Dan Geddes

Dan Geddes' satirical creation, America's Most Critical Book, lives up to its title.

From the opening satire, "The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient Cult Leaders," to the final collection of short prose you are challenged to use your gray matter to ponder the illusions we are fond of living in.

For those who enjoy the thrill of "getting" the humor and revel in being in tune with the inside joke, this book is for you. Get lost in Geddes' world of "Imaginary News," "Lost Geniuses," and "Reviews of Imaginary Movies and Books." But if poetry is your bent you might want to skip the lackluster "Saint Nicholas and Count Monet."

For those who are satirically challenged, don't be dismayed, this is the book for you, too. Buy the paperback and leave it on your coffee table for your guests to see. It says The Satirist right there on the front cover. You might not "get" the satire, but your guests will suspect that you do, and they will be impressed. Since most of them don't "get" satire either, embarrassing questions will then be avoided. If you prefer to buy the e-book, make sure it's first on your Shelfari bookshelf, ahead of the thousands of free books you have downloaded because they're free, even though you will likely never read them, since most, free or not, are trash. So having Mr. Geddes' intelligent book first in line on your shelf will impress those surfing by.

One minor cavil I have with the cover is that is so plain. I think the author might have included the image of a Satyr front and center. This would have the potential to add a certain je ne sais quoi when placed on one's coffee table. It would likely convey to one's guests not only one's superior understanding of things intellectual but add some mystique to one's private life.

In addition, Geddes' book should be recorded in literary history as an equal to The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, which was another book that few understood but was put to good use by many to improve their relationships with the opposite sex.

On a final note, Geddes' bio insists he lives in Amsterdam, but I suspect he lives in the lost city of Atlantis under Antarctica, where he is plotting with his alien friends to save the world from our corrupt, current descent into the abyss.

And did I mention? Geddes' book is really funny.… (mehr)

Volume 1 of this collection from The Satirist website manages in just several scores of pages to poke fun at cults, political parties, conspiracy theories, and Disney. Geddes is versatile in his satire, with formats ranging from essays to fictitious movie reviews and obituaries. There's even a self-help quiz. Readers will be amused throughout, and if the light shines too brightly on one's personal dogma, a new topic is always fast approaching throughout the book. My personal favorite laugh aloud moment occurred upon reading the title "Felix Spielenhammer: The Heavy Mahler." The last four selections take on a more serious tone, and I enjoyed these very short stories most of all. They still reflect cultural elements that can range from the pathetic to the ridiculous (cubicles, fast food, and satellite TV), but the stories are more substantive, and, I suspect, more personal.… (mehr)