Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179878 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-06
• Released on: 2007-03-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review

About the Author
Richard Sandomir (New York) is a New York Times columnist. His other books include Bald Like Me.

Customer Reviews

Hilarious yet scholarly
OK, maybe scholarly isn't the right word for this book. But it does manage to combine a certain level of mock seriousness with hilarious choices (such as the segment devoted to winnowing out the best "person famous for, well, being famous"--guess what, Nicole Richie WINS!).

Each two-page section is laid out like a family tree, with branches--or, more appropriately, like a graph of March Madness basketball teams as sports commentators make their predictions about which teams will play each other and who will end up in the Final Four. In addition to the aforementioned example, there are sections devoted to "best movie death scene," "best indie rock albums," "best game show catchphrases," "best simple things" (the toothpick wins!) and more.

The coolest thing is that each section is written by a different expert. The section on "the best black-and-white TV shows," for instance, is written by Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor who directs the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. "The best investment strategies" section is written by the global chief investment strategist for Citigroup Global Wealth Management, Clark Winter. That's what I mean when I said the book is scholarly, to some extent--the authors did their homework in getting people who really know their fields to make the choices in narrowing each section down to the appropriate finalist.

THE ENLIGHTENED BRACKETOLOGIST is a hoot, and a fun gift for the annoying person in your life who already has everything!

Give It a Try
The overall concept behind THE ENLIGHTENED BRACKETOLOGIST is that people can figure out the best of everything by putting together a bracketed tournament, similar to what is done during the NCAA basketball tournament. 102 different subjects are bracketed (101 are listed, but there is a bonus category of Baby Boy Names in the Coda). The bracket selections and their ultimate winners have been selected by over 90 different people and those people are usually experts or are heavily associated with their chosen field. So Ken Jennings put together the brackets for Game Show Catchphrases, the authors of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GUILTY PLEASURES put together the brackets for Guilty Pleasures, and former Presidential speech writer Curt Smith put together the brackets for Presidential Speeches. The categories of brackets in the book are:

March Madness Moments
Where Were You When Moments
Animation Characters
Ad Slogans
Alt-Country Songs
American Beers
American Plays
Bald Guys
Black-and-White TV Programs
James Bond Gadgets
Dodosaurs
Bob Dylan Cover Songs
Candy Bars
Mondegreens, or Misheard Lyrics
Celebrity Sports Couples
CEOs
Spokescharacters Who Will Shill for Food
Cheese
Chick Flicks
Crosswordese
Classic Comedies
Conspiracy Theories
Corporate Jargon
Dogs for the Ages
Marital Arguments
Elmore Leonard Novels
Elvis Costello Songs
Emoticons
Endangered Species
Cooking Tools
Economic Indicators
Film Deaths
Frank Sinatra Songs
Freshwater and Saltwater Flies
Fruit
Game Show Catchphrases
Sportscaster Signature Calls
Memorable Speech Lines
Golf Swing Thoughts
Horses for the Ages
Jock Films
Guilty Pleasures
Guitar Solos
Hairstyles
Hip
Indie Rock Albums
Innovations in Sports
Inventions
Investment Strategies
Most Likely to Survive the 21st Century
Jew/Not a Jew
Kings and Queens of England
Latin Grammar
Long Songs
Longevity Strategies
Magical Sports Numbers
Male Vices
Meaningless Sports Statistics
Most Jersey
Mythological Figures
NASCAR Phrases
Newspaper Headlines
Opera Arias (Male)
Paul Simon Songs
Perfect Book Titles
Pickup Lines
Punctuation
Short Books
Plastic Surgery Disasters
Political Blunders of the Last 50 Years
Political Hot Buttons
Presidential Speeches
Priceless Things
Rednecks
Red Wines
Rivalries
Samuel L. Jackson Films
Scrabble Words
SEX AND THE CITY Wisdom
Shakespeare in Film
Sidekicks
Simple Things
Sins Against the Language
Sport/Not a Sport
Sports Books
Sucker Bets
Talk Show Hosts
Tell Me Again Why They're Famous
Troll Models
TV One-liners
Typefaces
Underdogs
Video Games
Wedding Gifts
White Wines
Women's Magazine Sex Cliches
Women's Undies
Your Boss's Annoying Habits
Yiddish Phrases
Shakespeare Insults
Baby Boy Names

The book does have a few drawbacks. There was no overall standard of how "contestants" were chosen therefore there is an overall lack of connection to the book. Different bracketeers used different criteria for their choices and some apparently just used their own personal preferences without any thought at all. Some of the categories are so limited in their appeal that it was very difficult to even care about what had been written, for example Opera Arias (Male)--I had heard of three composers and that was it; the rest made no sense to me. Lastly, though this is more a book of entertainment, at times it is political and leans towards the leftist side.

Despite these drawbacks, I found THE ENLIGHTENED BRACKETOLOGIST to be entertaining and at times informative.

Warning - Will result in heated arguments!
Who is the most entertaining sidekick - Jimmy Olsen (Superman) or Barney Fife (Andy Griffith)? What is the greatest American play - Death of a Salesman or The Glass Menagerie? Questions like this can drive even the most 'normal' adults crazy. The Enlightened Bracketologist is a fun book that can lead to endless debates - on who or what - we really love or hate - and why!