Fun Amazon Book Reviews

[Mahaloth]

I love it when people group together to start putting funny reviews on obscure or unusual books.

Recently, the book A Million Random Digits With 100,000 Normal Deviates has been brought to my attention and has some good ones. Basically, it is a book filled with random numbers for experiments. It’s from 1955.

Here are some brief reviews that made me laugh:

The book is a promising reference concept, but the execution is somewhat sloppy. Whatever algorithm they used was not fully tested. The bulk of each page seems random enough. However at the lower left and lower right of alternate pages, the number is found to increment directly.

I took a class in statistics in college. I used this book to help me select random phone numbers for a poll I was conducting for my class project. (The most popular household cleanser in the greater Siouxland area is Bon Ami, by the way.) One of those phone calls was answered by the woman who is now my wife. We’ve been happily married for ten years! Thank you, RAND.

For a supposedly serious reference work the omission of an index is a major impediment. I hope this will be corrected in the next edition.

Nice.

Any other funny ones?

[Scuba_Ben]

I posted a review once for a BetaScript Publishing book. More of a warning, actually.

AlphaScript / BetaScript (and other names by VDM Publishing) is a print-on-demand publisher. Its main line of books on Amazon is collections of Wikipedia articles. Frequently (actually most that I’ve checked) the cover photo is slightly related to the first article in the title, only very very wrong.

The one I remember had a lead article on The Police, an 80s band. The cover photo was of city police. FAIL

[Pitchmeister]

Previous thread on the subject.

My own submission to that thread (though not a book)

@Pitchmeister

This 5 ft Denon Ethernet cable used to sell for 500$ new, but now it’s apparently a collector’s item and goes for 5 times the price.

The reviews are all pretty much priceless, as is the very idea of selling a digital ethernet cable for 500$.

And one of the cases where funny transcends the mundane and truly becomes art: A review of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz

[Peremensoe]

Heh. I like the one-star review on the milk complaining about its “planned obsolescence.”

[athelas]

For a $6000 e-textbook:

Satisfying conclusion to a thrilling series: I had to sell my car and take out an equity loan on my house to buy this book, but it was worth every penny. The previous volumes built to almost unbearable tension, leaving many questions unanswered. Would breeder reactors survive competition from newer technology? Would the nuclear waste problem be solved in our lifetime? Would Iran’s nuclear program be stopped before it could endanger the free world? Could Diablo Canyon ever be made safe from earthquakes? Would the beautiful but annoying anti-nuclear activist (played by Jane Fonda in the TV miniseries adaptation) come around to seeing the joys and wonders of nuclear power?

These questions and many others are resolved in a denouement that is both ingenious and satisfying. I won’t give away the ending, but I can say with assurance that you won’t be disappointed. Highly recommended!

[a35362]

Forty-eight dollars for a gallon of milk?

[Peremensoe]

@a35362

Forty-eight dollars for a gallon of milk?

$48.09 plus $4.49 shipping is the best price right now. But that’s with “Dust cover missing. Some scratches on the front.” Around $2,500/gal. you get some bonus inclusions with the purchase.

[Mahaloth]

@athelas

For a $6000 e-textbook:

I like the guy who says he goes and buys it for friends who leave their Kindles unattended.

I bought what???

:eek:

[Enright3]

@Pitchmeister

Previous thread on the subject.

My own submission to that thread (though not a book)

And one of the cases where funny transcends the mundane and truly becomes art: A review of Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz

That’s hilarious! And for the double whammy, one of the posts about the Denon cable references the Tuscan milk.

[Kuboydal]

This tome has rather nice punctuation. The words are agreeably arranged in a convenient left to right configuration for easy reading. I find the cover reminiscent of Lenny Bruce’s best work. In short, there are words contained herein that may or may not be releveant to the title and it has a binding. Thirty years from now, I imagine it may emit a rather pleasant odor if placed on a shelf next to some unsavory titles. I look forward to more books from this nearly young author in the reasonably near future.

I contributed this as the first review to a friend’s book on Amazon.

[Nunavut_Boy]

Allow me to present Ari Brouilette: his review of The Secret has since been taken off Amazon for unknown reasons. The link provided will display the review it its entirety.

Here
are his other Amazon reviews.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

@Mahaloth

I love it when people group together to start putting funny reviews on obscure or unusual books.

Recently, the book A Million Random Digits With 100,000 Normal Deviates has been brought to my attention and has some good ones. Basically, it is a book filled with random numbers for experiments. It’s from 1955.

This doesn’t really relate to your topic, but I have a copy of that book! A friend of mine works for Rand and had an old one that he gave me as a birthday present. I’ve had many fun evenings reading that book by the fire.

[twickster]

Moved MPSIMS --> Cafe Society.

[TPWombat]

Another gem from A Million Random Digits With 100,000 Normal Deviates

But with so many terrific random digits, it’s a shame they didn’t sort them, to make it easier to find the one you’re looking for.

[panamajack]

Another one playing off the “author” :

For those who thought that “Atlas Shrugged” could not be surpassed, here Rand refutes all doubters and utterly tops that opus in a style so rarefied and refined that words themselves have been transcended, with the essence–no, the ethereal, mystical quintessence–of Rand’s philosophy expressed as its ultimate ur-truth of a million unrelated symbols floating forever in pure mindless randomness. Rand’s myrmidons will find this most congenial, and I recommend that they spend the rest of their days reading this ne plus ultra masterpiece, meeting 24/7 in pure white Randian temples, there to pontificate and meditate on this wonder and that way stop bothering everybody else.

[tim-n-va]

The customer reviews for Communion Wafers Box of 1000 [Unknown Binding] are hit and miss but there are some gems there.

No more waiting around 1 hour only to get 1 serving.

These didn’t taste like Jesus at all to me. I