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Great Mistakes of Civilisation: Mankind's Mistakes and Faux Pas
Fans of Simon Drew's previous publications will already be familiar with his peculiar take on the animal world. Now he has humanity firmly in his sights ...
Nothing is quite how you remember it in Drew's story of Mankind. With his trusty weaponry of excruciating visual and verbal puns he cuts an unexpected path through our life and times, slaying Sacred Cows and turning classroom history on its head.
What was the true purpose of Stonehenge? How did a simple misunderstanding over vegetable trigger The Great War? Did Van Gogh have fun on his birthdays?
The answers to these and other pressing questions can be found in 'Great Mistakes of Civilisation'. Essential reading for all armchair scholars of the human condition, and anyone with an adventurous and a wicked sense of humour.
Nothing is quite how you remember it in Drew's story of Mankind. With his trusty weaponry of excruciating visual and verbal puns he cuts an unexpected path through our life and times, slaying Sacred Cows and turning classroom history on its head.
What was the true purpose of Stonehenge? How did a simple misunderstanding over vegetable trigger The Great War? Did Van Gogh have fun on his birthdays?
The answers to these and other pressing questions can be found in 'Great Mistakes of Civilisation'. Essential reading for all armchair scholars of the human condition, and anyone with an adventurous and a wicked sense of humour.
- GenresHumor
48 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1996
3 people want to read
About the author
Simon Drew
45 books3 followersSimon Drew (born October 9, 1952) is an English illustrator and cartoonist, noted for his quirky punning captions, often featuring animals which he draws in a fine pen-and-ink style.
He was educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire, and then studied zoology at Exeter University before going on to train as a teacher at Reading University. He spent five years teaching at a West Sussex school and while there spent his spare time drawing.
In 1981 he and his wife established an art gallery in Dartmouth, Devon, to sell his own work and that of studio potters. The gallery has since been listed by the Crafts Council as one of the 54 best in the country.
He continues to work, mainly in pen and ink, making still life compositions from everyday objects, birds and animals.
His first book 'A Book of Bestial Nonsense' was published in 1986 and since then he has written and illustrated more than 20.
He has exhibited locally and in Cape Cod, USA, and his pictures, limited edition prints and cards are bestsellers.
He was educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire, and then studied zoology at Exeter University before going on to train as a teacher at Reading University. He spent five years teaching at a West Sussex school and while there spent his spare time drawing.
In 1981 he and his wife established an art gallery in Dartmouth, Devon, to sell his own work and that of studio potters. The gallery has since been listed by the Crafts Council as one of the 54 best in the country.
He continues to work, mainly in pen and ink, making still life compositions from everyday objects, birds and animals.
His first book 'A Book of Bestial Nonsense' was published in 1986 and since then he has written and illustrated more than 20.
He has exhibited locally and in Cape Cod, USA, and his pictures, limited edition prints and cards are bestsellers.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 24, 2025
With his usual mix of extraordinary puns, Simon Drew runs through the gamut of mankind's and animal-kind's mistakes and provides a laugh a page as one reads his 'Great Mistakes of Civilisation'. Most are exceedingly funny, others not quite so and there may even be the odd one that readers might take exception to!
One of my favourites is 'Alas poor Yorick, he knew William Tell', which portrays someone (Shakespeare perhaps) surveying the skupp he holds in his hand with an arrow running through it. The holder is not Shakespeare though, for he is faithfully pictured in the following 'mistake' which is entitled 'william shakespeare with his tortoise andronicus' and as you may imagine WS has a tortoise neatly perched atop his head!
I'm not too sure what Harper Lee would have thought of his take on that work as it superbly portrays a desert scene with a parrot complete with Mexican sombrero and a shot of drink; not surprisingly it is entitled 'tequila mocking bird'. I feel Harper Lee would have been amused but could this title have won a Pulitzer Prize I wonder?!!
And would Lee Marvin have had such a big hit with Drew's 'prawn under a wandering star' which has a prawn pulling a balloon with a star within it! Imagine, 'I was prawn under a wandering star' - sung, of course in Marvin's gravely voice! And what would they have made in Italy if Drew's offering was on show? Under the generic title of 'little known ancient vegetable relics', the verse that accompanies the drawing reads, 'When you have no faith in beans,/If you don't believe in greens,/If you're left in any doubt:/come and see the Turing sprout.' I need not tell you what this shroud depicts but you would probably eat it with your upcoming Christmas dinner!
It is fun from start to finish, once again some of the offerings being funnier than others.
One of my favourites is 'Alas poor Yorick, he knew William Tell', which portrays someone (Shakespeare perhaps) surveying the skupp he holds in his hand with an arrow running through it. The holder is not Shakespeare though, for he is faithfully pictured in the following 'mistake' which is entitled 'william shakespeare with his tortoise andronicus' and as you may imagine WS has a tortoise neatly perched atop his head!
I'm not too sure what Harper Lee would have thought of his take on that work as it superbly portrays a desert scene with a parrot complete with Mexican sombrero and a shot of drink; not surprisingly it is entitled 'tequila mocking bird'. I feel Harper Lee would have been amused but could this title have won a Pulitzer Prize I wonder?!!
And would Lee Marvin have had such a big hit with Drew's 'prawn under a wandering star' which has a prawn pulling a balloon with a star within it! Imagine, 'I was prawn under a wandering star' - sung, of course in Marvin's gravely voice! And what would they have made in Italy if Drew's offering was on show? Under the generic title of 'little known ancient vegetable relics', the verse that accompanies the drawing reads, 'When you have no faith in beans,/If you don't believe in greens,/If you're left in any doubt:/come and see the Turing sprout.' I need not tell you what this shroud depicts but you would probably eat it with your upcoming Christmas dinner!
It is fun from start to finish, once again some of the offerings being funnier than others.
Displaying 1 of 1 review