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The Mammoth Book of Losers
This compendious celebration of ineptitude includes some of history’s most spectacularly ill-conceived expeditions and entirely useless pursuits, and features tales of black comedy, insane foolhardiness, breathtaking stupidity and relentless perseverance in the face of inevitable defeat. It rejoices in men and women made of the Wrong Stuff: writers who believed in the power of words, but could never quite find the rights ones; artists and performers who indulged their creative impulse with a passion, if not a sense of the ridiculous, an eye for perspective or the ability to hold down a tune; scientists and businessmen who never quite managed to quit while they were ahead; and sportsmen who seemed to manage always to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Like Walter Oudney, one of three men chosen to find the source of the River Niger in Africa, who could not ride a horse, nor speak any foreign languages and who had never travelled more than 30 miles beyond his native Edinburgh; or the explorer-priest Michel Alexandre de Baize, who set off to explore the African continent from east to west equipped with 24 umbrellas, some fireworks, two suits of armor, and a portable organ; or the Scottish army which decided to invade England in 1349 – during the Black Death.
Entries include: briefest career in dentistry; least successful bonding exercise; most futile attempt to find a lost tribe; most pointless lines of research by someone who should have known better; least successful celebrity endorsement; least convincing excuse for a war; worst poetic tribute to a root vegetable; least successful display of impartiality by a juror; Devon Loch – sporting metaphor for blowing un unblowable lead; least dignified exit from office by a French president; and least successful expedition by camel.
Like Walter Oudney, one of three men chosen to find the source of the River Niger in Africa, who could not ride a horse, nor speak any foreign languages and who had never travelled more than 30 miles beyond his native Edinburgh; or the explorer-priest Michel Alexandre de Baize, who set off to explore the African continent from east to west equipped with 24 umbrellas, some fireworks, two suits of armor, and a portable organ; or the Scottish army which decided to invade England in 1349 – during the Black Death.
Entries include: briefest career in dentistry; least successful bonding exercise; most futile attempt to find a lost tribe; most pointless lines of research by someone who should have known better; least successful celebrity endorsement; least convincing excuse for a war; worst poetic tribute to a root vegetable; least successful display of impartiality by a juror; Devon Loch – sporting metaphor for blowing un unblowable lead; least dignified exit from office by a French president; and least successful expedition by camel.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
494 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2014
106 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Karl Shaw
31 books26 followersKarl Shaw writes humour and popular non-fiction titles including the New York Timss bestsellers Royal Babylon and 5 People Who Died During Sex. His most recent is the acclaimed historic true crime thriller The Killing of Lord George: A Tale of Murder and Deceit in Edwardian England.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 2, 2025
When I started The Mammoth Book of Losers, I’m in need for a good palate cleanser after reading Recursion. But before I even finished the sample, I tried some NetGalley titles, didn’t find them inspiring, and return to this book. The sample was pretty interesting and it’s actually pretty cheap for ebook (bought it for less than 4 dollars). Two weeks on and my verdict is…. meh
It’s easy to like the sample. It’s a book full of collection of interesting stories, some are really short while some are rather long and detailed. What I failed to realize when I bought it was how long the entire book was. This book length wasn’t really meant to be palate cleanser. After all, you cleanse your palate with a sip of plain water, not a full liter of it.
Length aside, the book is riddled with typos. I was upset with The Man From MI5 series when I constantly found 3-4 typos in each book. But that was nothing compared to the amount of typos I found here. There were so many that I don’t bother reporting them after the first five or so. After all, I wanted to jump to my next fiction adventure, not doing the work of the author / publisher for free.
That being said, the stories in this book are mostly interesting. I enjoyed reading most chapters other than the chapter about historical literary figures (which I really couldn’t care less).
But this book vindicates my conclusion that I reached after reading The World of Lore series last year. A collection of short stories are easy to put down but harder to pick up. I guess that explains why it took rather long for me to finish it. At times I really don’t get motivated to continue reading and I really just soldier through to be finish it so that I’d able to continue to the next book.
A non-fiction rarely get perfect grade from me. I gave it to The Wager because it’s a very thrilling narrative, and to Jessica Radloff’s book about The Big Bang Theory (the TV Series, not the physics) because I simply loved that show. If judging solely by its content, this book would’ve earned at least 3.5 stars which then get rounded to 4. But the typos really turned me off and some stories are kinda dragging (is it really necessary to quote an entire poem to point out how good or bad a poet is?). So for that, it’s 2.5 which then gets rounded up to 3 stars for me.
It’s easy to like the sample. It’s a book full of collection of interesting stories, some are really short while some are rather long and detailed. What I failed to realize when I bought it was how long the entire book was. This book length wasn’t really meant to be palate cleanser. After all, you cleanse your palate with a sip of plain water, not a full liter of it.
Length aside, the book is riddled with typos. I was upset with The Man From MI5 series when I constantly found 3-4 typos in each book. But that was nothing compared to the amount of typos I found here. There were so many that I don’t bother reporting them after the first five or so. After all, I wanted to jump to my next fiction adventure, not doing the work of the author / publisher for free.
That being said, the stories in this book are mostly interesting. I enjoyed reading most chapters other than the chapter about historical literary figures (which I really couldn’t care less).
But this book vindicates my conclusion that I reached after reading The World of Lore series last year. A collection of short stories are easy to put down but harder to pick up. I guess that explains why it took rather long for me to finish it. At times I really don’t get motivated to continue reading and I really just soldier through to be finish it so that I’d able to continue to the next book.
