[close] Be very, very afraid. When you step through your door for an innocent excursion, grave danger awaits. You might be mugged; tied up; attacked by scorpions, piranhas, or tarantulas; trapped in a falling plane or elevator, a runaway train, a car on a cliff, a sandstorm, a riptide, or a riot. But now it's safe to take that vacation anyway. Just pack The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel, and you'll know what to do when you find yourself, say, leaping between rooftops: "Because you will not be moving fast, it is safe to roll head over heels, unlike jumping from a moving vehicle." Now you'll also know what not to do: never pick up a tarantula, as the spines on their abdomens are like little harpoons, and don't yank the reins of a runaway camel ("Pulling on the nose reins can tear the camel's nose--or break the reins"). You may have the sense, if a leech invades your air passage, to gargle with a 50 percent solution of 80-proof alcohol--but without this book, would you remember not to inhale?

In short, this is the most delightfully terrifying, all-true, laugh-out-loud hilarious book since the original Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, which covers such horrors as alligators and quicksand. Don't leave home without it! --Tim Appelo [close]