Second Best: The Amazing Untold Histories of the Greatest Runners-Up

by Ben Pobjie

History is always written by the winners and about the winners. But what about the poor souls lurking in the shadows of history, the ones who were just as remarkable but perhaps didn’t stick their chests out as they crossed the line?

In Second Best, Australia’s foremost historian and comedian Ben Pobjie celebrates the nobility and altogether more fascinating stories of the silver-medal getters. What drove them on their incredible feats, why did they just miss out, and how did they cope with the oblivion of finishing second?

From the Second Fleet, the second man on the moon and Australia’s second prime minister whose name we consistently forget, Second Best shines a light on those plucky men and women who, through no fault of their own – or at least only a little bit of fault of their own – didn’t quite get there before everyone else, but did get there before almost everyone else.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, History

288 pages, Paperback

Published August 25, 2020

Reviews

[Kirsti]

It doesn't matter that I've had a year of reading far, far less than I normally would. When Ben releases a new book, I am all over it! No one writes history the way he does, with a snark and a wit that has me laughing every time. I've always assumed I'm rather serious; I rarely laugh at books or comedy and never seek out laughter. Ben's books do that for me anyway, unasked for!

This is a fanastic Aussie author and I can't recommend him highly enough. Thankfully even places like Big W seem to have picked up on this, and this book seems more widely available than his last few. Grab them people, and enjoy!

[Jen Mactaggart]

Funny as ever. I especially loved the one on Peter Norman - who would have thunk there could have been racism in Australia?! Love your work Ben Pobjie and what you are doing for Australian (and other) history.

[Terri Scott]

The historical information in these stories is fascinating, but from the start I didn’t like the writing style, yet I couldn’t put it down. I appreciate telling the stories with light hearted humour, but there is a tacky joke on every page that you have to skip over to keep on track with the information you want to read. You get used to it. I read the whole book so that’s a positive.

[Judy]

A humorous look at runners-up in various fields of endeavour. Topics covered include Australian History (Second Fleet, Second Prime Minister, flags etc) Explorers, sports, inventors.

Australia’s foremost historian and comedian Ben Pobjie celebrates the nobility and altogether more fascinating stories of the silver-medal getters. What drove them on their incredible feats, why did they just miss out, and how did they cope with the oblivion of finishing second?
From the Second Fleet, the second man on the moon and Australia’s second prime minister whose name we consistently forget, Second Best shines a light on those plucky men and women who, through no fault of their own – or at least only a little bit of fault of their own – didn’t quite get there before everyone else, but did get there before almost everyone else.

[Natala]

The stories given of those who came second were interesting but it fell short for me when it came to the writer/comedians humour. It didn't really make me giggle, but that's ok because I read it while not feeling very humourous myself. This book is a lighthearted, easy read, with information that I may one day use at the next school quiz night.

[Greg]

Pobjie's aim with this book is pretty straightforward: to tell the story of famous people who came second. And some of these people have very interesting stories to tell: Buzz Aldrin, Peter Norman, Amelia Earhart among them. Some might query his choices at times: was Rosalind Franklin really a second place-getter? If so, in what race?

Pobjie recounts these mini histories with an irreverent and at times caustic turn of wit, and the reader has to be prepared to take this book more as humour than as history. With the questions at the end of each chapter, it comes across a little like 1066 And All That. It's a fun, quick read with just a spritzig of new information to be gleaned about Pobjie's subjects.

[Meredith Cullen]

Not as funny as his other works but interesting all the same

[Melinda Elizabeth]

A hilarious look at the losers of history, a light hearted read that was really enjoyable and you can just read little snippets and forget about it for a while, come back and read again.

[Jessica]

It can’t be easy being the second of such accomplishments.
While the author is clearly trying to use humour, sometimes it can come across as sarcastic.

[Nicole Phillips]

This is a laugh out loud read. Very funny, great research, very interesting. Worth it!

[Kate Meredith]

Meh.. it was ok

[Zoë Holloway]

Silly, easy to read but I won’t accept the Raiders slander

[Lesley]

Came across this book while searching books with ‘best’ in the title and glad to find a contemporary offering. (2020) The premise of applauding those in history who have ‘just missed the prize’ was well worth pursuing and Ben Pobjie has pursued it in a most entertaining manner. It was sometimes difficult to understand whether the information was entirely truthful or was exaggerated for effect or just plain whimsical. And I learnt many things for the first time. Did Magellan actually die on his circumnavigation of the world? Does it matter? It certainly made for a better story.
I loved the study questions at the end of every chapter. Not so in love with the epilogue of the best and second best list in history. It was not a conclusion and not a very good summary either.
Possibly the second best history book I have read.......