A non-fiction rarely get perfect grade from me. I gave it to The Wager because it’s a very thrilling narrative, and to Jessica Radloff’s book about The Big Bang Theory (the TV Series, not the physics) because I simply loved that show. If judging solely by its content, this book would’ve earned at least 3.5 stars which then get rounded to 4. But the typos really turned me off and some stories are kinda dragging (is it really necessary to quote an entire poem to point out how good or bad a poet is?). So for that, it’s 2.5 which then gets rounded up to 3 stars for me.
August 14, 2021
For a book of this size, chronicling the biggest mistakes and failures in the history of the world, I felt it was sufficiently entertaining enough. What is desperately needed was a good proofreader, for there are quite a few errors in the text which are extremely jarring. In the story of John Franklin, it inexplicably jumps from 1819 to 1925 to 1843. In the “Least Successful Attempt to Spot a News Scoop” category, it talks about how the San Francisco Chronicle were offered to serialise Woodward and Bernstein’s breaking expose on the Watergate scandal…in 1979. “Least Successful Diplomatic Mission” had probably the most glaring error in my view. In 1842, a British diplomat was imprisoned in Uzbekistan, and a rescue mission was sent out…in 1840! It appears the author got confused, and I guess whoever got hired as proofreader didn’t feel like reading through this entire tome, because a combination of 20/20 vision and basic historic knowledge would have spotted these gaffes.
Three stars because, as I said, the author, despite the errors, is able to write in a very engaging style and clearly knows the best stories to pin down in this book. I certainly learned an extreme amount of interesting information, and it introduced me to John Banvard, who for me has perhaps the most obscure yet interesting life story ever. I don’t blame the author for the errors, as he is only human - rather, I blame the proofreader, if there was one, for not noticing these basic inconsistencies.
Three stars because, as I said, the author, despite the errors, is able to write in a very engaging style and clearly knows the best stories to pin down in this book. I certainly learned an extreme amount of interesting information, and it introduced me to John Banvard, who for me has perhaps the most obscure yet interesting life story ever. I don’t blame the author for the errors, as he is only human - rather, I blame the proofreader, if there was one, for not noticing these basic inconsistencies.
July 21, 2019
Well done!
Funny, really funny. Human beings are so vulnerable and egocentric. Great read for long summer afternoons or long winter evenings. Teachers of all subjects can get students' attention and curiosity.
Funny, really funny. Human beings are so vulnerable and egocentric. Great read for long summer afternoons or long winter evenings. Teachers of all subjects can get students' attention and curiosity.
August 14, 2021
A great dipperinnerer - is that a word?
Yes there are a few errors but it entertains throughout. Definitely want to read more about the Olympics now especially the marathon. What a bunch of cheats we all are and not just the cyclist s and tricky Russians. 😉
Yes there are a few errors but it entertains throughout. Definitely want to read more about the Olympics now especially the marathon. What a bunch of cheats we all are and not just the cyclist s and tricky Russians. 😉
July 16, 2017
What does this button do?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. I always enjoy a work on trivia, never knowing when it will be useful. The librarian in me.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. I always enjoy a work on trivia, never knowing when it will be useful. The librarian in me.
January 11, 2018
One for the loo
Clearly written by a Brit, this is a surprisingly fun book with some lengthy entries. Not great literature but a good read
Clearly written by a Brit, this is a surprisingly fun book with some lengthy entries. Not great literature but a good read
June 25, 2018
I enjoyed this book! The stories were fairly short but they were all very interesting. Well researched and put together and just humorous enough to not be dull.
December 13, 2019
Interesting trivia. Definitely could have used a better editor - there were some wrong dates and other errors (a person in 300BCE could not learn anything from someone who lived in 150BCE, etc).
January 6, 2024
Losers a fun book ?
This is A Fun Book but spoiled by a number of misprint year/century e.g. 2086 when 1886 is meant,grammatical and spelling error. Outside entertaining
This is A Fun Book but spoiled by a number of misprint year/century e.g. 2086 when 1886 is meant,grammatical and spelling error. Outside entertaining
July 10, 2024
The flip side of winner
It is fun to read about the also rans. We are always reading about the winners now we have a book about the losers. In this book there are a nice assortment of losers and how they became losers, but the one thing that this book showed me was my mistakes were small next to some in this book. Also when you read the question keeps coming up what were some of these people thinking. However you can actually feel sorry for some of the losers in this book. So read about some losers and think I am not that bad I hope.
It is fun to read about the also rans. We are always reading about the winners now we have a book about the losers. In this book there are a nice assortment of losers and how they became losers, but the one thing that this book showed me was my mistakes were small next to some in this book. Also when you read the question keeps coming up what were some of these people thinking. However you can actually feel sorry for some of the losers in this book. So read about some losers and think I am not that bad I hope.
August 2, 2014
For me any book called 'mammoth book of' etc. suggests quantity over quality, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a very, very funny read and I couldn't put it down. Most enjoyable.
September 23, 2015
Light and funny. GREAT bed time reading.
October 24, 2015
Good book
A fun read. Most of the stories were interesting , making this book hard to put down. I love these type of books.
A fun read. Most of the stories were interesting , making this book hard to put down. I love these type of books.
June 6, 2016
very boring
October 18, 2016
Hilarious and interesting
Stories about people who have messed up and uttered stupid things in this book cheer me up because I have messed up this badly.
Stories about people who have messed up and uttered stupid things in this book cheer me up because I have messed up this badly.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews