Review: 365 reasons to be proud to be a Dad by Ian Allen

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Being a dad is a 365-day job. Let this nifty little book help you along the way, with a hilarious dad-related fact for every day of the year. Discover how 26 August is the anniversary of the car you probably learned to drive in, and stroke your smooth chin thoughtfully as you learn that 13 May is the day the electric shaver was invented. Find out when and where the first piece of flatpack furniture was invented (Ancient Greece, no less, and it was more of a temple than a wardrobe...), and, on 19 November, remember that there's always a more incompetent parent than you as you recall the day a certain baby boy was dangled off a balcony. Packed with stories of dad derring-do, this book is the perfect buy for any dad you know, or someone who's about to become one. 

MY TAKE:
This book is pretty much a fact-a-day calendar but in book form.

In 365 reasons to be proud to be a Dad, each day is matched with an event that happened on that day which is somehow related to dads or which is something that dads might be interested in (sports, beer, etc.)

What's challenging about creating a book like this is not only coming up with facts that are related to or might be of interested to dads, but filling up every single day of the year with something that happened on that day. There were some facts in those book whose inclusion I thought were a bit of a stretch (such as the mysterious footprints in Devon), but otherwise, I enjoyed this book.

There were plenty of "Dad jokes," which were corny but funny, and made the book more fun to read. Of course, the book didn't rely on these jokes. The book was written in a light, conversation tone that feels like you're talking to a friend. This was particularly important to me when topics I weren't interested in came up, such as cricket, which made an appearance quite a few times.

Just a note: the book appears to be written mainly for a British audience so there's plenty of British slang. It wasn't an issue for me, but it may be a problem for you if you have trouble understanding the occasional British slang.

Thanks to NetGalley and Portico for the e-copy.

THE GOOD:

1. It's written in a light tone.
2. The facts cover a wide variety of topics.
3. There were plenty of corny but funny jokes.

THE BAD:

1. I would have loved it if there were more illustrations to break up the monotony. 

READ IT IF:

1. You're a dad.
2. You like dad jokes.
3. You love fact-a-day calendars. 

RATING:


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