Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Emails from an A**hole: Real People Being Stupid

Rate this book
“It's like Sasha Baron Cohen on the internet.” - Jane Wells, CNBC


 
When John Lindsay launched DontEvenReply.com in June 2009, it became an instant sensation. With 60% of the book featuring entirely new material never before available on the website, Emails from an Asshole offers fans a fresh opportunity to revel in people's gullibility. Posing as a customer or seller, Lindsay responded to a variety of classified ads, making ridiculous offers to unsuspecting victims. Their responses, and the ensuing conversations, will have readers simultaneously laughing non-stop and gasping with disbelief.
 

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

59 people are currently reading
927 people want to read

About the author

John Lindsay

72 books6 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
496 (38%)
4 stars
389 (29%)
3 stars
252 (19%)
2 stars
98 (7%)
1 star
67 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
Profile Image for Septemtrionis.
74 reviews8 followers
November 6, 2019
Smiley face

This is a book about a guy trolling random people who posted online ads ... any kind of ads, just selling / buying things, asking for pet- or babysitters ... no matter what, he always finds a "reason" behind his trolling. He claims he wants to teach the OP a lesson but the reason is often behind any logic and often it is just plain childish and rude,... things like "this guy just wanted to buy a cheap car/whatever, let me show him he should spend more" ... some of the "reasonings" are even worse.

Now, I think there are real assholes out in the internet, and some of them perhaps deserve some kind of poetic justice, but not the way the author deals with it. He just picks someone at random and starts emailing him or her annoying or offensive emails without further reason, then publishes them in a book pretending this childish behaviour to be funny.

Well, it is not. An absolute waste of time. You may smile once or twice at all, but this is not a funny book (I actually skip some pages when it grew too boring) ... a quick read, just if you want to take a small "insight" on what a troll daily routine looks like.
Profile Image for Jen.
95 reviews32 followers
July 14, 2015
Not my kind of funny.

Way too much "people with stereotypical black woman names want free cars from the Internet & deserve to be ridiculed", right from the first page. People on hard times looking for a deal aren't, like, SATANS. Jeez, bud.

This guy spent many hours of his personal time writing emails. My personal belief is that he wrote the emails on both sides of the conversation. (Are y'all like "Duh!"? Is that an open secret?) The level of escalation in the responses is totally unreasonable. The targets of these emails are supposed to be complete sack of shit human beings, but would anyone really reply to a stupid email with a string of obscenities? Clearly no. That's what delete and block are for. So, not funny & not even believable.

This book was a rec from my little brother, who clearly enjoys the epistolary fucking-with-people genre. Growing up in the same house doesn't guarantee having the same sense of humour, I guess.
Profile Image for Blog on Books.
268 reviews103 followers
July 26, 2010
Ahh, yes, the return of the Lazlo Letters. Do you remember them? The Lazlo Letters was a book of very clever letters sent to corporations in the 70’s to agitate and irk them by offering seemingly innocent, but absurd requests by a mysterious agent known in real life as comedian Don Novello (that’s right, Father Guido Sarducci)

John Lindsay (no, not the former mayor of New York, but supposedly a 20-something student at Penn State University with too much time on his hands) has picked up the baton and tossed it into cyberspace with the advent of his new book ‘Emails from an Asshole.’ In it, Lindsay, pokes, prods and provokes his unwitting victims through a series of emails designed to make people crazy, while at the same time seeming kinda, sorta plausible at first. He does so both by answering and ultimately placing a series of internet ads designed to reel in his unsuspecting bait.

Examples: Selling a car whose CD player is stuck on Def Leppard or needs a lot of duct tape to keep the airbag from exploding, or selling World War II memorabilia like an autographed Hitler baseball (or Winston Churchill’s iPod!) or trying to get a Little League team to take a uniform sponsorship from his fake porn company.

Lindsay’s escapades are one part ‘Jackass’ and two parts funny phone pranks only done by email and captured in book form. As imbecilic as some of the jokes are, this prankster actually puts a lot of thought into his japery, even going so far as to harass his victims from multiple personas and e-mail accounts to creating actual dialogues between a fake husband and wife, placing the helpless advertiser smack in the middle of a ‘domestic dispute.’

