Like many great books, the Daily Show with John Stewart first introduced me to The Areas of My Expertise. John Hodgman is now a regular guest on the program and has earned the distinction of becoming their Resident Expert. If you are unfamiliar with this television program, this means - "Don't read this book without a healthy sense of humor." An emaciated sense of humor would choke and die on such rich fare.

Hodgman's Areas of Expertise include, but are not limited to, What Will Happen in the Future, Jokes That Have Never Produced Laughter, Hints on Building Snow Forts, A Brief Timeline of the Lobster in America, Short Words to Use on Submarines to Conserve Oxygen, All Kinds of Squirrels, Cycles of the Werewolf Moon, Nine Presidents Who had Hooks for Hands and last, but certainly not least, Hobo Matters.

This book is shockingly and forthrightly hilarious. In fact, I would not recommend reading this book in public, bursting out with laughter and giggling until you have hiccups is best done in the privacy of your own home.

This book also comes with the best warning label I have ever read, "The almanac that contains no weather information and, once placed on your shelf, will secretly replace all neighboring books with its own text."