Line #27 Literature/CompleteWorldKnowledge


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6	->''"The metaphysicians of [[Literature/TlonUqbarOrbisTertius Tlön]] are not looking for truth or even an approximation to it: they are after a kind of amazement."''
7	-->-- '''''[[Creator/BenjaminFranklin Poor Richard's Almanack]]''''', 1733 edition [[note]] well, not really.[[/note]]
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9	''Complete World Knowledge'' is a critically-acclaimed series of fake almanacks written by Creator/JohnHodgman. They include:
10	* ''Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise'' - Primarily a parody of ''Poor Richard's Almanack''. It deals largely with hoboes and the Fifty-One United States.
11	* ''Literature/MoreInformationThanYouRequire'' - Primarily a parody of ''The Book of Lists''. It deals largely with mole-men and presidents of the United States.
12	* ''Literature/ThatIsAll'' - The conclusion of the trilogy. It deals largely with [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Ragnarok]], [[EarthShatteringKaboom the coming global superapocalypse]], [[EldritchAbomination the ancient and unspeakable ones]] and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking sports]].
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14	Also related was the podcast "Today in the Past", containing some snippets from the Complete World Knowledge series. Known for their absurdist sense of humour, bizarre running jokes and high degree of cohesion between volumes, absolutely deadpan writing style, and sheer breadth of subject matter, ranging from cheese to axolotls to aliens to hoboes to mole-men to celebrity status to zeppelins to lobsters to ancient and unspeakable ones.
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16	----
17	!!Although each book has its own page, the series as a whole provides examples of:
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19	%% * BerserkButton: Sports.
20	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Many historical figures have exciting, pulpy adventures.
21	%% * DeadpanSnarker
22	%% * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
23	%% * HistoricalHilarity
24	%% * HistoricalInjoke
25	* {{Homage}}: Frequent subjects include ''Series/DoctorWho'', ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''Literature/WatershipDown''.
26	* LittleKnownFacts: Pretty much the whole point.
27	%% * LongList
28	%% * {{Mockumentary}}: In book form!
29	* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: Inverted. Each books starts with a reminder that John Hodgman ''is'' making this up. Although he has insisted that one blurb on the back of [[Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise the first book]], a letter of praise from a magus of the Church of Satan, is, in fact, genuine, although Hodgman himself is not a Satanist.
30	* RunningGag: Various forms of AncientConspiracy, masturbation, eels, and Benjamin Franklin are jokes that carry across the entire series, although he tones down the masturbation jokes in the latter volumes.
31	* SatireParodyPastiche: A pastiche of almanacks in general, frequently parodies of specific ones, and occasionally satirical on various subjects.
32	* ShoutOut: Usually to Music/JonathanCoulton (often in the form of a TakeThat), members of Music/TheyMightBeGiants, [[Radio/ThisAmericanLife Ira Glass]], Creator/SarahVowell, [[Series/TheDailyShow Jon Stewart]], and other American intellectual types. And Creator/BruceCampbell.
33	%% * ShownTheirWork: Ironically enough
34	* TakeThat: Frequent attacks on Music/JonathanCoulton, Creator/BenjaminFranklin, Creator/BruceCampbell and Creator/NickNolte. Hodgman and Coulton are actually great friends, and Hodgman was the man who got Bruce's bestselling book "If Chins could Kill" published back in his days as a literary agent, but he seems to genuinely dislike Franklin.
35	* ViewersAreGeniuses: Read these books. Then take a year's worth of university courses. Then read them again. It's a wholly different experience.
36	* WeaselMascot: All three books involve this, even on the covers. The front cover of ''Information'' shows Hodgman holding a ferret, to be used to steal a diamond. ''More'' shows him holding a ferret, claiming "New ferret, same old con", and ''All'' shows him posing with the skeleton of a ferret...hopefully not the same ferret as the first two.

Context Literature / CompleteWorldKnowledge