Author Christopher Cerf has signed this book with the unique inscription, Ignore the advice in this handy (if depressing) book AT YOUR PERIL! Cheers, Christopher Cerf.

 

In Encyclopedia Paranoiaca, master satirists Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf have assembled an authoritative, disturbingly comprehensive, and utterly debilitating inventory of things poised to harm, maim, or kill you--all of them based on actual research about the perils of everyday life.  Painstakingly alphabetized, cross-referenced, and thoroughly sourced for easy reference, this book just might save your life.  (Apologies in advance if it doesn't.)  Beard and Cerf cite convincing evidence that everyday things we consider healthy--eating leafy greens, flossing, washing our hands--are actually harmful, and items we thought were innocuous-- drinking straws, flip-flops, neckties, skinny jeans-- pose life-threatening dangers.  Did you know that nearly ten thousand people are sent to the emergency room each year because of escalator accidents, and, despite what you've heard, farmers' markets may actually be less safe than grocery stores?  And if you're crossing your legs right now, you're definitely at serious risk.