Idiots Follies And Misadventures

Download or read book Idiots, Follies and Misadventures written by Mikey Robins and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-07-05 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history books are full of heroes and villains … but what about all the idiots? Comedian and armchair historian Mikey Robins tells the astonishing story of human stupidity, one idiot at a time. Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe. Albert Einstein History is full of heroes and villains. But then there are the idiots. Idiots, Follies & Misadventures shows that human stupidity has always been our constant companion. History tends to omit tales of human fallibility. We overlook the dubious and ridiculous contributions made by history’s tawdry parade of knuckleheads. But this book is a call to arms … knuckleheads assemble! And once assembled, prepare to be mocked. Just because history has mostly swept these idiots under the carpet does not make them by any means unsung heroes. These are rather ridiculous cautionary tales, to amuse and add some perspective to our current rash of stupidity. Tales such as: Why you shouldn’t soak your underpants in mercury. The booze cruise that plunged England into civil war. The Russian nuclear briefcase and pizzas. Flatulence jars and The Great Plague of London. The deadly green wallpaper that proved a problem for Britain's trendy middle-class.

Download or read book Reprehensible written by Mikey Robins and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is often said that we live in an era of constant outrage, but we are definitely not the inventors of outrageousness. Let's be honest, human beings have always been appalling. Not everyone and not all the time, but our history is littered with those whose work and deeds have rendered them . . . reprehensible. Sometimes it's our most esteemed luminaries who behave the worst. What are we to make of Catherine the Great's extensive collection of pornographic furniture, Hans Christian Andersen's too-much-information diary and Karl Marx's epic pub crawls? Or hall-of-fame huckster William McCloundy, who in 1901 actually 'sold' the Brooklyn Bridge to an unsuspecting tourist, and the pharaoh who covered his slaves in honey to keep flies off his meal? Did you know about the royal ticklers of the House of Romanov, and the bizarre coronation rituals of early Irish kings? (Let's just say that eating a white horse wasn't the weirdest part of the ceremony.) So sit back and rest your conscience: there will be a host of scoundrels, bounders and reprobates, tales of lust and power aplenty, as we indulge in that sweet spot where history meets outrage, with just a bit of old-school TMZ thrown in for good measure.

Download or read book Seven Deadly Sins and One Very Naughty Fruit written by Mikey Robbins and published by . This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating, funny and downright bizarre survey of culinary oddities by one of Australia's most beloved comedians. In this irreverent romp through the history of food via the Seven Deadly Sins, Mikey Robins uncovers the most bizarre food-related stories of all time. From the Ancient Egyptians to the Romans, from the medieval monarchs to our current obsession with celebrity chefs, our forebears have left their mark on our habits and social mores, our plates and our palates, telling us one truth above all: where there is food, there is folly. On the topic of GLUTTONY, Mikey exposes our obsession with outlandish overconsumption and the thrill of competitive eating. PRIDE reveals some of the most arrogant dinner hosts in history, and how the once humble chef has now achieved rock-god status. LUST sheds light on our aphrodisiac fixations and the most desired foods through time. SLOTH charts the curious evolution of the fork and the etiquette of flatulence. WRATH tells of sausage duels and poisonous spite, while GREED will make you blush at the indulgences of the rich and famous. And who hasn't experienced ENVY when your dining companion's plate sings while yours sputters? Mikey Robins is your personal guide down history's gullet and into the underbelly of our wildest desires, darkest fears and guiltiest pleasures. 'Not a book for those with delicate stomachs, but a hoot for everyone else' Sydney Morning Herald 'Chock full of quirky facts, surprising histories and slightly rude morsels... much like the author himself' Amanda Keller

Download or read book Girt Nation written by David Hunt and published by Black Inc.. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Hunt tramples the tall poppies of the past in charting Australia's transformation from aspiration to nation - an epic tale of charlatans and costermongers, of bush bards and bushier beards, of workers and women who weren't going to take it anymore. Girt Nation introduces Alfred Deakin, the Liberal necromancer whose dead advisors made Australia a better place to live, and Banjo Paterson, the jihadist who called on God and the Prophet to drive the Australian infidels from the Sudan 'like sand before the gale'. And meet Catherine Helen Spence, the feminist polymath who envisaged a utopian future of free contraceptives, easy divorce and immigration restrictions to prevent the 'Chinese coming to destroy all we have struggled for!' Thrill as Jandamarra leads the Bunuba against Western Australia, and Valentine Keating leads the Crutchy Push, an all-amputee street gang, against the conventionally limbed. Gasp as Essendon Football Club trainer Carl von Ledebur injects his charges with crushed dog and goat testicles. Weep as Scott Morrison's communist great-great-aunt Mary Gilmore holds a hose in New Australia. And marvel at how Labor, a political party that spent a quarter of a century infighting over how to spell its own name, ever rose to power. 'Makes you wish David Hunt had been your history teacher. Laugh-out-loud funny and you'll actually learn something.' —Mark Humphries 'An entertaining and instructive historical romp through the formative period of Australian nation-making with a colourful cast of rhymesters, revolutionaries, rebels, racists, reprobates and rabbits.' —Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, The Australian National University 'Once again, David Hunt uses his sharpened wit to chisel away at misconceptions from Australian history leaving us with the cold, hard truth of how our nation came to be.' —Osher Günsberg 'Australian history told intelligently, but with more humour than ever before ... Girt Nation is fabulous storytelling, putting meat on the bones of the national story.' —The Weekend Australian

Download or read book 1001 Days That Shaped the World written by Peter Furtado and published by Pier 9. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 960 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully updated for 2021, this is a comprehensive guide to those extraordinary moments that defined human history, written by respected figures from the fields of science, history, and journalism.

Download or read book Restoration and History written by Marcus Hall and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2010 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once a forest has been destroyed, should one plant a new forest to emulate the old, or else plant designer forests to satisfy our immediate needs? Should we aim to re-create forests, or simply create them? How does the past shed light on our environmental efforts, and how does the present influence our environmental goals? Can we predict the future of restoration? This book explores how a consideration of time and history can improve the practice of restoration. There is a past of restoration, as well as past assumptions about restoration, and such assumptions have political and social implications. Governments around the world are willing to spend billions on restoration projects âe" in the Everglades, along the Rhine River, in the South China Sea âe" without acknowledging that former generations have already wrestled with repairing damaged ecosystems, that there have been many kinds of former ecosystems, and that there are many former ways of understanding such systems. This book aims to put the dimension of time back into our understanding of environmental efforts. Historic ecosystems can serve as models for our restorative efforts, if we can just describe such ecosystems. What conditions should be brought back, and do such conditions represent new natures or better pasts? A collective answer is given in these pages âe" and it is not a unified answer.

Download or read book The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus written by Gilbert Shelton and published by Knockabout Comics. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All the Freak Brothers stories, book covers, posters and merchandise collected together in one big volume. The definitive Freak Brothers book for years to come.