Sunday, October 17, 2010

Book Review: "Earth (The Book)"

After the success of their 2004 hit America: The Book, Jon Stewart and his "Daily Show" writers are back with Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race (Grand Central, 2010). Written as a guide for visiting aliens to a planet Earth bereft of human beings, it's a look back at what our society might resemble to outsiders, and also a vivid depiction of what might have caused the human race to meet an untimely demise.

Not surprisingly, the humor is unsparing (as one would expect, nothing's sacred here), and in true "Daily Show" fashion, it's sometimes a bit over the top. Like America: The Book, the text is accompanied by frequent illustrations, sidebars, and featurettes (including FAQs, here glossed as "Future Alien Questions").

Fans of the Jon Stewart brand of humor will likely enjoy this book a great deal. I did.