Musings from Brian J. Noggle

Book Review: The Little Book of Stupid Questions by David Borgenicht

Whenever Heather and I travel, I like to pick up one of these silly little quiz books to help us pass the time. I picked up the Barnes and Noble edition of this book, for a number of dollars no less, because I knew we would be on the road this year. Unfortunately, although this book bills itself as a way to "Get your friends to reveal their inner selves with The Little Book of Stupid Questions". Unfortunately, the book serves more to let you get to know David Borgenicht as much as to get to know each other.

Face it, quiz books of this sort should proffer brain teasers to elicit chuckles, amusing stories, or wry revelations on the part of those answering the question. Unfortunately, Borgenicht cannot help intruding with follow-up questions that presume the question will be answered a certain way, such as

If, by some quirk of fate, you run into your favorite celebrity/supermodel fantasy object, and, by some other quirk of fate, they

come onto you, what would you do? What if you were in a committed relationship? Do you ask for an autograph afterwards?

When you're in the shower and you see a little hair on the tile wall, do you fill your hands with water and try to splash it off, or

try to pluck it off with your fingers? Why are we so predictable?

Some of the questions are seemingly rhetorical, as though Borgenicht couldn't wait for Amateur Night at the comedy club.

If you ate your own foot, would you lose weight?

Do you think that the first time corn ever popped

it scared the hell out of the Indians?

and furthermore

Why do people who use "correct grammar" sound like such dorks?

Even when he's not cracking wise or writing with a smirk, he's repeating himself. What would your name be as a rock singer/super hero/exotic dancer? Who would you least like to be haunted by/stuck in an elevator with/spend an eternity in hell with? I started skipping the similar questions, the rhetorical questions, and the repeated questions. Ultimately, it left about a third of the book qualified to do what it advertises.

However, Borgenicht does lead to hours of amusing speculation with this question:

If they can make a "black box" that is so indestructible that it survives a plane crash, why don't they just make the airplane out of the same material?

Wow. Is Borgenicht plagiarizing from George Carlin's Brain Droppings, or is he plagiarizing from Mike Barnicle's column in the Boston Globe which itself plagiarized from Brain Droppings and led to Barnicle's dismissal?

Wondering about that answer could eat up some drive time in the middle of Illinois, werd.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:38 PM