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Fake Science 101: A Less-Than-Factual Guide to Our Amazing World
The universe is like a really big world filled with really difficult questions and lots of comets. "Fake Science 101" is here to tackle those questions that are too tough to really answer. Like why is the sky blue? Where did the dinosaurs go? And what's with Einstein's hair?
If you love Fake Science on the World Wide Web, you will love it even more on paper.* This cutting-edge volume shares the freshest discoveries to date made by the Fake Science lab--and completely ignores the sneers from the scientific community over its lack of research. "Fake Science 101" is your go-to textbook for when the facts are just too confusing.
*Unless you are a tree.
If you love Fake Science on the World Wide Web, you will love it even more on paper.* This cutting-edge volume shares the freshest discoveries to date made by the Fake Science lab--and completely ignores the sneers from the scientific community over its lack of research. "Fake Science 101" is your go-to textbook for when the facts are just too confusing.
*Unless you are a tree.
272 pages, Paperback
First published July 18, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 17, 2019
This is not a book that should be read in one sitting- while it's hilarious, the humor is best appreciated in smaller doses so that each little dig can be savored. It almost hit a little TOO close to home at times, but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. Will definitely recommend to all my science nerd friends and coworkers.
April 24, 2017
One of the challenges of creating content on the internet is that it is usually quickly and readily consumed and forgotten by the web-browsing public. Monetizing this content is even more difficult because of the aforementioned reasons. That being said, there are many ways the creators of internet content can make some money off of their product. Sometimes this takes the form of T-shirts or other, physical items, but oftentimes the choice of internet creators is a book. For Fake Science, which uses Tumblr for its regular posts, publishing a fake science textbook seemed like a good choice.
Unfortunately, since a lot of internet content is quickly consumed, an almost 300 page book seems a little tedious to read once the initial novelty of the idea wears off. There are certainly a lot of amusing bits in this book, but they tend to be lost in the noise of it all as the joke is repeated over and over again. Because it's satire, knowledge of the factual science behind the jokes of Fake Science is almost necessary so the joke can be understood. Even though the parody of a textbook is well-done, the problem with this is you're essentially reading a textbook from cover to cover.
Adding to the difficulty of just sitting down and reading a whole chapter is the fact that the satire almost makes it read like a mixture of science propaganda (which is inexplicably obsessed with tanning salons) and your wise-ass drunk uncle who heard about science second-hand and now thinks he's an expert in it. By the end of the book, you're just tired of reading a printed out section of the internet and merely want to go back to watching videos of cats.
A book for those who want a few science-related jokes and laughs amidst the dry formatting of a textbook, I give Fake Science 101 3.0 stars out of 5.
For more reviews of books and movies like this, please visit www.benjamin-m-weilert.com
Unfortunately, since a lot of internet content is quickly consumed, an almost 300 page book seems a little tedious to read once the initial novelty of the idea wears off. There are certainly a lot of amusing bits in this book, but they tend to be lost in the noise of it all as the joke is repeated over and over again. Because it's satire, knowledge of the factual science behind the jokes of Fake Science is almost necessary so the joke can be understood. Even though the parody of a textbook is well-done, the problem with this is you're essentially reading a textbook from cover to cover.
Adding to the difficulty of just sitting down and reading a whole chapter is the fact that the satire almost makes it read like a mixture of science propaganda (which is inexplicably obsessed with tanning salons) and your wise-ass drunk uncle who heard about science second-hand and now thinks he's an expert in it. By the end of the book, you're just tired of reading a printed out section of the internet and merely want to go back to watching videos of cats.
A book for those who want a few science-related jokes and laughs amidst the dry formatting of a textbook, I give Fake Science 101 3.0 stars out of 5.
For more reviews of books and movies like this, please visit www.benjamin-m-weilert.com
January 9, 2016
I really wanted to like this book. I love science, I love humor books, and this seemed like a great intersection. It's a glossy, pretty book, but I was sad to find the content doesn't match the packaging.
Maybe that's because I'm coming off the stellar The Disappearing Spoon, which was hilarious in parts itself, but many of the jokes in this book fell flat. It starts out well, with a fairly funny introduction, and I love the idea of a quiz at the end of every chapter. Over the course of the book, though, there would be maybe one part in every section that made me chuckle, and maybe two more that made me grin. Otherwise, I was thumbing through it in silence.
I wanted to start out the year with a funny book. This didn't quite do it for me. Maybe for others the humor will come through more clearly, but it wasn't for me.
Two of five stars.
Maybe that's because I'm coming off the stellar The Disappearing Spoon, which was hilarious in parts itself, but many of the jokes in this book fell flat. It starts out well, with a fairly funny introduction, and I love the idea of a quiz at the end of every chapter. Over the course of the book, though, there would be maybe one part in every section that made me chuckle, and maybe two more that made me grin. Otherwise, I was thumbing through it in silence.
I wanted to start out the year with a funny book. This didn't quite do it for me. Maybe for others the humor will come through more clearly, but it wasn't for me.
Two of five stars.
November 25, 2012
The best themed humor comes about when the author understands a field well enough to knowledgeably make fun of it (for instance, Tom Lehrer's "Lobachevsky" or the Bureau Chiefs' Write More Good: An Absolutely Phony Guide). Unfortunately, judging by "Fake Science 101", it doesn't seem as though Edwards knows enough about science to really poke fun at it.
It's okay, but not great. Good enough to finish, but it won't become a classic.
It's okay, but not great. Good enough to finish, but it won't become a classic.
August 11, 2012
I bought this thinking it would be good way to introduce science to the kids, that it would be funny. Therein lies the problem, the humor is distracting. In fact it's distracting and may led the kids to form the wrong conclusion about whatever is this man is trying to explain...In layman's terms...it sucks...
August 5, 2014
Surprisingly dull considering the original website posts were so much fun. Its a hard subject to find new comic spins on after a century of spoofing and while there's a few laughs, it doesn't sustain a full book.
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November 23, 2012Featured on Skeptically Speaking show #187 on October 28, 2012, during an interview with author Phil Edwards. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...
March 29, 2013
A fun little book from the author of the website of the same name. It was pretty cheesy in a lot of parts with some very forced humor, but other sections did give me a good genuine chuckle.
May 13, 2013
Very funny book. :) Laughed a lot!
July 29, 2013
This book is hilarious, to fully comprehend the intricacies of this book a bit of a background in science helps.
October 14, 2013
this book helped me ace my science exams
January 26, 2014
Some books try to be funny and succeed.
This is not one of those.
This is not one of those.
November 18, 2014
This book is hilarious.
February 6, 2015
Four stars for being well-written, and one extra star for being the most ridiculous thing I've ever read.
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April 9, 2016Very humorous, with excellent photoshopped images serving to add to the humor.
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January 7, 2018Fun crackpottery
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews