The Areas of My Expertise

An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order

By: John Hodgman

Narrated by: John Hodgman

Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

In the great tradition of the American almanac, The Areas of My Expertise is a brilliant and hilarious compendium of handy reference tables, fascinating trivia, and sage wisdom on all topics large and small. Although best sellers such as Poor Richard's Almanack and The Book of Lists were certainly valuable, they also were largely true. Here is a different kind of handy desk reference, one in which all of the historical oddities and amazing true facts are sifted through the singular, illuminating imagination of John Hodgman, which is the nice way of saying: He made it all up.

©2005 John Hodgman (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Critic reviews

"Wonderfully absurd." (The New York Times)

"Hilarious ... Nabokov's Pale Fire as directed by Wes Anderson." (Time Out New York)

"If Borges and Ben Franklin got drunk and decided to write a book together, the result might have been something a lot like this freaky 'almanac.'" (Tom Perrotta)

Gets better with each listen.

Such a clever book. it's made even better when John Hodgman's partnership with Jonathan Colton on the recording.

Quite funny

Who knew that fictional facts could be so entertaining? John Hodgman knew. That's why he wrote this book and then recorded this audiobook. Also Jonathan Coulton is there.

Funny, but too long.

This book has some really funny parts, but is entirely too long. After awhile you just get bored as its the same thing over and over and over again. I didn't finish it.

Judge John Hodgeman

I love John Hodgeman, and I fully expected to love not one, not two, but 3 audiobooks by the host of the always delightful Judge John Hodgman podcast. That is why I bought this one, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All. I'm not saying that there are returns in my future, this first volume was not everything I'd hoped it was. It is largely an audio program about malarky, and though Hodgeman is very up-front about this, I find that the list format of this book allows certain jokes to grow old quickly. There are a lot of great bits of absurdism and alternate history that almost reminded me of of Welcome to Night Vale in places, but they were often delivered with such dry monotone that I found myself rewinding just to catch jokes that were not nearly as well delivered as they were written. Part of the fun of a comedy book is that you don't need to follow-much because the voice is so personal and the format so anecdotal (typically). I will say that the banter between Hodgman and his audiobook theme music provider, Jonathan Coulton, is one of the extra enjoyable bits that I expect one can only experience in this format. Indeed, even with quick wit and an absurdist imagination, Hodgeman works best when he has a Jesse Thorn or Jonathan Coulton to banter with. I sure hope I enjoy the next two books more than I enjoyed this one:).

The Best Almanac of Fake Facts Money Can Buy

Any additional comments?

After going through this book, I can't help but wonder what it must be like to even spend one single minute as John Hodgman. It truly must be an extraordinary experience to which nothing compares.

It must have taken him a lifetime to amass THIS much fake knowledge/trivia... Which doesn't seem to make sense, but he is, in fact, living proof.

If you're hoping that this book will get you some interesting tidbits of information you can whip out at a party to impress friends and associates, don't bother. On the other hand, if you're interested in the secret code-language of hobos, then this is the book for you!

9.2 / 10

Absurd and Hilarious

The only thing you can expect from John Hodgman is to expect anything. He throws in just enough of the truth to make you realize that this is not an utter work of fiction, but this almanac of made up facts is one thing above all else: a great read and very funny.

This is the sound of the gavel... *Hohoq*

This was the first audiobook I ever purchased on Audible. Since that time a few years ago, I’ve started it on and off, never quite finishing the first chapter. This book was recommended to me, and the stuff it gets right is quite good. John Hodgman is a great satirist, and his style of humor is complimented by Jonathan Coulton. The chapters on Hobos and the 51 United States are really solid, and you could quite honestly do an entire TV adaptation with the material provided.

Where The Areas of My Expertise falls flat for me is... everywhere else. This is Hodgman at his most stale, and certainly not the accomplished satirist we hear on his podcast. The first half of the book winds up being little more than a game of Mad Libs: real historic facts are contorted, and the details replaced with new nouns and verbs like “furry lobster,” which is a funny name, but Hodgman doesn’t go very far with it. This starts to change later on in the book, but by then the shtick hasn’t made you laugh much and you’re left a bit underwhelmed. Again, it’s weird, because I like John’s work and the best parts of the book are really great. But the weakest parts unfortunately don’t overcome.

And for the record: I listened to ALL 700 Hobo names. Joey Stinkeye Smiles would be proud.

Unbelievably funny

Lies are often more believable than truth (i.e. Barack & Hillary)--a very amusing book if, as you listen, you reflect more on the mind of the author than on content.

Not funny

I've enjoyed him on the daily show (mostly) and other places he's turned up, but this book is boring and not funny. In good comedy there must be at least a little sincerity. All the best comedians know that the ultimate joke must be on them. John Hodgeman seems more interested in feigning arrogance than actually divulging anything interesting about himself.

Good but repetitious

Would you try another book from John Hodgman and/or John Hodgman?

Doubtful

Would you ever listen to anything by John Hodgman again?

Doubtful

What about John Hodgman???s performance did you like?

Nails the attitude of the book, a good performer

Could you see The Areas of My Expertise being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

N/A

Any additional comments?

It's funny, but the humor is humor of the absurd, and the book is just the same type of absurd made up facts over and over. Yes, it's clever, but it's too repetitious. You have your fill of it after 15 minutes.