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Description
A selection of the two hundred best obituaries that have appeared in ""The Economist"" since the first one was published in 1995. It includes Jean Bedel Bokassa and Pope Jean Paul II, Pamela Harriman and Harry Oppenheimer, Akio Morita and J K Galbraith, Jean Baudrillard and Syd Barrett, and Estee Lauder and Hunter Thomson.
User reviews
LibraryThing member retropelocin
"A bad man in Africa"
"A brain as well as a body"
"A possible victim of alien abduction"
"A Beatle"
These are among the lives chronicled in The Economist Book of Obituaries.
Unlike most newspapers, where the job of obituary writer is given to rookies or "burnt out" reporters, Keith Colquhoun and Ann
As Ms Wroe explains in her introduction, obit writers in Great Britain began a bit of a rivalry in their reporting in the late 1980's with Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd of the Daily Telegraph and James Fergusson of the Independent.
No longer is the obituary a solemn rundown of how one died, who they were "survived by" and a stale report of careers and volunteerism.
The obits of The Economist are literary biographies. Rarely is the "cause of death" even mentioned in these pieces. The focus, instead, is on the over-all mark that each subject has left on the world. Be it, good or bad. But never, indifferent.
Colquhoun and Wroe have the daunting task of choosing only one subject each week to honor in the final pages of this publication. Though, they sometimes "cheat". Most creatively, in the combined obit of Robert Brooks ("Hooters") and Mickey Spillane told in the pulp narrative voice of a Mike Hammer mystery.
Another challenge to their creativity is selecting a mix of subjects. Among the 200 life stories in this book, you will find men and women from all over the globe. Politicians, artists, psychics, cooks, authors, entertainers, scientists and a parrot in addition to many, many people you've never heard of but whose lives will fascinate you.
These works are creative, honest, amusing and, yes, sometimes, opinionated.
Each entry is two pages (four columns) long, making this an excellent "bathroom reader".
However, if you should choose to read in bed, just be careful that you don't fall asleep with this book in your hands. At about 3 pounds, this is an incredibly heavy book. If it hits you in the head when your arms relax, you could be The Economists next subject...
"A brain as well as a body"
"A possible victim of alien abduction"
"A Beatle"
These are among the lives chronicled in The Economist Book of Obituaries.
Unlike most newspapers, where the job of obituary writer is given to rookies or "burnt out" reporters, Keith Colquhoun and Ann
Show More
Wroe, of The Economist have turned this position into a job for artists, and, as a result, are highly respected journalists in their field.As Ms Wroe explains in her introduction, obit writers in Great Britain began a bit of a rivalry in their reporting in the late 1980's with Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd of the Daily Telegraph and James Fergusson of the Independent.
No longer is the obituary a solemn rundown of how one died, who they were "survived by" and a stale report of careers and volunteerism.
The obits of The Economist are literary biographies. Rarely is the "cause of death" even mentioned in these pieces. The focus, instead, is on the over-all mark that each subject has left on the world. Be it, good or bad. But never, indifferent.
Colquhoun and Wroe have the daunting task of choosing only one subject each week to honor in the final pages of this publication. Though, they sometimes "cheat". Most creatively, in the combined obit of Robert Brooks ("Hooters") and Mickey Spillane told in the pulp narrative voice of a Mike Hammer mystery.
Another challenge to their creativity is selecting a mix of subjects. Among the 200 life stories in this book, you will find men and women from all over the globe. Politicians, artists, psychics, cooks, authors, entertainers, scientists and a parrot in addition to many, many people you've never heard of but whose lives will fascinate you.
These works are creative, honest, amusing and, yes, sometimes, opinionated.
Each entry is two pages (four columns) long, making this an excellent "bathroom reader".
However, if you should choose to read in bed, just be careful that you don't fall asleep with this book in your hands. At about 3 pounds, this is an incredibly heavy book. If it hits you in the head when your arms relax, you could be The Economists next subject...
