I had high hopes that this would be a "how to" book of obscure, yet useful information. When I opened to chapter one entitled, "Tell if your neighbor is a zombie," I knew to temper my hopes significantly. Split into three primary types of tidbits, this book is a mixed bag at best.
Examples of the Practical:
How to pull of an eBay scam (mostly illegal), beat a speed camera (unlikely but possible), negotiate with terrorists (provided you aren't afraid of death), count cards at a casino (if you want to get your head cracked), have fun in an elevator (if you want to make everyone hate you), and stuff you shouldn't do in an elevator (old news).
Examples of the Interestingly Impractical:
How to stage a coup (interesting for today's political climate), become a Mafia boss (in real life, not on myspace or facebook), build an atom bomb (doubtful), perform heart surgery (only if you like death and inevitable jail time), and bullfight (for fans of puncture wounds).
Examples of the Stupidly Impractical:
See Chapter one and several others like it.
Aside from my successful eBay scam and the money I got posing as an African Prince with financial difficulties, this book didn't really provide me with any useful "forbidden" knowledge. I realize this is a book with its roots in humor, but I didn't laugh that much while reading it, either. It's essentially a bigger, slightly better list that's similar to Cyber Jokes: The Funniest Stuff on the Internet.