History Main / WorldsShortestBook

* From ''Discworld/ReaperMan'': the Dean claims that [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys The Librarian]] can't come along on a mission to rescue Windle Poons from the [[spoiler: living shopping mall]] because he "doesn't know the a thing about guerilla warfare" The Librarian responds by making "a surprisingly expressive gesture to indicate that that, on the other hand, what he didn't know about ''orangutan'' warfare could possibly be written on the very small pounded-up remains of, for example, the Dean."

'''Ryan Stiles''': Huh, [[LiteralMinded Gary Coleman.]]

'''Remy:''' You could fill a book - a lot of books - with things Dad doesn't know. An they have. Which is why I read. Which is also our secret.

* Nixon was also the subject of a ''Franchise/NationalLampoon'' one not long after his resignation that claimed that the new book "Friends of Richard Nixon" was one page shorter than "Famous Antarctic Television Personalities of the Eighteenth Century." It went on to note that then-President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord said he had been "reading it all week, finding it challenging in its scope."

[[folder:Film]]
* Done in the form of a visual gag in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' with "Famous Jewish Sporting Legends". It's just a pamphlet.
* ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' has this, as shown in the page quote.

* Nixon was also the subject of a ''NationalLampoon'' one not long after his resignation that claimed that the new book "Friends of Richard Nixon" was one page shorter than "Famous Antarctic Television Personalities of the Eighteenth Century." It went on to note that then-President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord said he had been "reading it all week, finding it challenging in its scope."

* ''Life Ain't No Pony Farm'' gives us the author's [[http://sarahburrini.com/en/2009/11/26/power-podcast/ secrets and success story]].

'''Bagheera:''' Oh? That shouldn't take long.

* from ''TheSimpsons'':

* Another inversion, from ''TheSimpsons'':

* Referenced in ''Series/FawltyTowers'' with the character Johnson in "The Psychiatrist," who says the guidebook about [[SmallTownBoredom interesting things in Torquay]] must be "one of the world's shortest books," like "The Wit of MargaretThatcher" or "Great English Lovers."

->"'George's secrets'. There's the shortest book ever written!"

* In one ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' strip, Rat writes a book about what men want. There is one single page with the word "{{SEX}}" in all caps.

* PlayedWith in RealLife by the book ''What Men Know About Women''. [[spoiler:It's completely blank.]]

A type of insult, this is a shorthand way of saying what a character is [=NOT=] capable of. [[DontExplainTheJoke The implication is that, if a certain person were to write this book, it would have little or no content because they can't do what the title says.]] These are typically cruel to the purported "author", which is why we're limiting this to appearances in works of fiction.

Sometimes the title says it all ("The Amish Phone Directory"), and sometimes the author of the book is the key ("What I Wouldn't Do for Money" by Dennis Rodman). Occasionally inverted where what someone ''doesn't'' know is said to be a ''large'' book. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint (Which, in ]]RealLife [[CompletelyMissingThePoint would be the case for everyone because there is an incredible amount of information in the universe that you would need to have an astonishingly huge mental capacity to retain it)]].

[[folder:Magazines]]
* ''Dynamite'', a magazine aimed at pre-teens from 1974-92 sold in those "Arrow Books" flyers they gave out in elementary school, did an article like this. "The Joy of Homework" was one title, as was something like "My Greatest Baseball Victories" by Charlie Brown.
* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' occasionally had a shelf of these, usually political- or current events-themed. A few examples:
** "Etiquette" by UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson
** "Truths I Have Told" by UsefulNotes/RichardNixon
** "[[SelfDeprecation MAD Magazine's Contributions to American Culture]]"
* Nixon was also the subject of a ''NationalLampoon'' one not long after his resignation that claimed that the new book "Friends of Richard Nixon" was one page shorter than "Famous Antarctic Television Personalities of the Eighteenth Century." It went on to note that then-President UsefulNotes/GeraldFord said he had been "reading it all week, finding it challenging in its scope."

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* In one ''PearlsBeforeSwine'' strip, Rat writes a book about what men want. There is one single page with the word "{{SEX}}" in all caps.
--> '''Rat''': "It would have been shorter, but I included a paragraph about beer."
* In one ''CalvinAndHobbes'' strip:
--> '''Calvin''': On today's agenda, we'll make a list of what girls are ''good'' for. Obviously this will be a short meeting!
* Played with in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. Dogbert is writing an encyclopedia, but its mostly on him. Although he has a section on Canada which simply says "Canada has trees." This was, incidentally, ''[[HilariousInHindsight before]]'' the advent of the common [[TheWikiRule wiki]].

