Written by Doris Flexner and Stuart Berg Flexner
2005: Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast. In a classic double whammy, the government response also devastates the Gulf Coast.
An early birthday present…with a sense of humour. Or should that read…an early birthday present from someone who KNOWS my sense of humour.
Not much else I can offer in this review, other than simple, overall satisfaction. The Pessimist’s Guide is a compendium of disasters, catastrophies, and assorted evil across the span of time…a giant encyclopedia of the dark, the morbid, the sad, and the appalling, all in chronological order, and straightforward, consolidated entries.
Each event is distilled with just the right amount of detail, and most of them end with a pithy observation or two. It’s not exactly cheery reading, but it’s fascinating to absorb so much destruction and devastation across the centuries, all glossed with pithy, black humour. God knows what this really says about my literary taste…
My only complaint is that, pre-1700, the entries don’t exactly compare to the latter half of the book. Now, I can’t blame recorded history for being more detailed after a certain point, but at times it does feel as if the ancient world is slightly neglected. Still, as a cross between the ultimate bathroom book AND an alternate research tool, it’s certainly worth a look over…if, for nothing else, than officially declaring an event involving Paris Hilton a historical disaster!
