" which I had been working through. Oh well, maybe Nora Ephron or Dave Barry will suit me better.

This is one of a couple of books that I sometimes read bits from. I also read from it to my mum if we're waiting together. I just love the silly way people can die. Okay, that doesn't sound very nice, but that's the way it is. One thing I did learn is that drinking alcohol should be done in moderation, if you don't want to end up in the next installment.

Forgetting the fact that Darwin was inspired very late in his researches to add the idea that every squirrel and beetle on earth is secretly engaged in some zero-sum conflict, and that his inspiration was the misinformed misanthrope Malthus, who wrote from a much bigger, far more British island than Darwin studied in South America, many years and species earlier, The Darwin Awards is a very entertaining way to feel superior and understood at one and the same time.

A similar award, the Ignobel, has its origins in Boston, which is an island version of Hull, without the culture, but keen to keep Victorian standards of social brutality alive. There, I named-and-shamed for general entertainment too!

Biology was the only subject at school I could never stand, no matter which teacher we had (OK, apart from sport but that isn't relevant here). I just don't care about it at all. And so I also don't really care about the Science Interludes in the Darwin Awards. I do get, that it makes sense to have some info on eveolution in a book named after Darwin but I just feel that it's getting more and more but with less and less connection to the actual topics of the book (I think in the 4th volume, where they really started with the science interludes, they had at least some very vague connection to the chapters they were in, here it's just random). Why not extend it a bit and write e.g. about physics and chemistry? Some stories have already smaller scienc-y appendixes about snake-venom or aluminium-oxide...why not extend on those a bit, instead of...I have actually already forgotten all the things the interludes were about (and I skipped half of them anyway...). Or perhaps I'm the only person that uninterested in biology?The Award-stories itself were enjoyable as always.