A Definitive Encyclopaedia Of Existing Information

I have bought Onion publications for my sons-in-law and then been sad that I had given them away. So I am keeping the book of Known Knowledge. I figure that I can help my grandkids with their oral reports at school. I am running for Grandmother of the Year. This will surely put me in the finals. .

Some entries will cause you to giggle while others will make you question the way you spend your free time. It's not a book for laughing out loud but more for being like 'haha yeah'. It's fine if you like surreal, dark humor.

It's printed really nicely.

This compendium is hilarious! Entries on historical events and persons, current ones, random words and phrases. Pick it up and start reading anywhere. I guarantee that if you like satire and parody you will grin, giggle or occasionally roll on the floor chortling.

The book was full of knowledge, but the real value comes from the CD on every page. The interactive videos and charts included on each CD allow children to really dive into history and gain a full and nuanced understanding of our world. I would highly recommend this book.

This is one of the great satiric pieces of writing the country today. Who else could convince the North Koreans that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is 2012"s "sexiest man alive."

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Buy this book. Given the grumpiest person you know, and watch for LOL

This author presents facts that are true but not necessarily the facts your grandmother would have taught you. There are facts about almost everything that are revealing and sometimes very unflattering that you never knew.

I generally enjoy the Onion's humor and material. This book was disappointing, though. First of all, it's very politically unbalanced--pretty much a blatant mouthpiece for liberalism and the Democratic party. For my humor, I like to see equal treatment of both sides. Also, the language is much more crude than it needs to be. Lots of use of the "F" word. Too bad these folks can't be funny without cursing on every page. Probably deserves less than 3 stars except that the stuff that's funny, really is pretty funny.

Some of this is hilarious. Most of it is sophomoric (?) humor that I found juvenile and childish. I didn't make it through the entire book, just skimmed it then lost interest. By the way, I am 59, so my sense of humor is a little more aged, dry, and refined than the humor in this book. The younger set will probably love it though.

I'm always amazed at the attention to detail that The Onion puts into their books (e.g. every last tiny ad in Our Dumb Century), and this volume is no different. If you're a fan of their type of humor, then this book definitely will not disappoint.

Also, as an Idahoan I can confirm that Caldwell and Meridian are indeed two cities in Idaho.

Occasionally funny, but most of it is just trying too hard, and throwing out random nonsense hoping it will work. Most of the time it doesn't.

Even worse it occasionally tries to take on a tragedy like the challenger explosion or the columbine shooting, and does so by reiterating the event, and then tacking on some tepid joke, that is never funny enough to offset the actual horror of what happened.

If the joke was funny enough, it might work. But as it stands, it just feels like it's hoping the severity of the tragedy will somehow make something almost funny, funny.

Might have given this 2 stars if it wasn't so criminally over-rated.

The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia Of Existing Information yields the most useful information ever (sarcasm) - well for those who have a hearty appetite for politically incorrect humor. Set up much like a standard encyclopedia (do those even exist anymore?), The Onion Book of Known Knowledge's contents are antithetical to the dry, 'matter of fact' entries gracing the library's encyclopedic collection. Incredibly simple-minded, generalized and college-sensible takes on what should be serious, scholarly topics, one can't help but to chuckle or grimace at this compilation.

No one is exempt from the 'wrath' that is The Onion Book of Known Knowledge, which makes fun of numerous topics both legitimate and made-up. From A to Z and even a random '23rd letter of the alphabet from originating from an extinct Phoenician city', there is no lack of entertainment. Not recommended for the serious, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia Of Existing Information is highly recommended for those who can look beyond the serious (and some 'salty' language of course) and enjoy a good laugh and parodies.

I've been picking up this volume almost every day for the past couple years and am continually amazed. Every time I read an article or study an informative graphic, I end up way smarter as a result of this fine book. Why I am writing today is because I've just learned the most surprising and helpful piece of knowledge yet: There are actually 27 letters in the English language! Who knew?

I could wax rhapsodic about the range of topics and the details contained, including historical clarifications, sports information, biography, geology, biology, and every other form of human, natural, and supernatural (i.e., relegious) topic. That latter topic is one of my favorites, with so many juicy tidbits of information that you simply won't find anywhere else. Did you know the following, for example: "Holy Chalice: Gross Styrofoam cup that Jesus always used to drink his coffee out of and that he never threw away or cleaned out"

Once uypon a time, the National Lampoon grew from another Lampoon which pushed its head out of another witty bunch through history. So the Onion is the bastion of superbly absurd and s*** yourself faux reporting. Here, collected for the ages, is the encyclopedia of stuff you should've learned by now had you been paying attention in school.

