180 Bizarre True Stories of How Dumb Humans Have Met Their Maker.
One of the best known and most frequently visited web sites is the Darwin Awards web site. It is one of those legendary sites which has become part of the fabric of being online. Started in 1993 by Wendy Northcutt, it set out to collect and authenticate stories of individuals around the world who, through their stupidity, have removed themselves from the gene pool (ie killed themselves). These are the people for whom warnings such as "coffee is hot" and "this superman cape does not enable the wearer to fly" were made.
This is black humour elevated to its purest commercial form. There are rules here, too. The candidate must:
- exhibit astounding misapplication of judgement
- remove himself/herself from the gene pool
- be capable of sound judgement
- be self-selecting (ie it was their fault)
- and the event must be verifiable
The book contains four types of stories: the Darwin Awards; honourable mentions; urban legends; and personal accounts, while the introduction explains the nature and origin of the awards. Each chapter has a funny introduction and one in six stories has a serious discussion of its veracity.
