[.ca] 99 More Unuseless Japanese Inventions (ISBN 0393317439)

From Amazon.com:
99 More Unuseless Japanese Inventions is a delightfully wacky book, easily the equal of its predecessor, 1995's 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions. Those of you fortunate enough to pick that book up (and that's quite a few people--it was a surprise hit) already know that "Chindogu" is the not-so-ancient Japanese art of creating "gadgets that appear to be useful, but on closer examination, aren't." 99 More Unuseless Japanese Inventions is written with a droll earnestness that is perfectly in pitch. But what puts the book over the top are the tongue-in-cheek catalog-style photos that show each invention in use. The idea of "The Portable Countryside" is amusing, but when you actually see a stern-faced Japanese executive with a flower box full of greenery swinging at his side like an oversized purse, it's impossible not to laugh. Or consider the definition of "Swiss Army Gloves": "Multi-purpose mittens that keep you ready for anything. Swiss Army Gloves provide a lighter, fork, corkscrew, bottle opener, pen, cutter, hole puncher and two screwdrivers all at the tips of your fingers--literally." Chindogu is an exacting art, and the rules for its creation can be found in the front of the book. As a gentle, sly satire of the welter of new and better inventions that constantly pours down on us, 99 More Unuseless Japanese Inventions is admirable. That may be assigning much too much sense to this splendidly nonsensical volume; nevertheless, this book and its mate are wonderful.

What you see is what you get - some good laughs:
You expect it to be wacky, and it is. It's a laugh. If you are buying for the 'person who has everything' then this book might be a neat gift. Otherwise buy it second-hand, and get the same laughs for half the money. It's a throw-away.

Very Interesting:
This book of 99 wacky Japanese inventions is one of the best books around for casual, page flipping type reading. Everytime I flip through this book I find some new Japanese invention that captures my interest. This truly is a coffee table type book, with many color photos of each invention, and summaries of the inventions uses. Most of the inventions are cool, but of the sort that you'd probably never really have the desire to use; some of these inventions I actually could see myself using. For an interesting book that would be perfect on the coffee talbe look no further than 99 More Unuseless Japanese Inventions.

Not as good as 101 un-uceless Japaneese Inventions.:
99 More Un-uceless Japaneese Inventions is a collection of crazy Japaneese inventions, like personal wake-up headphones, scrubingshoes, porta- ble lamp posts and other zany modifications to evryday things. Each of the 99 items comes complete with a photo and short essay, explaning its use. having read 101 Un-uceless Japaneese inventions, (which was published before) 99 More was just overkill. However, if you haven't read either of the books I suggest you take a look at one of them, because Un-Uceless Japaneese inve- ntions are a lot of fun to learn about with or without a friend.

Great coffeetable book:
This sequel to 101 Un-useless Inventions, has 3 or more pictures with each invention. Learn about Japanese norms indirectly through these over-the-top inventions. Guarantee you'll be laughing before halfway through this book. You'll also shake your head in amazement and wish some of these things really were on the market. Notable ones: Cigarettes that light without a match. A clipper to clip all your toes at once. And the ingenious solar-powered flashlight. I'd recommend it as a giftbook or to have around the house to entertain guests.

A great book:
This book is great. It shows many inventions that you might want. Some of the inventions I even have made my own of because I think it would be very useful. There is only one reason why I only rated this 4 stars, The book is not very long I finished reading it in 2 hours while even doing other things at the same time....