The Darwin Awards Next Evolution

The hilarious New York Times bestselling phenomenon and the perfect funny gift! The Darwin Awards II: Unnatural Selection brings together a fresh collection of the hapless, the heedless, and the just plain foolhardy among us. Salute the owner of an equipment training school who demonstrates the dangers of driving a forklift by failing to survive the filming of his own safety video. Gawk at the couple who go to sleep on a sloping roof. Witness the shepherd who leaves his rifle unsecured—only to be accidentally shot by one of his own flock. With over one hundred Darwin Award Winners, Honorable Mentions, and debunked Urban Legends, plus science and safety tips for avoiding the scythe of natural selection, The Darwin Awards II proves once again how uncommon common sense can be.

The hilarious New York Times bestselling phenomenon and the perfect funny gift! New York Times bestselling author Wendy Northcutt is back, asking, Have we evolved at all? The answer: Not all of us. What crazy cocktail of DNA leads Homo sapiens to do pull-ups off the edge of a seventh-floor balcony or wrap their lips around a paintball gun and pull the trigger? How about offering a beer to a bear or self-testing a Taser? Why not go joyriding in a shopping cart strapped to an SUV or jump a drawbridge on a bicycle? Fully illustrated with over a hundred new jaw-dropping and side-splitting feats of stupidity—and including science essays by guest writers and answers to FAQs about evolution in action—The Darwin Awards Next Evolution continues the tradition of honoring the victims of appallingly poor survival instinct who selflessly improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

A new collection of tongue-in-cheek tributes to people whose own lack of judgment led to their demise includes a homeowner who filled his house with natural gas to kill termites, a motorcycle rider who steered with his feet, and a welder who incorporated a grenade into a chain. 300,000 first printing.

An all-new collection of gene-pool belly flops Most people don't need a PhD to know that doing chin-ups off the edge of a seventh-floor balcony is a recipe for disaster. Or that it's a bad idea to put a paintball gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Or to think twice before joyriding in a shopping cart strapped to a four-wheel drive. Darwin Award winners lack this basic sound judgement. Named for Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, The Darwin Awards celebrates those who have dived headfirst into the shallow end of the gene pool. From offering a bear a beer to self-testing a Taser to jumping a drawbridge on a bike, The Darwin Awards V: Next Evolution honours these macabre and entertaining feats of hapless misjudgement. Fully illustrated with over a hundred new awe-inspiring tales, including science essays from guest writers and answers to FAQs about evolution in action, The Darwin Awards V: Next Evolution demonstrates how uncommon common sense still is.

The hilarious New York Times bestselling phenomenon and the perfect funny gift! The Darwin Awards shares the stories of those human beings who improve the gene pool by removing themselves from it in a sublimely idiotic fashion. Marvel at the thief who tries to steal live electrical wires. Gape at the lawnchair jockey who floats to a height of 16,000 feet suspended by helium balloons. And learn from the man who peers into a gasoline can using a cigarette lighter. All contend for Darwin Awards when their choices culminate in magnificent misadventures. These tales of trial and awe-inspiring error-verified by the author and endorsed by website readers-illustrate the ongoing saga of survival of the fittest in all its selective glory. The Darwin Awards vividly portrays the finest examples of evolution in action, and shows us just how uncommon common sense can be.

One of the best known and most frequently visited web sites is the Darwin Awards web site. 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 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, (i.e. 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 (i.e. it was their fault) and the event must be verifiable.

The great evolutionist Mayr elucidates the subtleties of Darwin’s thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs—A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weisman, Asa Gray. Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Darwin’s scientific thought and his legacy to twentieth-century biology.

All new tales from the shallow end of the gene pool Named in honour of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, The Darwin Awards pays homage to those who improve our gene pool . . . by removing themselves from it. Most of us know instinctively that igniting a blasting cap in our mouth is a recipe for disaster. Darwin Award winners do not. Most of us have basic sound judgement that eliminates the need for NO SMOKING signs at ammo dumps. Darwin Award winners do not. Whether it's thallium-snorting soldiers, head-butting motorcyclists, or hatchet-wielding men who mistake a body part for a chicken neck, there's no shortage of creative Darwin Award winners. Filled with 150 original tales of evolution in action, science essays by guest writers, and a spoof research paper supporting Intelligent Design, The Darwin Awards IV demonstrates that when it comes to common sense, natural selection still has a long way to go.