The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures - Hardcover

Pile, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571277284 ISBN 13: 9780571277285

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2011

Synopsis

The Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year.

Anyone can be a success, but it takes real and original genius to foul up big time. These are the all-time greats, Gods in the field of failure, surreal artists, who spurn mere drab success ('I'm a winner, Lord Sugar') to explore the vast, magical, life-enhancing possibilities of getting it wrong. Any of us could make a mistake, but these great souls can turn the simplest everyday task into a scene of jaw-dropping wonder. These are the immortals.

Stephen Pile, President of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain and author of the number-one best-sellerThe Book of Heroic Failures, takes us on an all-new and mind-bendingly hilarious tour to celebrate the most spectacular and absurd failures of the last twenty-five years.

Failure is everywhere. There are 235 stories in total spread from the Outer Hebrides to America, Ireland, Australia, Europe and Africa. The Syrian entry, for example, holds the world all-comers record as the driver who got most lost under satnav direction (5000 miles).

From the most driving test failures (959), the most pointless election (in Dakota, in which not even the mayor voted), the worst robbery (when two different sets of bank robbers struck simultaneously) and the worst mugger (who left his victim $250 better off), to the holidaying rugby team of fifty-somethings from Dorchester who, due to a mis-translation, ended up playing the top team from Romania live on state TV, this is the ultimate book to make you feel better about yourself and the world around you.

The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures fails miserably at failing to be a runaway success amongst funny books.

About this title

Review:

'A splendid panorama of non-achievement.' --Sunday Telegraph

'One of the funniest and most entertaining books I have dipped into for a long time.' --Country Life

'One of the few books to make me laugh out loud.' --Sunday Express

Book Description:

With Stephen Pile's The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures, celebrate the very best in failure with this all new collection of outrageously funny misadventures from the author of the classic number one bestseller The Book of Heroic Failures.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0571277284
• ISBN 13: 9780571277285
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304