Austin Powers: How to Be an International Man of Mystery

by Michael McCullers

Interested in emerging from your square shell to become a groovy swinger? Austin Powers has the handbook for you. This straightforward book, which was actually written by Michael McCullers (an insignificant detail), is the definitive guide to the International Man of Mysterydom. Tips on dressing like a swinger and the secrets of disguise, a field guide to Birds of the World (international women to you squares), and groovy cocktail recipes are just some of the invaluable information Powers imparts to future Men of Mystery and their cohorts. Throw in pointers on fighting evil, spotting men in drag, cheese, choppers (that's teeth to you) and purchasing private jets with suitably shaggy stewardesses. You'll soon realize that few guides offer so many necessary life tips. So if you fear you'll be forever square, don't have a thrombo, let Austin Powers lead you straight into groovy land of swingerdom. Baby!

Genres: Fiction

101 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Manny]

Austin Powers fans may want to check out Adam Elga's 2004 paper "Defeating Dr. Evil with Self-Locating Belief", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Vol 69 No 2. Here is the opening passage:

Safe in an impregnable battlestation on the moon, Dr. Evil had planned to launch a bomb that would destroy the Earth. In response, the Philosophy Defense Force (PDF) sent Dr. Evil the following message.
_________________________

Dear Sir,

(Forgive the impersonal nature of thus communication - our purpose prevents us from addressing you by name.) We have just created a duplicate of Dr. Evil. The duplicate - call him "Dup" - is inhabiting a replica of Dr. Evil's battlestation that we have installed in our skepticism lab. At each moment Dup has experiences indistinguishable from those of Dr. Evil. For example, at this moment both Dr. Evil and Dup are reading this message.

We are in control of Dup's environment. If in the next ten minutes Dup performs actions that correspond to deactivating the battlestation and surrendering, we will treat him well. Otherwise we will torture him.

Best regards,

The PDF
_________________________

Dr. Evil knows that the PDF never issues false or misleading messages. Should he surrender?

According to Google Scholar, the paper has already been cited 58 times. Shagadelic, baby!

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious parody of the 1960s spy stories, with a nod to Ian Fleming's James Bond.

🎥Movie version.