If there were a reward for worst best bathroom book, The World According to Twitter would win it. The premise of the book seems made for toilet reading: a crowdsourced book by New York Times columnist David Pogue, who asked a question a day on Twitter and gathered the best tweeted responses. There's no long narrative to get caught up in, only page after page of tweeted question and tweeted responses, each question usually followed by a few pages of responses.
Perfect bathroom material, right? One problem. It's too funny. Which means you'll want to keep reading the next question and the next question.
The World According to Twitter - Book Review
David Pogue admits he wasn't the quickest to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Like many, he didn't really understand what the big deal was with the popular microblogging site, and even after his first few days, he didn't quite "get it". But then the enormous possibilities hit him in the head like a tweet from a very special follower, and taking a suggestion from his wife, he decided to create a social experiment whereby he asked one question each night and gathered together the best responses.
And the result is surprisingly funny. I say "surprisingly" because -- like many -- I opened up the pages with a certain degree trepidation, wondering if David was just riding the buzz machine hoping to sell a few books. But the result was quite entertaining, thanks in large part to some good questions with some serious potential for funny.
For example, he asks his followers to "Add 1 letter to a famous person's name; explain." This garnered responses like "Elvish Presley: Middle Earth's latest rock sensation" by @alitheiapsis and "LOL Cool J: The Jolly Rapper" by @esvbbv, which went down as one of my favorite responses.
The book has its more serious side with most embarrassing moments, proudest achievements and biggest regrets, but it is questions like "Rewrite a famous quotation in the style of the half-wits who leave comments on YouTube" and responses like @cgranier's "2 B R NOT 2B, DAT IZ DE ?.," that really turn the book from a cute idea to a hysterical ride more fit to be read from the living room sofa than the bathroom.
The World According to Twitter - The Bottom Line
Don't let the title scare you, this book isn't meant just for the Twitterverse, though a healthy knowledge of web buzz will definitely make some questions funnier. But even if you couldn't tell a tweet from a hole in the ground, you'll have fun reading this book. All you need equip yourself with is a healthy sense of humor.