All that we take for granted in today’s world is typically the result of one lucky break, one person’s point of clarity that has managed to shine through the efforts of many others. However, it is those that have fallen at the last hurdle, via back luck or ignorance, which A Brief History of Failure celebrates. And this group is legion.
From the earliest days of civilisation to the political turmoil of modern politics, this book examines the groups and individuals who fall into the classification of losers. Research on the world’s silver and bronze medalists has been painstakingly conducted to produce the most definitive text to date, with archive imagery added where possible to provide additional visual depth to each heart-rending tidbit of failure.
Satirical comments about fictional failures through the ages, like alternate last words for Caesar, and Neanderthals attempts to cross the Channel by running across it.
I’m sure this book should be really funny, but I’ve read the original Book of Heroic Failures, which features real failures which are far more impressive and unlikely than the joke ones featured here. It does suffer by contrast.
It’s not bad, but not for me.
Also with all the concerns about fake news…well anyone who really thinks Neanderthals had Facebook are in trouble anyway.
Bookangel, would you mind telling which book you liked that discussed real historical failures? I looked through some of the old reviews and couldn't find it. Amazon turns up a few "historical failure non-fiction" but nothing is jumping out to me.
This sounds like it could be an entertaining read if you wanted to reimagine historical events. However, I think I'd want to know more about actual historical events before I read the alternate version of them. Were they all pretty well-known events and/or people?
Ellie Jane, I think she's talking about *The Book of Heroic Failures* by Stephen Pile. That sounds like a great read to me.
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Ellie Jane, I think she's talking about *The Book of Heroic Failures* by Stephen Pile. That sounds like a great read to me.*
Oh, there are several books in the series too. Most have good reviews on Amazon. Thanks a bunch Anna! These will keep me busy for quite a while.
I'm currently working my way through *this *one. Overall, it's funny and engaging. Sadly, I can see myself experiencing many of the same mishaps in the book. Especially the tales where the character gets hopelessly lost. It's light, easy reading, which was what I like after a stressful day. I'm glad you pointed it out to me.
That sounds like a great read! I'll have to give it a look myself. Ah, well, being able to relate to the mistakes adds to the humor. Plus, history is doomed to repeat itself and all.
The Book of Heroic Failures, and The Return of Heroic Failures were amazing reads, which I really enjoyed. The later books weren't all by the same author and were really cut-down versions of the insanity contained within the first two e.g. The army demolitions officer who moored his boat to the reef he was going to blow up.
The book above tried to be a satirical version of these titles, and in my opinion, it just didn't quite make it. Made up failures can't contend with the insanity that is real life, after all.
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