Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action

The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action
The Darwin Awards Evolution in Action
Author: Wendy Northcutt
The Market's bargain prices are even better for Paperbackswap club members!
Retail Price: $15.00
Buy New (Paperback): $12.29 (save 18%) or
Become a PBS member and pay $8.39+1 PBS book credit Help icon(save 44%)
ISBN-13: 9780452283442
ISBN-10: 0452283442
Publication Date: 4/30/2002
Pages: 352
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 111

3.8 stars, based on 111 ratings
Publisher: Plume
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

39 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 37 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Kind of funny - wants to make be careful!
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 65 more book reviews
Absolutely hysterical! I almost got into so many accidents from laughing so hard, so be careful when you listen to this one!
ilovebooksanddogs avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 359 more book reviews
I found this book hilarious. now I know better than to speak ill of the dead but come on. most of these people really asked for it. What in the world WERE they thinking? Light and easy read.
skywaywaver avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 148 more book reviews
A nice light read that makes you feel better about yourself
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 6 more book reviews
This book is very funny!
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on
Hysterical. Great for anyone who has a decent sense of humor or may need a pick-me-up. Vol II and III are just as good.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 11 more book reviews
Oh my goodness, such a good light read for when your waiting for the doctors or simply just passing time. these stories are pretty funny and leave wondering why some people simply don't think before they act.
katfusion avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 10 more book reviews
This book is hilarious! I love the Darwin Award books, they're great for light reading in your spare time, or to break up the reading of a really thick book. It's easy to just read a few little sections of this book and then put it away again until next time. I would highly recommend it!
jenel avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 60 more book reviews
Not A fan
pigwoman avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 82 more book reviews
Even though this is an earlier version of the Darwin Awards, it sure tickled my funny bone, for light reading or just a laugh this is a must.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 76 more book reviews
A funny look at the human race.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on
After being introduced to this series back in high school, I can now firmly say that I believe in Darwin's theory. This book is a great read, especially if you feel the need for proof that some people have it worse off than you. A good reminder that we must laugh at ourselves in order to laugh at others.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 31 more book reviews
This book is great for reading while waiting for an appointment and also for just sitting and enjoying! From the back of the book: "Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, The Darwin Awards vividly displays the finest of evolution in action- and shows us just how uncommon common sense can be" "These tales of trial and awe inspiring error verified by the author... illustrate the ongoing saga of survival of the fittest in all it's selective glory."
tsatske avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 4 more book reviews
I have to admit it - I LOVE the Darwin awards. I feel bad about loving them, I do. A decent person shouldn't laugh at this stuff. Really. (but it's really, really funny)

I realized how badly I feel about loving them so much, when I read of one guy in here, who won the award when he asked his best buddy to come over to help him get rid of the hornets nest under the eave of his garage. And he had just the thing to do the job, too... He had some dynomite in his garage!

These genuises stuck a quarter stick of dynamite under a hornets nest! But - they weren't stupid. No, not them. They knew they should go back inside before they detonated it.

OTOH, they really wanted to watch. I mean, this is gonna be COOL. So, they went inside - and stood in front of the plate glass window facing the garage.

As they were leaving their house for their car to go to the emergency room to seek help for their mulitple lacerations, they were attacked by a swarm of angry hornets. Now, who coulda seen that coming?

As I was reading that one, I could practically SEE my brother-in-law doing something like that. I'm thinking, G-d, I'm terrible, laughing at these people. I am, too. It's true. But it doesn't stop it from being funny as heck.

