Review: Kindle provides an new use for a classic mini-genre
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
There are certain kinds of books - usually humor or anecdotally based - that have had a noble resting place on the toilet tanks or small magazine racks of bathrooms around the world. In a fit of sophomoric creativity I once nicknamed them, "Crapper Keepers."  I've left several favorites there for guests through the years - I heartily recommend Jeff Foxworthy's "Redneck" books because they fill the requirement of keeping one's mind amused whilst engaged in the unpleasant but necessary duties of a bathroom visit, yet are quick reads that can be put down without regret should things conclude... prematurely to expectation. Others I have found in the rest rooms of various considerate other friends in the past incluce the Guinness Book of World Records and the Book of Lists. There's even a series of "Bathroom Reader" books for the Kindle available.Well, considering the replacement costs I'm not bloody likely to leave my Kindle Fire on the commode tank for guests to peruse. I actually love my wife deeply and wouldn't hurt her by passively agressively leaving HER Kindle Fire there for a premature dunking either. Besides, she's rather gifted at revenge planning. So what possible use is a bathroom reader (or Bathroom Buddy to co-opt a term from the Gremlins movies) for the Kindle Age?Well, let's face it. The time of greatest bedroom activity for a couple is in the first months of marriage. After that even the most enthusiastic couples tend to taper off their Bedroom Olympics to more occasional events. It isn't due to a lack of love or even desire - at least not in truly happy relationships. It's because little things like work, kids, health, and early-bird alarm clock settings get in the way. So does age. Perhaps Michael may want to include a truism or ten about this in his planned sequel. "It started when I sank in his arms and ended with my arms in the sink" sort of comments. "My spouse and I always use a lubricant during sex. We put it on the bedroom doorknob to keep the kids out of the room." You get the idea.Anyway, oft times when my wife and I retire we're not quite drowsy enough to drop off but not full of enough energy to muster up anything worthy of bragging about 'round the water cooler the following day. Oh sure, we've all been there. I'm just honest enough to admit it. Well, we've gotten in the habit each night of cuddling up together for a short while until the Sandman has a spare moment to club us into submission. During this time we'll often share with one another factoids we've learned during the day - having exhausted such sterling stalwart topics as "how was your day dear" during our dinner. We have each collected quite a few of these amusing "Crapper Keeper" collections in our respective Kindles and have gotten in the habit of highlighting our favorite bits to share with one another. (We long ago learned the value of going to sleep with a smile rather than growling and bickering at one another.)"The Big Book of Interesting Stuff" is jam-packed full of short (with few exceptions) interesting (with even fewer exceptions) and often ironic factoids, memes, jokes, and titillating tidbits. I appreciate just how much effort Mr. Hopkins had to go through getting the rights to use copyrighted material, track down the creators of some of the memes and photos, and poring through public domain writings in order to assemble this collection. It's worth twice the price he requests for it. My bride and I spent several evenings sharing sections of the book with one another and my own "copy" of the text has more highlights in it than a Michael Jordan NBA video.A lot of these books are filled with things that have been so frequently repeated and reprinted that even when given away as a freebie for the Kindle they seem like a ripoff. This one is just the opposite. Like one of the other reviewers already stated, if I have one complaint about this great collection is that despite being of somewhat prodigious length, it's almost too short. When I reached the author's afterward at the end I was disappointed that the book was ending - despite the fact that it took me several days to read through it. It's not that it isn't big, it's that it just isn't big enough. Mr. Hopkins follows that wisest of comedic axioms; Always leave them wanting more.Get to work good sir. We want, we wait, we profer our Kindles like modern-day versions of the wooden soup bowl and pitifully plead, "please sir, I want more."