You will be hard pressed to not find yourself rolling over with laughter (check out the 10 lb. attack dog ‘Killer’) in this easy to read volume. For those looking for more, check out Lindsay’s ever-popular website DontEvenReply.com for more of his hilarious insanity.
Profile Image for Brian.
797 reviews28 followers
July 10, 2013
let me qualify this. i read many of these exchanges on the internet and laughed hysterically. they were really funny, and many of them i read more than once because they were THAT funny.

this is the third book i've read recently that was adapted from a blog (and the first one I knew going into it). there is a lot lost.

first off, at the beginning and end of each exchange this guy is trying to qualify his reasoning to the reader. i do not remember that being the case on the website. it was just the email exchanges. his qualifiers ruin everything.

reading these with the "knowledge" that this guy believes these people "deserve what they get" definitely knocked us down a star. it was so much better when i thought he was just fucking with people. that makes sense. it doesnt make sense if he feels he is doing any sort of "justice." and i got the sense that he did feel he was doing justice.

the final section was him in the relationships section. i dont recall any emails from the website where he dabbled on the relationship section. i did not appreciate it. this knocked 2 stars off my rating. i understand messing with people that want to buy a brand new car for $1000, not someone that is getting out of an abusive relationship and looking for someone to be a friend.

overall 4 star web series/blog/whatever. 1 star book. 0 star guy.
Profile Image for Wagatwe Wanjuki.
20 reviews128 followers
January 30, 2012
This isn't a funny book. This person isn't even an asshole; just a misogynist, racist guy who uses a problematic justification (these idiots deserve it!!) to do jerky things. When he said he would prank call sex workers to see who would have sex with a dog or when he fucking PRANKS an ABUSE SURVIVOR by "pretending" to be an abusive asshole I did not laugh, but question the existence of a conscious in this man.

Aside from trying to make a mockery out of unfunny things...this book just wasn't funny. I laughed maybe twice. I should have just stuck with "Damn You, Autocorrect!" as my mindless humour commute reading.
Profile Image for Alyssa.
19 reviews
August 17, 2011
This is one of those books that you'll pick up every once in a while and thumb through, no matter how many times you've read it cover-to-cover. John Lindsay is an amazing troll and flaming asshole whose ridiculous emails to unsuspecting internet-users never fail to make me grin and laugh.

A perfect read for whenever you're bored or feeling down...or any other time, really. It's funny, witty, ridiculous...I could go on, really. But I won't; read it yourself!
8 reviews
July 13, 2010
I laughed so hard at this in the store, I just had to buy it.
Profile Image for Kiri Fiona.
279 reviews14 followers
November 17, 2016

Synopsis:
When John Lindsay launched DontEvenReply.com in June 2009, it became an instant sensation. With 60% of the book featuring entirely new material never before available on the website, Emails from an Asshole offers fans a fresh opportunity to revel in people's gullibility. Posing as a customer or seller, Lindsay responded to a variety of classified ads, making ridiculous offers to unsuspecting victims. Their responses, and the ensuing conversations, will have readers simultaneously laughing non-stop and gasping with disbelief.

description

What I loved:
- The title was the whole reason I bought this book, really. As someone who has spent the larger part of 10 years looking at companies' email chains, it appealed to me.
- A couple of the conversations were hilarious.
- My teenaged nephew thought this whole book was funny as shit.

What I didn’t love:
- This is just trolling. Like, you can read any comment thread on YouTube, a celeb twitter account, reddit, eBay... any forum, and see this kind of stuff. 99% of the time, it's not funny - it's just some angry dude sitting in his parents' basement being a dickhead. 'Real People Being Stupid' is totally misleading... 'One Guy Being a C$$t' would be more accurate.
- Ok, is it just me being oversensitive or is this book racist as fuck?
description

Overall…
Pass. Didn't make it to 60%

Profile Image for Holden Attradies.
642 reviews19 followers
August 6, 2013
I feel really mixed about this. I Loved reading it and laughed at almost every entry in it.

But once I'd put it down and it would hit me that these were real people I felt bad. Some of the things he put people through.. well, as the title says he IS an asshole. The part of me that would feel uncomfortable after putting the book down kind of wishes that most of these are made up, even though I'm pretty sure they aren't. It was funny, yes, but I felt it kind of highlighted how the internet has made ALL of us assholes to some extent because I found myself thinking his behavior was okay because it was on the internet.

Any way, it's funny. And it might make you feel a bit guilty for finding it so... but maybe that's a good thing? To be questioning what is okay in the medium that is pretty new to us?

By the way, my half-assed American answer to the moral dilemma this book brought on: I felt okay because I bought the book used.
Profile Image for Courtney.
51 reviews12 followers
January 11, 2011
This book came to me as a 'gag' gift, and is basically a compilation of the author's email shenanigans drawn from craiglist's most laughable ads. At best there were only one or two stand-out funny moments, but nothing laugh-out-laugh. The idea behind the book was clever, but its execution didn't deliver on its potential. It's quite possible that the humor exists largely for the individual generating responses to the ridiculous ads, and for that reason a blog would have been a far better platform, (think 27bslash6.com).

The chapters are organized based on the type of ads (for cars, jobs, etc). Unfortunately this merely makes the book's redundancy even more obvious, as the author employs the same tactic for each correspondence.

Profile Image for Sarah.
1,227 reviews31 followers
May 18, 2019
I liked this book all the way up until the last prank. I thought it was funny, and was ready to give it 3 stars or even 4. Then I read his messages to the abuse victim.

Threatening a survivor of abuse with more abuse is NOT FUNNY. What he said could have traumatized an already traumatized person. Abuse is not a joke.

As a man, this author will never understand the way women have to live in fear of being raped, abused, or stalked. HE has no idea what it's like to be a victim of abuse and his threats to this poor woman show a complete lack of understanding and compassion. I liked the rest of the book, but pranking an abuse victim with threats of more abuse is not funny.
Profile Image for Helena.
17 reviews4 followers
September 2, 2011
I found myself laughing at the first few pages but i didn't enjoy the rest. The jokes are too harsh and cruel for my taste and i ended up feeling bad for the 'victims'. The guy behind these jokes seems an asshole to me.
Profile Image for Vanessa.
59 reviews2 followers
March 19, 2013
I swear I have probably dealt with this guy on several occasions. however this was a simple book and highly entertaining! Was more of a bathroom read or pick up for a few minutes but nevertheless funny.
Profile Image for Emily Linacre.
362 reviews17 followers
March 17, 2019
some chuckles, a few smiles, and some taken-too-far bits. the car selling/buying scenarios and pics cracked me up; screwing with a woman who just got out of an abusive relationship did not. mixed bag, but pretty much what i expected.
35 reviews9 followers
June 1, 2010
Ahh, yes, the return of the Lazlo Letters. Do you remember them? The Lazlo Letters was a book of very clever letters sent to corporations in the 70’s to agitate and irk them by offering seemingly innocent, but absurd requests by a mysterious agent known in real life as comedian Don Novello (that’s right, Father Guido Sarducci)

John Lindsay (no, not the former mayor of New York, but supposedly a 20-something student at Penn State University with too much time on his hands) has picked up the baton and tossed it into cyberspace with the advent of his new book ‘Emails from an Asshole.’ In it, Lindsay, pokes, prods and provokes his unwitting victims through a series of emails designed to make people crazy, while at the same time seeming kinda, sorta plausible at first. He does so both by answering and ultimately placing a series of internet ads designed to reel in his unsuspecting bait.

Examples: Selling a car whose CD player is stuck on Def Leppard or needs a lot of duct tape to keep the airbag from exploding, or selling World War II memorabilia like an autographed Hitler baseball (or Winston Churchill’s iPod!) or trying to get a Little League team to take a uniform sponsorship from his fake porn company.

Lindsay’s escapades are one part ‘Jackass’ and two parts funny phone pranks only done by email and captured in book form. As imbecilic as some of the jokes are, this prankster actually puts a lot of thought into his japery, even going so far as to harass his victims from multiple personas and e-mail accounts to creating actual dialogues between a fake husband and wife, placing the helpless advertiser smack in the middle of a ‘domestic dispute.’

You will be hard pressed to not find yourself rolling over with laughter (check out the 10 lb. attack dog ‘Killer’) in this easy to read volume. For those looking for more, check out Lindsay’s ever-popular website DontEvenReply.com for more of his hilarious insanity.
Profile Image for Bianca.
385 reviews
July 13, 2013
Bahahahahahahaha. That's what those fools get! This was a quick read that had me cracking up more than 75% of the time; the other 25% of the time I kept thinking, "Dang this dude is way imaginative...and clearly bored." LOL
Profile Image for Megalion.
1,481 reviews45 followers
April 1, 2016
There's no cleverness or witticisms to be found here.

Whoever thinks he is worthy of comparison to Sasha Baron Cohen ought to have her head examined.

