The Darwin Awards: The Official Darwin Awards

by Wendy Northcutt

The Darwin Awards is the legendary web site which commemorates the remains of people who have improved our gene pool by killing themselves in really stupid ways! Practically everyone who is on the net has received a Darwin story in their e-mail at one time or another. It is one of those legendary web sites which has become part of the fabric of being on-line. Started in 1993 by biologist Wendy Northcutt she set out to collect together and authenticate stories of individuals around the world who, through their stupidity, have removed themselves from the gene pool. 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 ...

• ISBN10: 0752844512
• ISBN13: 9780752844510
• Publish Date: 27 September 2001
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 12 April 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

Not much I can say about this one: it's a collection of Darwin award winners (and the honourable mentions) and their stories.  It's both hilarious and possibly a sad commentary on the advancement, or lack thereof, of common sense.   For anyone who might not be familiar with the Darwin Awards, they are given each year for: significantly improve the gene pool by eliminating themselves from the human race in an obviously stupid way. They are self-selected examples of the dangers inherent in a lack of common sense, and all human races, cultures, and socioeconomic groups are eligible to compete. Actual winners must meet the following criteria:   Reproduction
   Out of the gene pool: dead or sterile.
Excellence
   Astounding misapplication of judgment.
Self-Selection
   Cause one's own demise.
Maturity
   Capable of sound judgment. 
Veracity
   The event must be true.   (source: darwinawards.com/rules)   Always good for a chuckle!