Product Description
Over 1.5 million copies sold in this New York Times bestselling humor series

With over 1.5 million copies sold, the Darwin Awards series is the alpha chimp of humorous human mishaps. Despite being an international bestseller, and inspiring a movie—The Darwin Awards—these cautionary chronicles have failed to stop another generation of Darwin Award winners from steering motorcycles with their feet, heating lava lamps on stoves, using liquid soap as brake fluid, and drowning themselves in the kitchen sink.

Filled with more than 100 new tales of evolution in action, plus science essays and a parody research paper supporting Intelligent Design, The Darwin Awards 4 shows that when it comes to common sense, natural selection still has a long, long way to go.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 30 reviews)

Contemplating The Odds

The Darwin Awards, as described by Wendy Northcutt at darwinawards.com, is a non-competition of sorts with specific rules for the "winners." This book explains the rules, the basis for "winning" and for those runner-ups who failed to complete the program rules to its fullest extent or whose tale of woe wasn't as "good" as the "winners."

Not to sugar-coat this explanation any further, the purpose (or non-purpose) of the Darwin Awards is to declare the person who killed or neutered themselved in the most absurdly ridiculous way is the "winner."

Still, in reading the book, there is a certain amount of entertainment: a moment or two or three of focusing on another goal has distracted someone from seeing a danger that a more detached viewer (us, for example) can see and avoid. It's the same kind of idea that would cause any of us, except those reading this review, of course, to climb up on a stool placed on a chair to change a lightbulb in a dark place. The danger factor comes into play when the amount of damage that one can do to oneself is added in.

Then there is the alcohol factor. There are plenty of stories in the book about the dangers of excessive drinking and then attempting to do something hazardous, and for this there is no explanation. Perhaps the "winners" were calm, contemplative people prior to imbibing too much, which gave them a false sense of indestructability, which was then exposed as a faulty myth. Most of us have drunk too much at some time or another; some probably have done something rather risky when drunk; fortunately, none of us are award "winners."

All in all, it is an entertaining book exposing the faults of thinking and acting by people at a particular time and place. After reading this book, perhaps we're all capable of doing ourselves terminal harm; perhaps the stories in here prove that most people reading the book aren't foolish enough to do something fatal. But maybe if we knew what kind of mistakes others are capable of, we can avoid the same situations.
November 23, 2008

SCARY...BUT ENTERTAINING

Some of those fools are out there everyday, driving cars, shooting guns, handling explosives, etc. The concept is that the fools will remove themselves from the gene pool and the human species will somehow improve and prosper. Unfortunately these goofy characters often take innocent souls with them to the looney bin or the morgue, and that what's scary for me when I'm on the freeway or out hiking/fishing/hunting. This book looks again at some of these off-base characters; and it is downright entertaining as long as you're not in their path of destruction. I liked this complilation as well as the others, because it is a fun, easy read, and even makes you realize that some of your relatives are not all that bad and not deserving of a Darwin Award. The editors might consider doing a whole book on the elected politicans in Washington, DC.
September 08, 2008

Funny but Sad

Northcutt has continued in a series that looks at human nature and asks why we take silly chances that many times result in our own demise. At least that is how this series of books started. At this point (her 4th book) it feels like she has stopped asking why and is happy to just laugh at others misfortune. If this is your first read in the series then you will most likely enjoy it very much. If you have read all of the books, like I have, then you may end up feeling a bit dysphoric as I did after finishing this one. Maybe it's just me and the fact that I am getting older.

Northcutt wasn't the originator (pun intended) of the Darwin Awards idea (as she makes clear in the book), but she has certainly "evolved" the idea to her own pecuniary advantage. Her background in Molecular Biology is apparent in the short essays that introduce each section (some are by Northcutt and some by other authors). I find it unfortunate that Northcutt takes every opportunity to bash organized religion and the beliefs of Christians who think different from herself on the issues of Human Origins. It is this type of elitist egoism that drives a wedge between scientists and Christian fundamentalists and encourages both sides to ignore what the other is saying. Too bad.

She also has a nice website that can give you a daily dose of this type of humor. The review process for a story to make the book is a rigorous one indeed.
August 28, 2008

A good Christmas stocking stuffer

If you like to read about people doing stupid things, this is your book. It is pretty funny, though a few of the reports seem to have been embellished (and noted). It also has an essay at the front of each chapter on some oddball subject.

I got a couple extra copies as Christmas stocking stuffers.
August 23, 2008

Interesting stories, but crummy chapter introductions

The Darwin Awards are dedicated to those who "do a service to humanity by removing themselves from the gene pool," that is those who kill themselves (or at least try to) in a gloriously shining example of blatant stupidity. This is the fourth book produced in celebration of such stupidity. Now, I must say right off that I did not read the print edition of the book, but listened to the audiobook, so some of what I have to say may not apply to other editions of the book.

Overall, I found the stories to be interesting. I liked how the readers tried to accent their voices to go along with the stories - affecting an Australian accent when discussing an Australian winner, or a Romanian accent when discussing a Romanian winner, and so forth. The stories were nice and short, which made them great for car rides of any length.

What I didn't like was the chapter introductions which discussed subjects such as DNA, the aquatic ape theory, AIDS, and so forth. These sections were a mixed bag - some were interesting, and some boring - but, none of them had anything to do with the Darwin Awards. I would rather that the creators of this book had slipped in stories of famous deaths in history, or something having ANYTHING to do with the Darwin Awards. They were too long, too boring, and jarringly out of step with subject of the book.

So, while this is a good audiobook with some great Darwin Award stories, it is poorly constructed, damaging the listening experience. On the whole, I give this audiobook an extremely guarded recommendation.
August 13, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Darwin Awards: Felonious Failures (Darwin Awards)
by Wendy Northcutt

The Darwin Awards: The Descent of Man
by Wendy Northcutt

The Darwin Awards Boxed Set (1-3)
by Wendy Northcutt

The Darwin Awards III: Survival of the Fittest
by Wendy Northcutt

The Darwin Awards II: Unnatural Selection
by Wendy Northcutt