If you are horrible too, you are gonna want to order this book.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 9 more book reviews
This is the first Darwin Awards book in a series of many. I've read a few of the other books that came out after this one and I would have to say that this one is, by far the funniest, most amusing book in the series. I suppose this comes from having a whole history of 'Darwin's' to assess and pick from. The second book is not as good as the third.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 21 more book reviews
Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, The Darwin Awards vividly portrays the finest examples of evolution in action, and shows us just how uncommon common sense can be ...
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 118 more book reviews
Internet awards for the most stupid people!
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 2 more book reviews
very funny. Great book for a plane or the beach- you can read a little at a time
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 13 more book reviews
True accounts of the various manner in which people have died or been severely injured because of their own foolish behavior.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 6 more book reviews
Goes to show that some people are too stupid for words.
Loved it.
Patouie avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 132 more book reviews
We read this book several years ago, and it still comes up in dinnertime conversation. People are so bizarre!!
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 15 more book reviews
Funny, funny stuff. Each story will leave you muttering "Darwin was right". The book chronicles the silly, stupid and deadly choices that people make.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 17 more book reviews
Great read. Gets some good conversations going. Amazing that every story in here is for real
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 7 more book reviews
Hilarious!
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 3 more book reviews
Perfext bathroom book. A hundred hilarious short, and sometimes true, stories about people that should have thought things through.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 35 more book reviews
A true review of how 'far' humanity has come and an example of how much farther we have yet to go!
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 3352 more book reviews
This is a funny book and, in small doses, enjoyable. But somewhere along the line you begin to realize you've done enough stupid things in your life to qualify for one of these awards. Definitely pro-evolution.
Rangerfan avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 21 more book reviews
A really funny book about some real crazy people doing insane things.
unholyblackdeath avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 57 more book reviews
Funny! This book details many "lucky" winners who have won a Darwin Award for taking themselves out of the gene pool by their own stupidity. These people have been killed doing the most stupid and thoughtless things that you can imagine any human being doing. Even gives the sources of the information so you can get more info if you wish. Some of these made me laugh out loud to myself.

4 Stars
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 56 more book reviews
short stories, many only a few paragraphs long that tell the true stories of how human stupidity has killed/harmed many a person in a darwinian fashion. it's very funny not gruesome at all.
BobbiesZoo avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 107 more book reviews
Wonderfully funny!
FamFatale avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 369 more book reviews
A great read.
Ryeth avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 82 more book reviews
Small sized hard cover. Very amusing (or frightning!) stories of the stupid things people do.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 1568 more book reviews
You've probably already heard of the phenomenon called the Darwin Awards, and perhaps you've even said you nearly deserved one if you caught yourself doing something egregiously stupid. Here's a whole collection!

One caution, however... DO NOT PUT THIS ON A SHELF IN THE BATHROOM FOR LIGHT READING. If you do so, some of your guests will spend interminable time on the throne, and stifled groans or howls of hysterical mirth will seep out into the rest of the house. This will make everyone else wonder, "What's he doing in there?"

From the dust jacket: Meet the absentminded terrorist who opens a mail bomb returned to him for insufficient postage. Marvel at the thief who steals electrical wires without shutting off the current. Gape at the would-be pilot who flies his lawn chair suspended from helium balloons into air-traffic lanes. And learn from the man who peers into a gasoline can using a cigarette lighter. All four contend for Darwin awards when their choices culminate in magnificent misadventures.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 1775 more book reviews
"Stupid criminal tricks" can be depressing to read, one after another, when they end in death. A basic premise of the Darwin Award is that the subject is removed from the gene pool.
Included are some 'honorable mentions' and urban legends.
One of special interest is the discussion of whether JFKjr deserves to be honored (pp133-137) for poor judgement.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 6 more book reviews
Funny book.
lisareinke avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 123 more book reviews
Entertaining.
jazzysmom avatar reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 907 more book reviews
Hilarious!!! Standing in the checkout line alone and laugh out loud funny. I loved it.
reviewed The Darwin Awards : Evolution in Action on + 50 more book reviews
A decent idea VERY POORLY executed. Tons of white space filler. No effort made to fact-check. A hazy mix of sensational news stories and urban legends. A too-breezy, bloggy style. A mean, almost sadistic tone. A total disappointment that I didn't even want to finish and didn't.