If you demand several exploding whales in your humor books, then this book is not for you. If you demand several exploding whales in all of your books, then you're probably leading a very unsatisfying life. But if you're okay with just one exploding whale, then you've come to the right review.
Check out Tastes Like Human: The Shark Guys' Book of Bitingly Funny Lists by humorists Noel Boivin and Christopher Lombardo.
The lists in this book are much like those found on Cracked.com, although Cracked is a little funnier and more polished. But the topics covered in this book are more diverse than on Cracked and not of the average I-could-learn-that-with-a-Google-search variety. (Google will not tell you why sharks are better than cats, but the Shark Guys will.) The lists are formed around ideas and features that display an unabashedly wacky approach to the world and come in two types.
First there are real-life lists that take extreme pleasure in pointing out just how weird the world can get. Educate yourself about horny cult leaders and how karaoke can lead to throttlings. Then there are theoretical lists of ideas and observations: suggestions for PETA causes, an ATM etiquette guide and fighting tips sure to give you an edge over pesky muggers. It's likely a matter of personal taste, but the theoretical lists are generally the funniest.
Fiction is stranger than truth in this book, because it springs from two very strange heads. Lists are usually headed by an amusing introductory paragraph that sets the scene. Some of the headlines for listed items are also real gems — like in the list of reasons to keep found items, remember that The Person who Lost the Item Could be a Real Prick.
The book contains everything from tips for meeting the queen of England to a Kit-Kat Jesus. But it's still highly relevant to a college student. Take the very first list: "Top 8 Great Achievements in Sitting." What could be more inspiring for a few thousand students who spend hours on end hunched over textbooks? Plus the authors give us their (quite astute) picks for the Top 10 Easiest College Majors, in case you're an underclassman who still has time to rethink that engineering degree.
The one flaw to the book is a pervasive tendency towards long sentences and long, awkwardly placed clauses. In the process of making a really good joke, the writers often get twisted around in their own words, which results in the reader losing grammatical track of the funny.
There's a lot going on in most sentences (except in lists with briefer items), so the reader never really gets a break — the words just keep piling up. But considering the nature of the book, the diction is not that big of a problem because you're likely to read it in bite-sized chunks anyway. Even the authors themselves say it's perfect for the bathroom. (You know you take your Kindle in there, don't deny it.)
The 95-page book (they're short pages) is only available digitally, for your Kindle for three bucks on Amazon, or in a printable version on smashwords.com. Plus check out the Shark Guys' website (www.thesharkguys.com) for a sampling of their humor.