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LibraryThing member keywestnan
This is not the sort of book you pick up, read straight through, and set down. But it is a very valuable thing to have around, both as a reference work and as a very entertaining and informative reading experience. The Economist magazine is a serious newsweekly published from Britain -- but it
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prides itself justly on excellent writing, especially in its more featurey sections. It sounds a bit odd to class obituaries with features, but these are really profiles that both illuminate who a person was and put them in the context of their times. The subjects naturally tend to be public figures (otherwise why would the Economist and its readers even know that they had died?) but there are a few lesser-knowns that were my favorites. The writing is always graceful and occasionally wonderful, such as this lede on the essay about a Frenchwoman who, at the time of her death, was believed to be the world's oldest person: "For 100 years nothing much happened to Jeanne Calment." Show Less
LibraryThing member Jenners26
My Overall Opinion of the Book
This book was fascinating, educational, funny, political, and judgmental. It is almost never sad. A collection of 200 obituaries written between 1994 to 2008 (each one two pages long), The Economist Book of Obituaries is oddly enjoyable and fascinating. It may sound a
Why I Read the Book
I became interested in this book after reading Marilyn Johnson's The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. Johnson's book documents her love of obituaries and some of the great writers of the genre. While reading her book, I learned the difference between American and British obituaries (the British are not afraid to "tell it like they see it") and joined Johnson on her visit to some of the leading obituary writers of the world. The Dead Beat was a pretty fun book to read, and I found myself wanting to read the type of obituaries that got Johnson so excited. So when LibraryThing listed The Economist Book of Obituaries in its Early Reviewer books for November, I jumped at the chance to get it. I was thrilled when I was lucky enough to receive a review copy.
The Basic Structure of the Book
This is not a book you need to read straight-through. It is ideal for picking up and putting down at will. Each obituary is two pages long and includes a relevant black and white photo. The obituaries are listed in alphabetical order, and there is a Table of Contents to let you pick which ones you might want to read. (I read the book straight through since I was reviewing it, but I could definitely view this more as a book to peruse at your leisure.) Each obituary starts with a single sentence that tells the name of the deceased, their basic "claim to fame," their date of death and their age at the time of death. Other than these basic structural elements, each obituary is wildly different in style, tone and purpose.
Who Is Covered In the Book
The obituaries in the book include 199 people and one parrot (Alex the African Grey -- billed as "science's best-known parrot"). The famous (Princess Diana, Bob Hope, John Paul II, Julia Child, Norman Mailer) and the not-so-famous (the inventor of the Cup of Noodles, the inventor of frozen non-dairy topping, America's King of the Hobos, Japan's royal tutor, one of the founders of Mensa). The subjects are from a wide variety of countries and from all walks of life -- scientists, musicians, writers, social activists, criminals, royalty. What makes this book great is that it doesn't matter what you know about the subject (half of the people in the book I'd never heard of), you will learn about them, their importance in the world, and their contributions to their chosen field. Each obituary is not so much about the individual person and their life story, but more about what their life meant to the world they lived in.
For example, the obituary of Sue Sumii--a champion of Japan's untouchables -- is clearly meant as a way to highlight this little discussed aspect of Japanese society. The obituary of Yasser Talal al-Zahrani -- a prisoner in Guantanamo who died at the age of 21 -- is meant to be a statement of the wrongness of Guantanamo. This particular obituary ends like this:
"As he had hoped, his death led voices around the world to demand that the camp be closed. One senior American official, immovable, called his suicide 'a good PR move.' She may have been right; Guantanamo, alas, remains, wrong."
Not all the obituaries are of a political nature. Some are sly social commentary--such as the joint obituary of Brooke Astor and Leona Helmsley (both "grandes dames of New York") that compares the two ladies radically different approaches to life by comparing everything from their dogs to their real estate holdings.
Other obituaries are very educational on a particular topic to which the person being written about contributed -- such as cricket, beekeeping, auto racing, container ships, aviation safety, surrogate parenting law, to name just a few.
Perhaps the most creatively written obituary is the joint obituary of Robert Brooks (one of the founders of Hooters) and Mickey Spillane (creator of Mike Hammer), which is written as a short story that has Mike Hammer going to Hooters. That this obituary manages to tie two such disparate people together as "suppliers of fantasies to American males" and be written in a story format while still managing to pay homage to both subjects is just pure genius.
