dsullivan's review against another edition
2.0
The first half of the book was pretty serious. There were a few subtle jokes sprinkled in, but sometimes they may have been too subtle. Once the author ran out of actual material on sharpening pencils, he gets a little more ridiculous (which made the read more enjoyable for me). There were a couple laugh-out-loud jokes in the second half, but I'm not sure they were worth reading the whole book.
eush's review against another edition
4.0
Will write more shortly, but I thoroughly enjoyed this, and the chapter on spring-loaded mechanisms of the hand-crank sharpener brought me back to the heady days of fourth grade where I was the only one in class with said sharpener and took joy in sharpening my classmate's pencils to my desired points
kasiabrenna's review against another edition
3.0
This was humorous enough... kinda felt like I got the point after the first, say, quarter of the book though.
fantaghiro23's review against another edition
5.0
Easily one of the funniest books I've ever read. EVER. David Rees does keep his pencil sharpened. Once you get over the idea that you actually picked up a book with this title, Rees's wit, self-awareness, and absurdity will propel you through the pages easily enough. You may even sharpen a pencil along the way.
sbaunsgard's review against another edition
3.0
This is mostly serious and (to me) funny in a McSweeney's/New Yorker clever/amusing/smart but slightly silly way. I appreciate that he really does love a well sharpened pencil and a job well done, but this is not as straightforwardly entertaining as Going Deep.
laplaine's review against another edition
4.0
I was fairly ridiculed for desiring, obtaining, and then reading this book. However, judge this book by its cover, a yellow hue that will be all to familiar to school children across the land as the #2 school pencil yellow. This was a pure work of a madman and highly entertaining.
Rees not only delivers historical pencil facts, but delivers them with wit, humor, and bizarre advice on how he became "The number one #2 pencil sharpener".
"Chapter 11: A few words about mechanical pencils"
"Mechanical pencils are bullshit."
Rees not only delivers historical pencil facts, but delivers them with wit, humor, and bizarre advice on how he became "The number one #2 pencil sharpener".
"Chapter 11: A few words about mechanical pencils"
"Mechanical pencils are bullshit."