Sh*t Happens: The Book: Somewhere, Someone is Having a Worse Day Than You: Regrettable Realities That Really Happened to Unlucky Chumps the World Over

by Deborah Lazarus

The lure of the morbid. The fascination of really bad news. The strange thrill of things going spectacularly wrong. Tragic, sensational, spine-chilling, and addictively entertaining, it’s The Darwin Awards meets The Stupidest Things Ever Said. In story after story we meet the star-crossed, the extremely unlucky, and the fatally foolish. Sure—it’s grim, sometimes ghastly. But isn’t it nice to know that someone, somewhere, had a worse day than you?
Sh*t happens.
Sometimes it’s natural: A driver goes for the ride of his life when a 100-mph gust blows his truck off the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York. (He survives the steep plunge into the Hudson River.

Sometimes it’s supernatural: The woman who peels an artichoke only to have it explode in her hand.

Short-sighted: A rattlesnake owner kisses his beloved pet, and discovers that the affection isn’t mutual.

Delightful: A tanker truck carrying liquid chocolate splits open in a traffic accident, drawing children from miles around.

Unexpected: A folding bed traps and nearly kills a man.

Heartbreaking: Art restorers accidentally dissolve the ink off a newly discovered Da Vinci drawing.

Gross: From the brain of a man complaining of mental instability, doctors remove a four-inch worm.

And grosser: A diner discovers—in the most revolting way possible—a rodent along with his fried chicken.

And even, seemingly, cosmic justice: An incensed homeowner catches a mouse and decides to teach it a lesson by tying a kerosene-soaked rag to its tail and setting it on fire. The mouse flees; the man’s house burns down.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Humor, History

325 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2006

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Indeed, shit happens... Take, for instance, this book. Just awful.

[Liesje Leest · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has a lot of very short "something happend to someone" stories. Some of them have been debunked already, and many contain so little information you can't even check them (I tried because some of the stories sounded interesting). "man in some huge country had some random thing happen to him" is basicly what most of these are like. No names of people, no places mentioned. No way to varify anything. I'm surprised the book was first published in 2006 because the internet really made this book redundant.
The short stories do make it a nice read during downtime at work.

[Tim Shepard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of weird

I don't know what I was expecting when I started reading this. Overall it's well written. Not a bad book though. There are some bizarre stories in here.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave this book to me because she knows I love finding out about all sorts of things in life.This was NOT a disappointment!

Example:the Chapter cld. Bon Appetit_2003: "Food For Thought"_Surgeons in China figured out what was causing one man's Mental Disorder_a four-inch worm that was living inside his brain.The doctors were unsure how the parasite got into his head and speculated that the man's regular consumption of frogs & snakes might have been the source of his problem.

Fun Fact Book!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mom-in-law gave me this book, a collection of humorous/shocking anecdotes, and it's a fun read. It's an anecdote per very small page so excellent for diversion when you enjoy taking your time doing "business" (I do; my wife doesn't). Please, no wisecracks on how quickly I finished it with this tactic. ;-)

[Megalion · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book to read as a palate cleanser. Easy to pick up and put down as it's a series of factoids organized into short chapters. Not meant to be read in one go even.

It's definitely interesting though I did think a couple of inclusions were in poor taste and should have been left out.
3.5 stars

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love trivia and facts.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a stocking stuffer for my husband. I enjoyed this while eating my lunch at work. Short and fun!

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. Some fun facts.

[Book Shark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A easy to read funny book! Very enjoyable.

[Dee brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny stuff! Quick, quirky , and very a enjoyable read!!