Review: Funny and Thought-Provoking
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 26, 2013
I've read a few books by Oleg Medvedkov by now and loved them all. This book, like his other ones, is funny, wild, imaginative, and quirky. But there's more to Oleg's humor than just pure entertainment.  He provides us with scenarios that make us think.  As an educator, I think that his books should be required reading in critical thinking courses. Why? Because the wild exaggerations he creates make us consider our own behaviors and gain a sense of perspective on ourselves and the society we live in.His piece titled "How to `Wax Lyrical' for Fun and Profit" makes us more critical towards numerous infomercials, sales letters, and other attempts to convince us to purchase or use things and services that are not needed at all. The funny and fake testimonials at the end of the letter just add to the effect."How to Say `I Love You' in Different Languages" pokes fun at the stereotypical behaviors we tend to exhibit or tend to see in others - it's up to the readers to decide how they will interpret it."How to Set Trends, Five Easy Lessons" was especially funny to me because the ridiculous steps on the way to achieving the status of a trendsetter reminded me of behaviors of some of my students.And I'm even afraid to comment on "Meeting of the Transient Luminaries Transcript." It's the beginning of a new semester in my college, and I've been to at least three meetings exactly like described in it over the past week.  I've gone to meetings complete with prolonged discussions of minute details that get more and more lost in the flow of words as the meeting progresses. I've had  days full of committees and subcommittees getting formed with the sole purpose of forming committees and heard discussions that seem to occur "in Greek first," but nobody seems to notice the ridiculousness among us. If this book were required reading, maybe we would learn to take ourselves less seriously, stop buying miracle cures for non-existent problems, shorten our meetings, and just get things done. Great book!