The Areas of My Expertise (Audiobook) by John Hodgman
Blurb for the back cover:
“Starts off funny and generally holds my attention, but after a few minutes the novelty wears off”
What an odd book. John Hodgman, former literary agent, decided that is was time to write a book of his own and that book is An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order by myself, John Hodgman, a Professional Writer, in the Areas of My Expertise, which Include: Matters Historical, Matters Literary, Matters Cryptozoological, Hobo Matters, Food, Drink & Cheese (a Kind of Food), Squirrels & Lobsters & Eels, Haircuts, Utopia, What Will Happen in the Future, and Most Other Subjects or The Areas of My Expertise for short. In this book Hodgman attempts to compile everything he knows.
I’ve often overlooked this book in the bookstore, picking it up only to put it back down again. However the opportunity presented itself to enjoy this book via CD on a lengthy road trip, so I figured I would give this book a shot. The long title covers pretty much everything the book does. In fact, the long title would make a nice summary of the table of contents. Speaking of the table of contents, is it normal for an audiobook to read that to me?
The audiobook edition which is read by the author is not a straight word-for-word recording. Instead it has been adapted to fit the audio format complete with its own theme song by Jonathan Coulton. Coulton joins John Hodgman as he reads the book which can sometimes make it feel more like one of those morning radio chat programs instead of an audiobook.
In terms of the content, The Area of My Expertise has its high and low points. The chapters that cover Matters Literary and Matters Historical are a nice way to start the book off. Midway through the book, right when it hits Hobo Matters, it starts to drag on and witty banter turns to inane rambling. The problem is that Hodgman sometimes devotes too much time to subject matters that are neither interesting or funny. The same thing happens when he starts talking about the 51st state. It starts off funny and generally holds my attention, but after a few minutes the novelty wears off and I am stuck listening to the brief history of a floating state.
In the end, it was entertaining and helped get my through my long drive. When all is said and done, this probably works well as a book you pick up and casually read over a longer period of time. As an audiobook, even with the added music from Jonathan Coulton, it is just not entertaining enough to justify listening to in one sitting. To sum up: enjoy in small doses and skip the CD dedicated to reading the 700 hobo names.
it also seems that Mr. Hodgman will soon be releasing <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FMore-Information-Than-You-Require%2Fdp%2F0525950346%2F&tag=theboopir-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325″>More Information Than You Require</a> on October 21st, 2008
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