The Style of the Book
What makes these obituaries such a pleasure to read is the style in which they are written. The authors are not afraid to be irreverent, and they do not shy away from taking a detour away from the main story to make an important point. In short, the obituaries are very well-written, which is why it didn't always matter to me who they were writing about. I marked some of the my particular favorites to give you a sense of what makes these obituaries such a pleasure to read.
From the obituary of Jeanne Calment (the world's oldest person): "Perhaps it does not matter. For most people, the interest in Mrs. Calment was her durability."
From the obituary of Barbara Cartland: "She was worried about her prospects for immortality, as indeed she had reason to be."
From the obituary of Estee Lauder: "Time, however, also trailed her, with his ghastly wrinkled face and his sallow hue that coordinated with no bathrooms."
From the obituary of Stanley Marcus (founder of Neiman-Marcus): "There comes a time in the life of the average billionaire when money ceases to be important. Suddenly it no longer seems to make the world go round; it has become quite boring. Stanley Marcus was sympathetic to the problem and sought to rekindle interest in possessions among those who wanted for nothing."
From the obituary of Dr Spock: "It was, on the face of it, an odd book to have become one of the bestsellers of the century. The one endeavour the human race was used to, and indeed had become quite good at, was having babies and bringing them to adulthood."
Wrap-Up
I hope this review has conveyed what a unique and fascinating book this is. It certainly made me understand why Marilyn Johnson and so many others enjoy reading obituaries on a regular basis. I suspect that this book contains the creme de la creme of obituary writing, and I hope to see another edition in the future!
One final note: The book itself has a very rich feel to it. The paper has a nice sheen to it, and the book feels very weighty and solid. I appreciated that feeling and find it appropriate for a book that contains the story of 199 human lives and 1 parrot.
This book was fascinating, educational, funny, political, and judgmental. It is almost never sad. A collection of 200 obituaries written between 1994 to 2008 (each one two pages long), The Economist Book of Obituaries is oddly enjoyable and fascinating. It may sound a
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strange book to read, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Even if you are not a fan of obituaries (and there are many obituary fans out there), I think you could enjoy this book purely from an entertainment and educational perspective.Why I Read the Book
I became interested in this book after reading Marilyn Johnson's The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. Johnson's book documents her love of obituaries and some of the great writers of the genre. While reading her book, I learned the difference between American and British obituaries (the British are not afraid to "tell it like they see it") and joined Johnson on her visit to some of the leading obituary writers of the world. The Dead Beat was a pretty fun book to read, and I found myself wanting to read the type of obituaries that got Johnson so excited. So when LibraryThing listed The Economist Book of Obituaries in its Early Reviewer books for November, I jumped at the chance to get it. I was thrilled when I was lucky enough to receive a review copy.
The Basic Structure of the Book
This is not a book you need to read straight-through. It is ideal for picking up and putting down at will. Each obituary is two pages long and includes a relevant black and white photo. The obituaries are listed in alphabetical order, and there is a Table of Contents to let you pick which ones you might want to read. (I read the book straight through since I was reviewing it, but I could definitely view this more as a book to peruse at your leisure.) Each obituary starts with a single sentence that tells the name of the deceased, their basic "claim to fame," their date of death and their age at the time of death. Other than these basic structural elements, each obituary is wildly different in style, tone and purpose.
Who Is Covered In the Book
The obituaries in the book include 199 people and one parrot (Alex the African Grey -- billed as "science's best-known parrot"). The famous (Princess Diana, Bob Hope, John Paul II, Julia Child, Norman Mailer) and the not-so-famous (the inventor of the Cup of Noodles, the inventor of frozen non-dairy topping, America's King of the Hobos, Japan's royal tutor, one of the founders of Mensa). The subjects are from a wide variety of countries and from all walks of life -- scientists, musicians, writers, social activists, criminals, royalty. What makes this book great is that it doesn't matter what you know about the subject (half of the people in the book I'd never heard of), you will learn about them, their importance in the world, and their contributions to their chosen field. Each obituary is not so much about the individual person and their life story, but more about what their life meant to the world they lived in.
