Saturday, July 16, 2011

F in Exams by Richard Benson - A for Effort


Pros: Hilarious answers
Cons: Only if some of these people didn't get the points

The Bottom Line: Ever find yourself stuck on a test question and throwing in a snarky answer instead? Well, here they all are at once!

I love stumbling upon books at work. That's how I found the nifty Wicked Plants and plenty of other cool books. Sometimes it's fiction, and other times it's something ridiculous like this book.

F in Exams has a simple premise. When a student finds him or herself unable to give the correct answer, they offer up something else - an answer that's wrong yet right all at once, and always very funny. These are hilarious answers to all sorts of questions, and if you don't find at least one of them amusing, I think there's likely something wrong with you.

Some of the questions may even still be right, but the student has done something else to make it funny, such as throw in a drawing for kicks. But most of the time they're just not what the teacher is looking for - even if I'm sure they're technically right in some manner. And these aren't just all snarky answers either. Some of them are surprisingly witty. In fact, if I were a teacher and a few of these slid across my desk, I'd just have to give a few points simply for sheer creativity.

The book is relatively small in shape and is only 130 pages long. There are chapters for each subject one might encounter in high school; Chemistry, English, History, Math, and so forth. You'll quickly breeze through all the hilarious answers and wish there were more at hand (and yet at the same time, you may wonder just what these students' test scores were and think perhaps it's okay that the book isn't bigger, if you catch my drift).

So, how about a few quick samples so you can see the kind of amusing things you'll be getting into?

Q: What is the highest frequency noise that a human can register?
A: Mariah Carey

Q: What was the main industry in Persia?
A: Cats (complete with cat doodle)

Q: Give a brief explanation of the meaning of the term "hard water."
A: Ice

Trust me. Find this little blue book in a bookstore (or even look inside it online) and flip through it. You'll be laughing in no time.

NT

Originally posted at Epinions.com

Notes from the playlist: "Valse Moderne" by John Leach & George Fenton

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