Before you read this article — in the interest of complete transparency — I have for years known the frequent flier who wrote the book highlighted in this article and consider him a good friend of mine; and I am carefully not calling this article a review.
I present it as a holiday gift idea simply because it is something different which will not drain your bank account — but that is ultimately up to you to decide.
One final disclosure is that he did not ask me to write this article — as much as he would like to sell copies of his book. Writing this article was solely my idea, and I purchased the book with my own money.
A Fellow Frequent Flier Authored This Book — A Holiday Gift Idea
Josh Wilde — which is a pseudonym for this author who is a member of FlyerTalk — wrote the book Wilde Is The Joker: Gambling Humor and Satires, which is a collection of seven chapters containing 143 succinct tales of satire and fiction based on real life experiences, events, occurrences and people at which he brazenly pokes fun with no holds barred.
In fact, he warns in a special section at the beginning of the book that some remarks may offend the following people or entities — but assures that no animals were killed or injured during the writing of this book — which should give you an idea of both the humor and subject matter:
- The United States Senate
- The United States House of Representatives
- At least five current or former presidents of the United States
- Citizens of Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Costa Rica, Israel, Arab nations, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Monaco, Norway, Vietnam, and any country in the South Pacific
- Stockbrokers, insurance companies, bankers, the Mafia, teachers, the Ku Klux Klan, and computer engineers
- The SEC, FBI, CIA, DEA, NSA, IRS, USMC, RCMP, and Pennsylvania State Police
- Democrats and Republicans
- The Gambling City and Gambling Grumbles Internet web sites
- Owners, customer service representatives, and security departments for online casinos
- Residents of Pennsylvania, Mississippi, New York, Alabama, Nevada, Arizona, Nashville and Boston
- Delta Air Lines, Alitalia, Coca-Cola, Hertz, Smirnoff Vodka, McDonald’s and CNN
- Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Druids. The United States Women’s Soccer Team and The New England Patriots
- Feminists, Anti-Feminists, Heterosexuals and Homosexuals
- ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas
- Harvard, Princeton, ‘Ole Miss, Rutgers, Auburn, FSU and Uppsala
Sample Topics
Follow poor Kathy through several episodes as a shallow customer service representative who has no qualms about being a gold-digger, as demonstrated through her shameless reactions to perceiving one caller as wealthy and falling madly in love with him — despite not having met him.
One man asks for a raise — but he wonders if money means only more problems. Find out how to use music to seduce women — and everything which can go wrong. What are the ten greatest inventions and discoveries in the world — and why? Wilde even reveals great news: the news is bad!
Even Wilde himself is not safe, taking shots of self-depricating humor in various stories throughout the book — such as recalling when his now-former wife left him; guessing who is the April fool; his Wilde resolutions; or how in the world he can be considered an expert on the thought process of the female mind: “Why do women insist on window seats in airplanes and then keep their eyes shut tightly during takeoffs and landings?”
Frequent fliers need not be left out: read about the casino flight program of Gamble Airlines — which purports to have the lowest fares in the sky — as well as Alitalia with flights to somewhere; the crisis in the air travel industry which resulted in his old friend being laid off from his job as Director of Fares Formulations by Luftwaffe Airlines; and travel to such places as Costa Rica, Turkey, Israel, Germany and the United States.
Summary
In a “review” of this book — which is titled Josh Wilde Gambols With Gambling — and It Pays Off With This Book — I wrote:
Do not be fooled by the title of the book: although the subject matter is peripherally related to gambling and could cause you to initially think that he is full of craps, Josh Wilde has a gift for highlighting the foibles of humanity in a jocose manner — but Wilde has the temerity to actually say about what many people only think without the slightest compunction whatsoever using his gift of satirical wit. Once you roll the dice and purchase this book, you can bet that the cards in the hand dealt to you in this collection of parodies loosely woven together by Wilde contain a plethora of lessons which will surely have you declared a winner at the table of life. From his obvious derision pertaining to governments and political figures to a lust for life and women, you will never be quite the same after being taken through the warped world known as the mind of Josh Wilde — and that is a good thing.
I would not suggest considering purchasing this book if I did not relate to it myself. My sense of humor can be considered warped by some people — okay, by many people — but not in a way which can be perceived as untoward; and I dare you to read the entire book without laughing…
…but despite being entertaining, the book also subtly offers some wisdom, inspiration, and serious lessons in life — the main one is that every decision in life is a gamble. When I mentioned to Wilde that “I have always believed that every decision in life is a gamble — especially insurance” and that “I cannot think of a better example of legalized gambling”, his response to me was “Of course, the one difference between insurance and all other forms of gambling is that insurance is the only kind of bet that you actually hope to lose.” He added that “If I take out a 5 year term life insurance policy, for example, I am betting that I am going to die during those five years. If I do, I win the bet. I would prefer losing it.”
Best of all, the book need not be read in any specific order — or even in its entirety. Virtually every short story can be read on its own without losing any meaning or context — meaning that you can read a little bit at a time and go for weeks without reading the next story, if you choose to do so.
Wilde Is The Joker: Gambling Humor and Satires is written by Josh Wilde, who has worked as a journalist since 1968, covering both domestic and international politics as well as war. While he was a staff reporter in the 1980s, Wilde began working as a freelance writer, focusing on fiction and satire. He currently lives in a rural mountaintop village..
Kindle Locations 2941-2942. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Kindle Edition. You can purchase the book here at one of three different price points at the time this article was written:
- $19.99 for a printed copy of the book
- $7.99 for an electronic version of the book
- Free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited
Source: Amazon.
