''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' is a 2010

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

book written by

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...

and other writers of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'', and is a sequel to ''

America (The Book) ''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction'' is a 2004 humor book written by Jon Stewart and other writers of ''The Daily Show'' that parodies and satirizes American politics and worldview. It has won several awards, and gene ...

''.

Synopsis

Written in the past tense, the book's stated purpose is to serve as a

Baedeker Verlag Karl Baedeker, founded by Karl Baedeker on July 1, 1827, is a German publisher and pioneer in the business of worldwide travel guides. The guides, often referred to simply as " Baedekers" (a term sometimes used to refer to similar works fro ...

travel guide for an alien civilization that discovers Earth after humanity has died out, most likely by its own hands. As such, ''Earth (The Book)'' attempts to chronicle the history of the planet and the human race from the beginning to the present day, and also tries to explain human concepts and emotions such as "love" and "work" for its alien readers. The book follows a similar format to ''America (The Book)'', being written in the style of a textbook and featuring many images, including visual gags. One controversial visual gag in ''America'' was a doctored image of the United States Supreme Court justices nude; a similar gag appeared in ''Earth'' which was an illustration of human anatomy that featured a nude man, one half of the man depicting

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...

*To Our Alien Readers *To Our Human Readers *Ch. 1: Earth *Ch. 2: Life *Ch. 3: Man *Ch. 4: The Life Cycle *Ch. 5: Society *Ch. 6: Commerce *Ch. 7: Religion *Ch. 8: Science *Ch. 9: Culture * Afterword * Appendix A: Final Scores * Appendix B: Why We're Not Here * Appendix C: What We Left Out * Acknowledgments * Credits

Reception

Keith Staskiewicz of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave the book an A−, praising it as "''

The Devil's Dictionary ''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a satire, satirical dictionary written by American journalist Ambrose Bierce, consisting of common words followed by humorous and satirical definitions. The lexicon was written over three decades as a series of insta ...

'' for a new generation" and concludes that the book's humor and writing style might lead the reader to conclude that "this would actually be a fairly comprehensive guide for extraterrestrial visitors", adding "just so long as they have a sense of humor". As of December 5, 2010, ''Earth (The Book)'' had spent 10 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list; for four weeks it was number one on the Hardcover Nonfiction list. On February 13, 2011, ''Earth (The Book)'' was awarded a Grammy at the 2011

53rd Annual Grammy Awards The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prio ...

for

Best Spoken Word Album The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes: * In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word * From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Perform ...

References

{{Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album 2010s , state=autocollapse 2010 non-fiction books Political satire books The Daily Show Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album Parody books Books by Jon Stewart

Synopsis

Table of contents

Reception

See also

References