For example, the obituary of Sue Sumii--a champion of Japan's untouchables -- is clearly meant as a way to highlight this little discussed aspect of Japanese society. The obituary of Yasser Talal al-Zahrani -- a prisoner in Guantanamo who died at the age of 21 -- is meant to be a statement of the wrongness of Guantanamo. This particular obituary ends like this:
"As he had hoped, his death led voices around the world to demand that the camp be closed. One senior American official, immovable, called his suicide 'a good PR move.' She may have been right; Guantanamo, alas, remains, wrong."
Not all the obituaries are of a political nature. Some are sly social commentary--such as the joint obituary of Brooke Astor and Leona Helmsley (both "grandes dames of New York") that compares the two ladies radically different approaches to life by comparing everything from their dogs to their real estate holdings.
Other obituaries are very educational on a particular topic to which the person being written about contributed -- such as cricket, beekeeping, auto racing, container ships, aviation safety, surrogate parenting law, to name just a few.
Perhaps the most creatively written obituary is the joint obituary of Robert Brooks (one of the founders of Hooters) and Mickey Spillane (creator of Mike Hammer), which is written as a short story that has Mike Hammer going to Hooters. That this obituary manages to tie two such disparate people together as "suppliers of fantasies to American males" and be written in a story format while still managing to pay homage to both subjects is just pure genius.
The Style of the Book
What makes these obituaries such a pleasure to read is the style in which they are written. The authors are not afraid to be irreverent, and they do not shy away from taking a detour away from the main story to make an important point. In short, the obituaries are very well-written, which is why it didn't always matter to me who they were writing about. I marked some of the my particular favorites to give you a sense of what makes these obituaries such a pleasure to read.
From the obituary of Jeanne Calment (the world's oldest person): "Perhaps it does not matter. For most people, the interest in Mrs. Calment was her durability."
From the obituary of Barbara Cartland: "She was worried about her prospects for immortality, as indeed she had reason to be."
From the obituary of Estee Lauder: "Time, however, also trailed her, with his ghastly wrinkled face and his sallow hue that coordinated with no bathrooms."
From the obituary of Stanley Marcus (founder of Neiman-Marcus): "There comes a time in the life of the average billionaire when money ceases to be important. Suddenly it no longer seems to make the world go round; it has become quite boring. Stanley Marcus was sympathetic to the problem and sought to rekindle interest in possessions among those who wanted for nothing."
From the obituary of Dr Spock: "It was, on the face of it, an odd book to have become one of the bestsellers of the century. The one endeavour the human race was used to, and indeed had become quite good at, was having babies and bringing them to adulthood."
Wrap-Up
I hope this review has conveyed what a unique and fascinating book this is. It certainly made me understand why Marilyn Johnson and so many others enjoy reading obituaries on a regular basis. I suspect that this book contains the creme de la creme of obituary writing, and I hope to see another edition in the future!
One final note: The book itself has a very rich feel to it. The paper has a nice sheen to it, and the book feels very weighty and solid. I appreciated that feeling and find it appropriate for a book that contains the story of 199 human lives and 1 parrot.
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LibraryThing member dogdayspress
This publication is informative and entertaining. In recent years, I have gained a new appreciation for the obituary. It started with Marilyn Johnson’s book, The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of the Obituaries. I learned a great deal from Ms. Johnson’s book
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about the history and styles of the craft. And, writing obituaries is very much a craft that deserves considerable skill. With my new found interest in obituaries, I became more interested in the daily ritual of scanning the newspapers and not bypassing these stories as I had so often done in the past. Now, The Economist has come along and compiled a remarkable collection of obituaries. This volume of stories and tributes offers a wealth of thoughtfully crafted prose featuring individuals (and animals) from all walks of life. There is much to be learned and gained from these stories; it’s that type of book you can appreciate reading from cover to cover, but it’s also a book to be left out on a table… to be picked up and enjoyed again from time to time. The Economist was perceptive in compiling and creating such a thoughtful treasure of stories and I look forward to future collections in the years ahead. Show Less
LibraryThing member themockturtle
This book is a collection of some of the most original, in depth and interesting obituaries being published today. It reads a bit like an encyclopedia with notable events and discoveries, recent history itself even, distilled by way of the people (and parrots) who lived it, but who do so no more.
