2010 books
28) Bobby Henderson, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, 2006
Humour that's migrated from a successful website to a book, courtesy of a big fat book deal, doesn't always adapt to its new format very well - cleolinda's Movies in Fifteen Minutes (which I reviewed for Vector) being a case in point: it just resulted in a complete loss of funny. On the other hand some humour can do it more successfully, even admirably so, particularly when it's packaged to look like the Gideon Bible (complete with a noodly page marker) that you'll find in the bedside table of just about every hotel room in the western world. Henderson's satirical deconstruction of Intelligent Design started with an open letter to the Kansas School Board who wanted it taught as a 'science' to high school Biology students; everything since has been a major cash-in (and why not?) with a serious point buried beneath. This is actually a better-written book than I was expecting: Henderson didn't get lazy by including poorly-thought out ideas, and although it's not quite as laugh-out-loud as I was hoping for that's probably because I'm not particularly tuned into American college humour. I get the jokes, they're all clever and witty and suitably mocking in a Douglas Adams kind of way, but I just respond better to written humour that's a bit more vicious and a little less smart-ass. Nevertheless this Gospel has garnered quite a bit of serious critical praise, Scientific American included, and Simon Singh in The Daily Telegraph said "it might be slightly repetitive but overall it's a brilliant, provocative, witty and important gem of a book". Those who are being mocked have been less kind. I enjoyed this and recommend it, although if you're one of the few who hasn't yet been Touched By His Noodly Appendage you ought to check out the website first:
