You know Christmas is coming when the shops start filling with stocking fillers, those books that – the other 11 months of the year – you wouldn’t look twice at.
A lot of publishers rush release sub-standard dreck in order to get barmy grannies to part with what little hard-earned they have left to amuse little Johnny for all of five seconds amid the mad rush of opening presents
on Christmas morning.
For the most part, stocking fillers are a waste of money and a waste of time – both the time of whoever put it together and the time you’d spend actually reading it. Rare indeed is the stocking filler worth time and money.
Thankfully, 100 Facts about Pandas is one of that rare breed.
As the title goes some way to suggest, what
you get for your money is indeed 100 facts about pandas – but the facts are not your run-of-the-mill ‘Pandas like bamboo’/ ‘Pandas have trouble conceiving’ / ‘Pandas are one of
a limited number of black and white animals’ variety. The presence of young David O’Doherty will alert the more culturally cunning among you (O’Doherty is one of those comedians who has been up-and-coming for years, those who are aware of him will vouch for
his unique, offbeat hilariousness – but there are more people who have yet to hear of him than otherwise).
100 Facts about Pandas is largely 100 – whisper it – made up jokes about Pandas.
Did you know for instance that after
concerted effort a group of scientists decided that the collective noun for Pandas was ‘cupboard’ – as in ‘a cupboard of Pandas’?
Or that a cupboard of Pandas will only be
photographed in even numbers (you’ll never find an odd-numbered cupboard)? Another ‘famous’ Panda mis-classification?
They are not considered a mammal – they are considered a nut; which is why Adolf Hitler, a vegetarian, was allowed to feast on pandas.
Oh yes – and all pandas are born female. Males are only created if a panda receives a fright in its first 48 hours of life. This is why some zoos employ panda spookers. Of course.
Comedy is one thing. Visuals are another.
Mike Ahern’s photoshopped pandas (who illustrate each Fact in oblique or explicit ways) provide just as much fun and
amusement as the facts themselves, which – for this reader at the very least – means 100 Facts about Pandas is very probably a book you need to glance through at least twice (putting it at the
very top of all creditable stocking filler lists!).
Any Cop?: If you’ve ever wanted to learn about panda’s homing instincts, usage as spies, or that a panda can travel faster than a cheetah when it runs backwards, 100 Facts about Pandas is undoubtedly for you.
A lot of publishers rush release sub-standard dreck in order to get barmy grannies to part with what little hard-earned they have left to amuse little Johnny for all of five seconds amid the mad rush of opening presents
on Christmas morning.
For the most part, stocking fillers are a waste of money and a waste of time – both the time of whoever put it together and the time you’d spend actually reading it. Rare indeed is the stocking filler worth time and money.
Thankfully, 100 Facts about Pandas is one of that rare breed.
As the title goes some way to suggest, what
you get for your money is indeed 100 facts about pandas – but the facts are not your run-of-the-mill ‘Pandas like bamboo’/ ‘Pandas have trouble conceiving’ / ‘Pandas are one of
a limited number of black and white animals’ variety. The presence of young David O’Doherty will alert the more culturally cunning among you (O’Doherty is one of those comedians who has been up-and-coming for years, those who are aware of him will vouch for
his unique, offbeat hilariousness – but there are more people who have yet to hear of him than otherwise).
100 Facts about Pandas is largely 100 – whisper it – made up jokes about Pandas.
Did you know for instance that after
concerted effort a group of scientists decided that the collective noun for Pandas was ‘cupboard’ – as in ‘a cupboard of Pandas’?
Or that a cupboard of Pandas will only be
photographed in even numbers (you’ll never find an odd-numbered cupboard)? Another ‘famous’ Panda mis-classification?
They are not considered a mammal – they are considered a nut; which is why Adolf Hitler, a vegetarian, was allowed to feast on pandas.
Oh yes – and all pandas are born female. Males are only created if a panda receives a fright in its first 48 hours of life. This is why some zoos employ panda spookers. Of course.
Comedy is one thing. Visuals are another.
Mike Ahern’s photoshopped pandas (who illustrate each Fact in oblique or explicit ways) provide just as much fun and
amusement as the facts themselves, which – for this reader at the very least – means 100 Facts about Pandas is very probably a book you need to glance through at least twice (putting it at the
very top of all creditable stocking filler lists!).
Any Cop?: If you’ve ever wanted to learn about panda’s homing instincts, usage as spies, or that a panda can travel faster than a cheetah when it runs backwards, 100 Facts about Pandas is undoubtedly for you.