LibraryThing member Lindsayg
I love books that give me a glimpse into somebody else's life, allowing me to see what it would be life to live some other way. You couldn't ask for a better example of this than the Economist Book of Obituaries. It's not the sort of book you read in a sitting, it's best enjoyed in small doses.
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Here you'll find the lives of the rich and famous, but also the quietly unknown, placed side by side. The writing is elegant and full of interesting details. It made me wonder how my life would sound summed up on the page. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member invisiblelizard
What was really revealing about "The Economist Book of Obituaries" was how lacking we are in the specifics of our most recent history. What better way to know what was going on in the lives of our parents and grandparents. Any person written about in the book has a distinct relevance to our lives
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and the lives of our closest relatives. Ever want to know about Cup O' Noodles, frozen dairy whipped topping, people who pioneered efforts in nutrition or dieting? You can find small but complete examples of each person's focus. Teachers, firefighters, gardeners, politicians are all represented. One person's life sees the beginning of a trend, another the end. The most touching stories were those of individuals finding one thing that they were passionate about and making that their life's focus. There is a strong lesson about doing one thing and doing it as perfectly as you can. In reading this book you get a smorgasbord of topics and people from all around the world and see lives that were all lived through the last one hundred years. Everyone should start reading the daily obituaries to see where we are coming from, and where we are going. -KA Show Less
LibraryThing member mahallett
read 1 every day. very enjoyable and informative reading. i don't have good, specific long term memories of it. oh well. most of the people i'd never heard of.
LibraryThing member Dsn123
I bought this book on Amazon.com after reading various reviews of it on blogs on the internet. It is a really great book, love the fact that I can open it to any page and in a few minutes read one of the obits. The obituaries are more like a short biography and are fascinating. The subjects who are
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immortalized in these pages are one of a kind and inspirational. Reading the achievements and possibly the backgroudn behind it of the subjects, whether famous or not, inspires me to work harder and not give up on my dreams and ambitions. My husband loves reading The Economist Book of Obituaries the same way as me a little at a time, It is great for those of us who love to read but only can steal a few minutes at a time before getting interrupted.. Show Less
LibraryThing member detailmuse
{The subjects of the obituaries} must have led interesting and thought-provoking lives. Whether they have led good lives, in the usual meaning of “good,” couldn’t matter less.
The Economist had been published weekly for more than 150 years before it introduced an obituary column in 1995, and
I'd heard of perhaps a quarter of the people, but all of the lives and events were so interesting and informative that I skimmed/skipped almost none. A few of my favorites are about:
• Alex, the African Grey parrot (who apparently used words to truly communicate, not just “parrot” them);
• Ernest Hendon (who survived the Tuskegee syphilis experiment);
• Albert Marshall and Lazare Ponticelli (the last surviving WWI British cavalryman and French foot soldier, respectively);
• Tiny Rowland (possibly the most ruthless person in the collection, his obit opens with, “Hunting around for something not too brutal to say about Tiny Rowland now that he is dead…”); and
• Max Perutz (Nobel-winning molecular biologist known for his enthusiastic exclamations of, “Fantastic!”)
The Economist had been published weekly for more than 150 years before it introduced an obituary column in 1995, and
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this collection contains ~200 2-page entries about people (and one parrot) who died between then and the next 10+ years. Reading it feels like reading an encyclopedia and that’s not a bad thing -- one fascinating topic (person) after another, an eclectic group whose lives touch on seemingly every aspect and locale of the past hundred years in world history. I loved it.I'd heard of perhaps a quarter of the people, but all of the lives and events were so interesting and informative that I skimmed/skipped almost none. A few of my favorites are about:
• Alex, the African Grey parrot (who apparently used words to truly communicate, not just “parrot” them);
• Ernest Hendon (who survived the Tuskegee syphilis experiment);
• Albert Marshall and Lazare Ponticelli (the last surviving WWI British cavalryman and French foot soldier, respectively);
• Tiny Rowland (possibly the most ruthless person in the collection, his obit opens with, “Hunting around for something not too brutal to say about Tiny Rowland now that he is dead…”); and
• Max Perutz (Nobel-winning molecular biologist known for his enthusiastic exclamations of, “Fantastic!”)
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Language
Physical description
416 p.; 9.37 inches
ISBN
1846681073 / 9781846681073
Local notes
wien
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