Author: Calvin Zeit
Artist: Henrik Drescher
Genre: Nonfiction / Humor / War / Politics
Year Published: 1983
Year Read: 3/11/2017
Publisher: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Source: Purchased
Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Violence, Sexual Situations and Nudity)
Buy or Add on: Amazon // Goodreads
Source: Purchased
Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Violence, Sexual Situations and Nudity)
Buy or Add on: Amazon // Goodreads
I must admit that I was on a shopping spree on Amazon
for books that were obscure and out of print and I happened to stumble upon
this really obscure book called “True
Paranoid Facts!” “True Paranoid Facts!”
is a factual book that was written by Calvin
Zeit along with artwork by Henrik
Drescher and the only reason I bought this book in the first place was
because of Henrik Drescher’s artwork
and I actually found this book to be quite an interesting read!
Basically, this book is filled with facts that deal
with wars, historical figures and nuclear weapons that were relevant during the
1980s and these facts include:
“You
can run, but you can’t hide.”
“Most
wars in history have been fought over RELIGION!”
“Valley
of the Dolls is the best-selling novel in the history of the world!”
“YOU
are your own worst enemy!”
“Love
is never having to say you’re sorry.”
Calvin
Zeit
has done a great job at detailing various facts that were relevant during the
1980s and compiling them into this graphic novel that is more aimed towards
adults than anything, especially if you have knowledge about the Cold War
paranoia going on during the 1980s. I
like the fact that Calvin Zeit
provided some source notes at the end of the book that details where he
researched the facts in this book as I wanted to know where these facts had
stemmed from and how authentic they were during the 1980s. There were also some facts that I found
surprising as I did not know about some of these facts until I read this book
such as “Valley of the Dolls” being
the best-selling novel in the history of the world or that Nancy Reagan is more
popular than Mother Teresa. Henrik Drescher’s artwork is as usual
humorous and bizarre to look at as the artwork is mostly rendered in black and
white colorings and the characters shown in this book are exaggerated beyond
comprehension. One of my most favorite
images in this book is the image of the food coming after a man as the facts
state about how some foods contain dangerous and poisonous chemicals that could
kill a human being and the image of the food coming alive really reinforces
that fact.
The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was
because I felt that the information in this book were a bit outdated. Of course, since this was written during the
1980s, this cannot be helped, although it still bothered me a bit when I look
at information like “Valley of the
Dolls” is the best-selling novel in the world and you look at the current
best-selling books and that fact has changed dramatically over the years. Also, just because the cover of this book
looks extremely humorous, does not mean that this book is for younger
readers. This book contains lots of
violence and nudity and that might make some readers uncomfortable if they do
not like such elements in a story.
Overall, “True
Paranoid Facts!” is an interesting book if you are looking to see what kind
of facts about war, nuclear weapons and historical figures were relevant during
the 1980s. I would recommend this book
to fans of books that deal with the society of the 1980s!
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Yeah, most times this type of Nonfiction doesn't hold up so well more than ten years later. Thanks for sharing your review. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome and thanks for reading this review!
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