The Book
For those interested, here is some information about the book.
First and foremost, the book is only available in German, so you won’t find it in book stores outside of German speaking countries or specialty shops. Unless another publisher buys the rights from Lübbe, it won’t be available in English. You can add your comments here about what a shame that is.
Second and foresome, the book made the Spiegel Online bestseller list for the category Specialized Paperbacks. The book entered the list in place 23 and peaked up at number 22. The rankings so far have been:
| Week | Nothing For UnGood Rank | Book about a guy’s cat Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 46/2009 | 23 | 17 |
| 47/2009 | 25 | 20 |
| 48/2009 | 22 | 19 |
| 49/2009 | 28 | 20 |
| 50/2009 | 31 | 25 |
An article about the book was published in Der Spiegel, which is a big magazine in Germany, where the author called me fat, which is not true. I am large-framed, which makes me appear that way. Plus the camera adds five pounds, everyone knows that.
The public tv station, ZDF, had a quick mention of the site and book one morning at about 6 am. You can watch it here by clicking on Die Momasurfer. It comes up right after the demo of the game sneeze, where you try to destroy all the people in an area with a well aimed infectious discharge. Finally my GEZ fees give me something back… free advertising! I hope Stefan Raab was up early and watching.
December 8th, 2009 at 4:45 am
Thanks for the stats! I enjoyed the article in Der Spiegel, it was a fun read.
And congratulations for being in the bestseller list…for 5 weeks in a row already!
And here is my comment about the fact that your book is not published in English yet: That’s a shame!!! Maybe some publisher will contact Luebbe and just do it, I would definitely buy it!
December 29th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Dear Mr. Madison,
Thanks for the book…a very funny read for an Ami who has been living in Germany for…..too long.
What is really sad however are the comment by your translator Petra Trinkaus. Oh my God! that woman is the living example of a german with little to NO sense of humor. Can’t you get it published without her intrusive and idiotic footnotes? honestly! The poor woman should not be entrusted with tongue-in-cheek prose..she should probably stick to translating industrials.
but enough about her…the book is must.
thanks
Tom
January 21st, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Hi,
me (beeing German and living in sonny Florida right now), got this book as a Christmas present.
I read through it in less then a day and I loved it! I had to laugh again and again cause the stuff you write about is so true.
@Tom: I disagree on your statement about the translators sense of humor. Actually I think she has a pretty fine sense of humor and made some nice ironic comments, that just added the whip on everything
Great Book, Great Blog!
Thanks
Holger
January 24th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I (german but living in the UK) had to laugh out loud while reading your book, and immediately felt the urgent need to send it to some friends in the US…. and had to find out that it is not published in english…yet….how dissapointing. I hope, and cross fingers, that this will happen soon.
Found the translators comments a lovely touch….however, irony is an art which probably isn’t understood by erveryone.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Dear John!
I’ll just say it as it is: your book rules. Seriously.
And the translator’s comments were pretty hilarious, too.
The chapter about the “ghost riders” - what can I say? I start laughing every time I think about it. And the chips and potatoes chapter cracked me up, as well.
And now the word to the Sunday (a little joke): awesome book. That’s it.
Liebe Grüße,
Sophia
May 7th, 2010 at 7:12 am
Hi John
I am a German living with my American wife and our kids in Germany - Baden-Würtemberg.
About a week ago, I found your book in the store and read through it in just 2 days!! I actually got it for my wife, but when I glanced through your book, I could not put it down anymore.
It is just hilarious and I found so many similarities. I especially loved that part about the Swabians and their “Sweep week”– so true!
I am not Swabian and was not aware of such a thing before either.
I also just checked out your Internet Blogg – Great!!! Love it! Keep it up.
Grüße aus dem “Ländle”,
Enrico
May 10th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Hi John!
Thank you for this great book! It’s really a shame it is not available in English; I’d love to give it to a friend in the U.S. but he doesn’t know any German besides Wiener Schnitzel and Haxn (and yes, I had to make him say Eichhörnchen after reading Nothing for Ungood! Surprise, he failed. But as I have an issue with pronouncing squirrel we’re even.)
Greeting from Hannover
Katrin
May 12th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Hi,
I (German living in Illinois) totally agree with the others (except with Tom’s blog) - it is a very funny and somewhat truthful book, and the translater did a pretty good job, I think. Not everybody shares the same sense of humor, and my experience is that especially when it comes to irony a lot of Americans do not understand it.
However, I loved the different ways how to open a beer bottle… hilarious and so true. Some other things in the book I disagree with, but still, I sometimes found myself and had good laugh!!
Thanks,
Silke
June 12th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
we found the book in a bookstore in Inzlingen on a recent trip to the old country…we immediately bought two copies and within a couple of days my wife, daughter, and i had read the book…we’re passing it on and recommending it to selected German friends…
we wish we could find an English version to give to linguistically challenged American friends who need help understanding the “Germanness” of my wife and daughters…in the meantime, they’re having to live with real-time translations of selected passages….
thanks for the laughs…