Economy of Errors: Satirewire Gives Business the Business [Paperback]

So, I got the book, flipped to a random page, "Girlfriend Announces Disappointing Q2 Results," and after about 30 seconds I was doubled over. My roommate came over, and all I could say was "Read this! Read this!" before spluttering off for some water. Since then we've been fighting over it.

What I love about it is not just that it's hilarious, but it skewers something that never really gets hit hard enough: business. Okay, lately people have been making fun of Enron and Andersen and a few others, but this book digs at everybody from Microsoft to Adam Smith to the hidden desires of CEOs (the story about CEO dream dates is classic, maybe even beyond classic). More amazing to me is that it's both hysterical and historical, it kind of walks you through the new economy right thru to today's post-new economy.

Today, because I just read it, my favorite is one that takes on high-tech hype. Called "IBM Has Smaller Chips; AMD Has Smaller Employees," it begins: "In response to IBM's statement that it will produce transistors only .20 microns across, rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices announced today that most of its employees are no more than 14 inches tall. AMD, however, refused to allow reporters into its facilities to verify the claim. "We would, but we can't reach the doorknobs," spokesman Ravi Chalani said in a phone interview."

The Onion guys are great, but as I'm reading this, I'd have to say Andrew Marlatt is the funniest writer in America.

I've read a few places where people say Economy of Errors is funnier than Dilbert, but it's not like Dilbert at all. Dilbert is a one-off running joke. This book has a little of everything: funny images, funny illustrations, and hundreds of stories that quite literally have had people around the office fighting over it. (Yes, even to take to the bathroom.)

Certainly it's Onionesque in parts, with some great headlines ("Survey: Majority Of Web Users Are FBI Agents Posing As Teenage Girls"), but it's much more in-depth, and more memorable because of it. I will never forget reading about "employee slapping" policies, or how Toys R Us, long known for its distinctive backwards R, decided to turn around its T and its U as well to get three times the brand recognition.

My only advice is, don't loan the book out. Make people get their own.

It's also different in that while the headlines themselves are funny, e.g., "Chrysler Recalls Ford Minivans" or "Shooting at Virtual Office Leaves 3 As Good As Dead, 6 Tantamount to Wounded"), the stories get even funnier as they go on. And while it's absurd, it's definitely a history of the New Economy with stories about the beginnings of Netscape, the mad dotcom rush, the horrible fall from grace (including a story about refugee camps set up for dotcommers where the refs from AltaVista turned out to be particularly useless: "We sent them out for sticks to make a fire, and they came back with Thai sticks, Stickley furniture, and Old Styx albums.")

I know these guys (Satirewire) have a web site, but their stuff was made for print. It's just hysterically funny stuff.