Book Review: The Book of Heroic Failures

Book Review: The Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile

There have been many books about great achievements and successful people. This isn’t one of those. This is a book about people who failed, sometimes spectacularly. It was supposedly sponsored by the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain, a group composed of incompetent people willing to show off their lack of skill in public. (The actual existence of this club is dubious.)

After an introduction describing the work of the club, the book is divided into themed sections, from the working world through sports to famous quotations of people being wrong. There’s even a section of “Stories We Failed to Pin Down”, alleged incidents that are probably urban legends but too good to pass up. (Mind, this is not a scholarly book, so citations are non-existent and you’ll have to take Mr. Pile’s word that the research was done.)

The items range from factual to mildly funny to quite funny. Perhaps funnier are the cartoon illustrations by Bill Tidy interpreting the stories. Some samples include:

The burglar who decided that in the middle of his crime was the right moment to flirt with the attractive owner of the place he was robbing, only to get beaten up. Turns out she was a bricklayer before the operation.

The British Army filling in for firefighters (there was a strike on) and rescuing a cat from a tree. Only to run it over when they left.

The hijacker who attempted to redirect a plane to Detroit…which was already going there.

The phrasebook that Monty Python based their “hovercraft full of eels” sketch on.

This book is very British-centric, with the vast majority of the entries taking place in the United Kingdom. This may disappoint some international readers, but also gives the humor a very specific flavor. The nastiness factor never rises above “mildly rude” so should go well as a gift to sensible chuckle fans.

There’s an application form for the Not Terribly Good Club…without an address to send it to.

This original is out of print, but the sequels are still available, and you might be able to find it in used book stores. Recommended to humor fans, particularly ones with an interest in British culture.