[[folder:Film]]
* Done in the form of a visual gag in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' with "Famous Jewish Sporting Legends". It's just a pamphlet.
* ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' has this, as shown in the page quote.
* A non-book example from ''Disney/TheJungleBook'':
-->'''Bagheera:''' And just how do you think he (Mowgli) will survive?\\
'''Baloo:''' "How do you think he will"... What do you mean how do you think he... He's with me, ain't he? And I'll learn him all I know.\\
'''Bagheera:''' Oh? That shouldn't take long.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* PlayedWith in RealLife by the book ''What Men Know About Women''. [[spoiler:It's completely blank.]]
* From ''Discworld/ReaperMan'': the Dean claims that [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys The Librarian]] can't come along on a mission to rescue Windle Poons from the [[spoiler: living shopping mall]] because he "doesn't know the a thing about guerilla warfare" The Librarian responds by making "a surprisingly expressive gesture to indicate that that, on the other hand, what he didn't know about ''orangutan'' warfare could possibly be written on the very small pounded-up remains of, for example, the Dean."
* An inversion from ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'':
-->"I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house--"\\
"I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley," growled Moody.
* When the protagonist of ''Literature/DoesMyHeadLookBigInThis'' is taunted by [[AlphaBitch Tia Thompson]] about her religion, she makes an offhand comment about finding the shortest book she ever read called "My Thoughts by Tia Thompson". Tia gives up for the time being.
* Bill Cosby's ''I Am What I Ate...and I'm Frightened!'' has a single page, blank except for the chapter heading, for the chapter entitled "Moderation".
[[/folder]]

* Referenced in ''FawltyTowers'' with the character Johnson in "The Psychiatrist," who says the guidebook about [[SmallTownBoredom interesting things in Torquay]] must be "one of the world's shortest books," like "The Wit of MargaretThatcher" or "Great English Lovers."
* On ''TheGoldenGirls'', Blanche finds out that her sister's new romance novel is based on Blanche's sex life.

* On ''ILoveLucy'', when Lucy decides to write a novel:

* ''MatchGame'' tended to have questions worded like, "Did you hear about the world's shortest book? It's called (insert title here), and it's written by [BLANK]."

[[folder: Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/TheBibleTheCompleteWordOfGodAbridged'', one of the players announces a reading of "the funniest sections of the book of Job." Awkward silence ensues, because, of course, the book of Job doesn't have any funny parts. Another compares the Book of Ruth to other short books like ''Great Moments of Tolerance in the Old Testament'' and ''Positive Images of Women in the Bible''.

'''Chip Esten''': [[BritishTeeth British Dentistry]].

* When the protagonist of ''DoesMyHeadLookBigInThis'' is taunted by [[AlphaBitch Tia Thompson]] about her religion, she makes an offhand comment about finding the shortest book she ever read called "My Thoughts by Tia Thompson". Tia gives up for the time being.

* Non-book example in ''Anime/YuGiOhGX''. When Judai is dueling the Duel Spirit Kaibaman, who has just summoned one of the real Kaiba's Dragons, Manjyome remarks, "this could be a ''very'' short duel..." (Actually, as far as duels in the series go, it's average-length, but [[spoiler:Judai loses.]])

* Nixon was also the subject of a ''NationalLampoon'' one not long after his resignation that claimed that the new book "Friends of Richard Nixon" was one page shorter than "Famous Antarctic Television Personalities of the Eighteenth Century." It went on to note that then-President GeraldFord said he had been "reading it all week, finding it challenging in its scope."

** "Etiquette" by LyndonBJohnson
** "Truths I Have Told" by RichardNixon

* ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway'':

* Inverted in a ''{{Castle}}'' second season episode:

* In ''The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)'', one of the players announces a reading of "the funniest sections of the book of Job." Awkward silence ensues, because, of course, the book of Job doesn't have any funny parts. Another compares the Book of Ruth to other short books like ''Great Moments of Tolerance in the Old Testament'' and ''Positive Images of Women in the Bible''.

* In ''The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)'', one of the players announces a reading of "the funniest sections of the book of Job." Awkward silence ensues, because, of course, the book of Job doesn't have any funny parts.

* Lampshaded in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' with "Famous Jewish Sports Legends". It's just a pamphlet.

* Referenced in ''FawltyTowers'' with the character Johnson in "The Psychiatrist," who says the guidebook about interesting things in Torquay must be "one of the world's shortest books," like "The Wit of MargaretThatcher" or "Great English Lovers."