Hyperbole and a Half
Every time Allie Brosh posts something new on her hugely popular blog Hyperbole and a Half the internet rejoices. Touching, absurd, and darkly comic, Allie Brosh’s highly anticipated book Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations. This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written. Brosh’s debut marks the launch of a major new American humorist who will surely make even the biggest scrooge or snob laugh. We dare you not to. FROM THE AUTHOR: This is a book I wrote. Because I wrote it, I had to figure out what to put on the back cover to explain what it is. I tried to write a long, third-person summary that would imply how great the book is and also sound vaguely authoritative—like maybe someone who isn’t me wrote it—but I soon discovered that I’m not sneaky enough to pull it off convincingly.
Stats for nerds
13recommend
15mentions
15people
2011–2026years
87% recommend13% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Felt like a synergy of Hyperbole and a Half and db admin. Reading it made my day and taught me a few things too.
- Some tea or fun books like "Hyperbole and a Half". Also, sharing Christmas with my family.
- Allie Brosh's book "Hyperbole and a Half" for the two chapters "Adventures in Depression" and "Depression Part Two." Excellent for both depressed people and their partners. In fact, for everyone. https://www.amazon.com/Hyperbole-Half-Unfortunate-Situations...
- I have all my old copies of The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes in my library waiting for my daughter. Some of my most fond early memories are of Calvin and Hobbes specifically and it resonates with me in a completely different way now than it did then, obviously. I have to imagine there are other great works being made now that I might be missing out on because of my age?
One person that I think fits the bill, but isn't currently making comics is Allie Brosh, Hyperbole and a Half is on the level.
Anyone have something new you recommend I check out?
- Sorry for the wall of text.
1. Bourne (The language and world of this novel are extraordinary - everything is falling apart yet brimming with life. Strangely moving)
2. The Design of Everyday things (Essential for anyone in UI/UX)
3. All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries (Highly engaging, entertaining sci-fi novella series, from an author that can write a very decent robot protagonist)
4. The Power (Interesting story with sci-fi elements on the dynamics of power, sex, and gender roles. I didn't care for the book, but the first 3/4 of the book are amazing)
5. Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days
6. 7 brief Lessons on Physics
7. The Last Lecture (The energy and positivity coming from a man knowing he's about to die is infectious. Great read)
8. A wizard of Earthsea (Move over Harry Potter, this is the essential children's story about wizards)
9. Exploring diabetes with owls (Funny, irreverent)
10. Miss Peregrines home for peculiar children (Made an effort to read more YA this year - this was the best in this series, but I still hated it. There's a host of better YA series out there.)
11. A Wizard of Earthsea: The Tombs of Atuan (See 8.)
12. The Girl in the Dark (Interesting book about a skin condition I had never heard of, and the trials of living with a very rare condition)
13. The Phantom Tollbooth (Clever children's book)
14. Black hole blues and songs from outer space (Informative book about the study of space, the political and economic forces standing in the way of science, and the incredible individuals working in this field)
15. Welcome to Night Vale (Hugely entertaining, clever and weird)
16. You need a budget (Basic economics book explaining how to budget in a way that lets you do more with your money)
17. To fight Against This Age (Incredibly pretentious, Ivory Tower philosophizing)
18. Infinity Gauntlet (Half the Universe dying because Thanos wanted to sleep with Lady Death will never not be ridiculous)
19. The Right and Wrong Stuff (Great read explaining how to anticipate and avoid career pitfalls)
20. Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children: Hollow City (pretty shitty)
21. The Farthest Shore (Ursula K. Le Guin was the biggest loss this year)
22. Miss peregrine's home for Peculiar Children: Library of Souls (I hate this book and all its characters)
23. Every Good Endevour (Religious book about a Christian worldview and the value of labor - not a bad read)
24. When to Rob a Bank and 131 warped suggestions… (interesting, funny, from the writers of Freakonomics)
25. Weapons of Math Destruction (Probably the most useful book on this list, if you're reading this on "hackernews")
26. Holes (Perfect summer paperback read)
27. Silver Screen Sirens (Essential for film geeks)
28. A full life: reflections at 90 (I gained a lot of respect for Jimmy Carter: he lived an incredible life and does great things)
29. Call Me by your name (Very good romance novel to send to your bigoted relatives at Christmas)
30. Hyperbole and a half (Incredibly entertaining, very distinctive art style)
31. The Murderbot diaries: Artificial Condition (See 3.)
32. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Best children's book, fight me)
33. Less (Exceptionally well-written)
34. Resilience (Great book, especially for those that have gone through extremely difficult circumstances)
35. The Strange Bird (Dark, bleak, full of life, see 1.)
36. The Murderbot diaries: Rogue Protocol (See 3.)
37. His Dark Materials: The subtle knife (See 32.)
38. Tap Dancing to Work (Very dry, some stories/articles are fantastic, others very, very boring for people that do not care about finance)
39. So Good They Can't Ignore You (Pretty good)
40. His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass (Amazing YA, see 32.)
41. Uncontainable (Inspirational book about conscious capitalism)
42. The Emperor of All Maladies (Pretty much everything you'll ever want to know about Cancer, written in a very engaging way)
43. Blind Spot
44. Shoe dog (Great story, see madmax108's comment, totally agree)
45. The Faithful Spy (Beautiful artwork describing a Christian pastor's fight against fascism during WW2)
46. Zero to One
47. You'll grow out of it
48. The Happiness advantage (Really fantastic book about the value of positive psychology)
49. Dreams from my father (Enlightening look into Obama's early days)
50. Ayoade on Ayoade (Entertaining, extremely scatter-brained, not as funny as his interviews or tv programs)
51. The Diabolic (badly written YA Sci-Fi)
52. The Physics of Everyday Things (surprisingly informative, recommended for non science-people interested in the way things work)
- Hyperbole and a half by Allie Brosch
I am waiting for the republishing of Aurora Morales’ Medicine Stories so I can buy 10 and give them away. Incredibly potent, clear, and beautiful writing on healing ourselves from oppression of all kinds. True medicine.
