Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations

These are funny stories. Read them, and you will likely laugh. If you don't laugh, check with your religion -- it might be stifling your ability to laugh. Or your boss. You may hate your job so much that you've lost the ability to laugh.To sum up, theses stories are funny, and if you don't laugh you may believe in a religion that takes itself too seriously, or have such a lousy job that you hate everything. So don't buy this book if you fall into either of those two camps.Everybody else, get ready to laugh.

These stories are very very short which is good. If they were any longer they might well result in emotional damage to the reader. Mr. Rich's imagination takes us where few have gone before.I mean what would you do if an angry murderer threatened you with death if you didn't come up with the correct answer to a trigonometry problem (sin2x=2cosinxsinx)? Have you ever thought how difficult it would be to wage war using Swiss army knives? Is it really true that God intervenes to help Orel Hershiser pitch his way to victory? Is it a fact that scientist Stephen Hawking is really a time traveler? Is it possible for ants to dig to freedom from a glass walled ant farm?Do these story topics pique your interest? If so cough up 10 bucks and buy the book. If they leave you cold, well, hey spend the money on a six pack, and have fun that way.

It's not easy to write something funny, but Simon Rich has a knack for it. This collection of short stories, which I heard Rich refer to as "scenarios," is a really good read. You can open to any page and start/finish a story in less than 5 minutes... Put the book down and come back to it later or breeze through a few, or all of the stories at once.The very first story in the book describes the awkward conversation between Abraham and Isaac on the drive home after God's last-second reversal of his command for Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to God."How about some ice cream, Isaac?"

I'm a fan of "Miracle Workers" and "Man Seeking Woman" which Simon created. After he guested on Conan O'Brien's podcast I was convinced to check out his short stories.The stories are fun. Nothing really made me laugh, but I liked them. That is until I noticed how many of the stories have the exact same premise: character is naieve and believes everything a clear liar is telling them or doesn't see what's obviously going on. Just different permutations of that over and over. Pretty disappointing.

Laughed out loud and read it out loud to my kids. Who also laughed out loud. Lols all the way around. Seriously. I now have enough words for this review.

I've read it over and over and still laugh each time. The book makes for a great gift and is such an easy read. The only difficult part is putting it down. Buy it and enjoy!

I was turned on to Simon Rich through an article I read of his online.... knew I needed to find more from him. While this is from a bit earlier in his writing career, the whit, humor, and quirky thinking are still there. Best of all, you easily find yourself relating to his short "stories" in a way that you realize he's simply put down on paper a lot of the thoughts that we had at various stages of our lives. Thoughts that seem ridiculous to us know, but at the time made absolute sense.I would give this 5 stars, but the book tends to drift off a bit towards the end... The material at the beginning had tears rolling out of mine (and my family's) eyes as we laughed... the last half of the book is still very good, but just not quite at the same level.

Simon Rich is a master at his craft. This collection is priceless! This is the kind of book you will read in one sitting and be disappointed when you are done.

If you like sketch comedy and the absurd, this is such an epic funny book. It’s my go to for feel good laughs. Simon Rich is so underrated as a comedic writer - one of the youngest writers ever on SNL. Read this. Read Spoiled Brats- he’s a legend

I have bought this book after I read "new teeth"from the same author.Sadly it is not as funny and entertaining.Most of the stories are way to short and read more like simple jokes with predictable punshlines.For 3€ on kindle I can't complain to much, but if you want a way better reading experience buy his newer book.

Inventive. Funny. Clever. More like this, please.

It's a lovely book to take with you on a trip, whenever you feel like laughing a bit. I highly recommend!

Made me laugh. Unexpected jokes. Clever. Highly recommend. I will read the rest of his books as well. Perfect if you like irreverent writing.