Well, Duh!: Our Stupid World, and Welcome to It

by Bob Fenster

Bob Fenster has combed the world of the intellectually challenged searching for more tales of stupidity to entertain us with . . . and he's hit the jackpot! After the success of his first two books, Duh! and They Did What!?, Fenster has struck again with Well, Duh! Our Stupid World, and Welcome to It. More tales of the dim-witted and simpleminded are incorporated in chapters such as: Food for Thoughtlessness: The All-Turnip Diet and Other Loony Meals at the Mindless Cafe Hollyweird: Bird Brains in Tinsel Town Dumb Ways to Die: Buried Alive but Not for Long Government by the Idiots: How to Get Elected to AnythingCombined sales of Bob Fenster's previous two books total over 50,000 copies.Ted Rueter is a self-described political junkie and a professor of political science at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is the author of eight books and has written for the New York Times, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has taught at Middlebury College, Georgetown University, Smith College, and UCLA. He is the founder of Noise Free America (Noisefree.org). His Web site is DrPolitics.com.Bob Fenster has combed the world of the intellectually challenged searching for more tales of stupidity to entertain us with . . . and he's hit the jackpot! After the success of his first two books, Duh! and They Did What!?, Fenster has struck again with Well, Duh! Our Stupid World, and Welcome to It. More tales of the dim-witted and simpleminded are incorporated in chapters such as: Food for Thoughtlessness: The All-Turnip Diet and Other Loony Meals at the Mindless Cafe Hollyweird: Bird Brains in Tinsel Town Dumb Ways to Die: Buried Alive but Not for Long Government by the Idiots: How to Get Elected to AnythingCombined sales of Bob Fenster's previous two books total over 50,000 copies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Comedy, Trivia

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series of books, which I buy at yard sales and thrift stores. Well, Duh! is another such book I found in a thrift store and put in my bathroom. I enjoyed the true-but-stupid anecdotes, but besides the compendium of factual trivia, the book also contains observations and prose sketches by the author attempting to write like, say, Dave Barry. I really like Dave Barry, but Bob Fenster is nowhere near as funny, and he should have stuck with just the collection of true examples of stupidity.

[Kyrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book was intended as humor. Fenster crosses the line to hectoring the reader a lot. It was sort of like being trapped in a Bill O'Reilly interview. There were some funny moments and a lot of ranting about how stupid some people are and how not to be stupid.
It'd be a good book if you only had 5 minutes a day to read it. It would take forever to read, but it probably wouldn't feel like you were being beat over the head about stupidity.

[Jan Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun easy read. The book that I could pick up and put down. Some of the chapters didn’t seem to fit in the book but the author seem to have fun. It’s lighthearted especially in these dark times. One of the quotes was from Jonathan Swift, author, “when a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign: that all the deuces are in confederacy against him. “. This is from the chapter on smart thoughts about stupidity.

[Wesley Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of the book was pretty enjoyable with lots of funny and stupid stories. The last 1/3 of the book got really weird with the author trying to impose their personal values on the reader and going way off track of the original premise of he book. I don’t know if they were trying to fill space or what but it was difficult to finish.

[Stewie Eskridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great easy read that gets you hooked. Lots of fun facts over and over again. So much historical knowledge and many ideas. Makes everyone throughout history seem stupid. Would definitely read again and gonna give it to my friends

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's interesting to say the least.

[Milototo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Доста е забавна, научаваш любопитни факти за разни известни личности. В повече ми дойдоха авторските неща накрая, от които просто няма нужда.

[Haley Kilgour]

Honestly, half the stuff listed as dumb in this book... isn’t. And half the time Fenster is just ranting or trying to be funny, and failing. I lasted all the way up until us started answer “dumb questions”.

[Anonymous Smarty-pants · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, Duh! is intellectually challenged. Everything is in the form of short blurbs which provide no supporting evidence and not enough information. I looked up a few things to see if they were actually true and it turns out that this writer takes some serious liberties with the truth by not including certain relevant facts or by writing the blurb in a manner that makes it sound far worse than it actually was.

Apparently supposed to be humorous are things like:

1) The habits of eccentric people
2) Unusual, but legitimate pursuits of science
3) People killing themselves
4) People killing others

I made it about a sixth of the way through this thick book without laughing when I decided to stop. Some people will find it hilarious, people that enjoy making fun of other people and cultures, and perhaps the type of person that finds humor in bathroom jokes.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this – the blurbs were short and quick to read and they were really funny. I especially like the part about eccentric people. I disagree with the other reviewers. I'm actually keeping this book to read again at some point, which is rare for me – I usually swap out my books. I didn't like the second part towards the end where the author simply made jokes about things. That part was weak.

[Videoclimber(AKA)MTsLilSis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been 3 stars...but I don't find the Bible to be stupid, and making fun of it is not okay! I thought this was good for a road trip and actually liked the book at the beginning. At the end he veered off course and mostly made fun of other things instead of including facts. I wouldn't read another by this author!

[Laura M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how much of this is factual, but some of the blurbs were interesting. many were boring. pretty quick read since all the blurbs are rather short. sometimes the author went on a rant on their own thoughts on how stupid someone was. some of the rants were just plain rude even if I agreed with a couple. the ending was thoughtful. overall I don't think I'd want to read this again.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

some humorous factoids, but many of them were innaccurate or misleading for the sake of laughs.

[Jamila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book! I love to flip to a random page and read about the stupid things people have tried. It brings out the lighter side of my day.

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

very chuckleworthy

[Nebil Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

extremely funny and hilarious

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a cute read, I'm not sure how many of the facts are 100% true but it is certainly entertaining.

[Typo]

Do you like dumb jokes? I could have been just fine without this book.

[Sharonrose Hariprasad]

it was about the stupid things in history.