Pointless sneering is not satire.
Profile Image for Fleur Tine.
75 reviews24 followers
January 28, 2020
5/5

It's not a great piece of literature, I know, but no matter how many times I read this, I still laugh out loud (to the point I should feel ashamed when reading in public).
Funniest book even written; one that will only be appreciated by people with a dark sense of humor.
Profile Image for Ashley.
154 reviews2 followers
Read
July 17, 2012
I only laughed once in about thirty pages, so I just put it down.
Profile Image for Cam.
48 reviews1 follower
May 13, 2024
Okay so this book derives from a website of a guy that used to do this because people were being unreasonable on their ads, which I admit, I used to find pretty funny when I was a kid

However in this book we find out he does this as a form of “justice” and constantly tries to justify to the readers why these people “deserve it”. Which might make sense for people asking for a free car , but definitely not for A VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE simply trying to get back out there (roughly second to last story, not worth DNF at that point). Published in 2010 and boy , does it show. A product of its time , and a waste of mine
Profile Image for Israel.
225 reviews20 followers
December 28, 2011
Haciéndose pasar por un cliente o vendedor, el autor responde a una serie de anuncios online realmente ridículos o tontos (se busca fuerte paseador de perros, busco limosina casi gratis, alquien quien cuide mi pez, etc.), respondiendo con ofertas más ridículas o terribles.

Las respuestas, y las conversaciones posteriores, me sacaron unas cuantas carcajadas.

Ligero, corto, rápido de leer, un "break" refrescante.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This book had me laughing really hard from time to time. Basically, the author just replies to bizarre online classified (goldfish sitter needed, very strong dog walker needed) That sort of thing, and strings them along.

It's very funny to see how people can get so offended or angry from an anonymous person. Definitely an easy to read, laugh out loud short book.

You can see some of his material from his website dontevenreply.com.
75 reviews22 followers
Read
May 6, 2015

“It's like Sasha Baron Cohen on the internet.” - Jane Wells, CNBC

When John Lindsay launched DontEvenReply.com in June 2009, it became an instant sensation. With 60% of the book featuring entirely new material never before available on the website, Emails from an Asshole offers fans a fresh opportunity to revel in people's gullibility. Posing as a customer or seller, Lindsay responded to a variety of classified ads, making ridiculous offers to unsuspecting victims. Their responses, and the ensuing conversations, will have readers simultaneously laughing non-stop and gasping with disbelief.

Profile Image for Sandy.
1,041 reviews11 followers
April 16, 2010
Okay. I would have given this book less stars, but it kept my teenager entertained and got him to read something.
I have to admit that a lot of it was super funny. But, some were boring or just plain mean. Although, most of the people were just asking for it!
John Lindsay is a funny, mean, and brilliantly creative jerk. I think the last e-mailer in the book (Joe) said it best. He just doesn't quit!
Laugh out loud funny, offensive and very entertaining.
(Also, I would have taken him up on some of his offers. Like the dinosaur movie truck and the Vietnam Vet for the Halloween party!)
Profile Image for ishwhe.
10 reviews
June 25, 2011
IT WAS HILARIOUS! At first I was feeling a bit sorry for all those poor people getting trolled on, but at a certain point (quite early in the book, really), you can't help but LAUGH YOUR HEAD OFF. Love this humour. I do feel bad for Muhammad, who probably didn't know English well and that's why he had horrible grammar and was desperate enough to call all those Pizza Huts... But I don't feel bad for all the other stupid people. Minus the Little League Coach, who was so excited until the name of the sponsor came out, hahaha A great read, I read it all at once because I couldn't put it down.
Profile Image for Петър Стойков.
Author 2 books328 followers
October 24, 2014
Книгата е точно описана в заглавието - авторът е гъз, а хората са глупави.

Базира се на форумните постове на един, който гледа обяви в интернет и се бъзика с тия, които са ги пуснали, като им праща абсурдни имейли.

Щеше да бъде смешно, ако хората на които пише му се връзваха и ставаше някакъв абсурден диалог и те изглеждаха луди за връзване примерно, но случаят не е такъв - повечето просто го отсвирват с 2 реда отговор на едностраничния му имейл.

Цялата книга се състои от това - обявата, неговите абсурдни имейли и отговорите на хората най-често от типа "не ме занимавай с глупости".
Profile Image for Georgette.
22 reviews54 followers
August 7, 2011
obviously super easy read... by the guy who makes fun of people's classifieds postings online and basically he goes through each category that he harrases people with . Really funny, obviously sometimes he is just being a jerk, ok maybe a lot of the times, but then again some people really did have it coming.. for example. who asks for a FREE car on the internet, and expects to get it.. this and my "stuff white people like" are awesome.
398 reviews
October 17, 2018
You may think that 'trolling" is ruefully funny, but these people were trying to innocently do things on the internet and the author cruelly profited from them through this book.

One star. If he has integrity he will see how this review and ranking hurt his average and then chuckle to himself "Well played, sir."
Profile Image for Laurie.
89 reviews
February 7, 2012
Ok. I needed something light to read and this fit the bill. This guy is truly an A-hole. But there were many parts of the book I laughed uncontrollably. Totally recommend this read for anyone who needs a few laughs.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.