Never mind the 1 or 2 star reviews posted on the store as these are disgruntled bloggers who lack a funny bone. I was gifted with a copy by an old-monied philistine who cast it out a 27th floor Trump Towers balcony. I was walking down the street with a 38 caliber bullet in my breast pocket; the book struck me with a staggering force but had the bullet not been in my pocket, that Onion would have gone straight through my heart.

If you've ever used any encyclopedia, or any smarty-pant textbook or good impersonator, this alphabetical assemblage of WTFs will leave you crying, laughing until you puke.

AWESOME!!!

"A Definitive Encyclopedia of Existing Information"

"Are you a witless cretin with no reason to live? Would you like to know more about every piece of knowledge ever? Do you have cash? Then congratulations, because just in time for the death of the print industry as we know it comes the final book ever published, and the only one you will ever need: The Onion's compendium of all things known.

Replete with an astonishing assemblage of facts, illustrations, maps, charts, threats, blood, and additional fees to edify even the most simple-minded book-buyer, THE ONION BOOK OF KNOWN KNOWLEDGE is packed with valuable information-such as the life stages of an Aunt; places to kill one's self in Utica, New York; and the dimensions of a female bucket, or "pail." With hundreds of entries for all 27 letters of the alphabet, THE ONION BOOK OF KNOWN KNOWLEDGE must be purchased immediately to avoid the sting of eternal ignorance." (From the Little Brown And Company Publishing Company Website)

My thoughts about the book: It has been stated the "ignorance is bliss." Well, when it comes to certain matters in life I would agree. We remain the better as people if we do not learn certain things and remain ignorant; however, conversely we are the better for it when we do learn certain things in life and about life itself.

The Onion Book of Knowledge is an A to Z guide of knowledge about a wide variety of topics. Included in the book is information about the Academy Awards and Anatomy to Geography and Psychology, information about Richard Nixon and Carl Jung, Napkins and Photography and so much more you never before knew. And the book is chock full of pictures and diagrams to help us better understand what we are reading and learning about. Once you have completed reading the book your brain will have in storage a vast amount of information - whether you needed or wanted to know it or not.

The book ingeniously blends small pieces of truth with humor - sometimes it is just way too funny, outrageously funny even; being so funny that it will elicit a good belly-roll type round of laughter from us as its reader. As a result of reading The Onion Book of Knowledge we learn things we never before knew and perhaps really did not want to know - but whether we want to retain the knowledge we have gained from reading this interesting, informative, humorous and thoroughly enjoyable book or not, we have at least had an enjoyable time in the reading of it. I recommend your placing this book on your bucket list of books to read before you pass from this world to the next.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book at no cost from the Little Brown and Company for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

The ...Book of Onion Knowledge (Book) is supposed to be chock-full of facts, but I discovered only two. 1) that the author doesn't like raisins. 2) that he is confused about the proper placement of the salad-axe which, as everyone knows, is two cutting implements to the right of the fish knife; but that knife is conspicuously absent.

Book is, instead, chock full of editorial opinions about people from the '50s or '60s such as Betty Friedan, Lyndon Johnson , and Millard Fillmore all of whom, we might believe were obsessed with pecking order.

In its defense, it is lavishly illustrated, set in a readable typeface, and as solidly bound as softcover paper binding will allow. It's the kind of thing one could be seen carrying about in public - if reading printed material in public were considered acceptable social behavior today.

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The big joke is that knowledge here, (in a tribute to Dick Cheney) is mostly made up, so what's known about all entries is that it is factually incorrect. I confess that most of the time in reading this book I don't get the joke. The entries are rich with irony and peppered nicely with absurdity, but I usually feel like someone who had never seen so much as one Monty Python episode who has accidentally entered a convention of drunk teenage Monty Python fans who were stumbling into each other saying "It's only a flesh wound" and "Wink Wink nudge nudge - know what I mean?" I must reply. " Not really. And I could I ask you to barf in someone else's general direction, please?"

Just letting people know that the paperback edition has been revised and updated, unannounced. Aside from the snazzy new cover, the Eisenhower entry that was missing from the hardcover edition has been added, the Lance Armstrong entry was completely rewritten, the Pope entry was updated to reflect the new pope, and death dates were added for Neil Armstrong and Andy Griffith. There may be other changes as well, but I haven't found them yet. If you're deciding which version to get, or whether to repurchase, definitely go with the updated paperback.

FUNNY! I enjoyed this book tremendously. Irreverent with biting social commentary. I have already loaned this book out (With a strongly worded description of what would happen if it were not returned.)