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    Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt
    Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt
    Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt
    Audiobook3 hours

    Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt

    Written by Patton Oswalt

    Narrated by Patton Oswalt

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Now in paperback, from a “multi-faceted, medium-hopping, culture skewering performer” (SPIN), this is a journey through the world of Patton Oswalt, best known for his roles in film (Big Fan and Ratatouille) and television (The King of Queens and The United States of Tara), but also beloved for his ascerbic, highly eloquent, and wildly funny standup comedy.

    Prepare yourself for a journey through the world of Patton Oswalt, one of the most creative, insightful, and hysterical voices on the entertain­ment scene today. Widely known for his roles in the films Big Fan and Ratatouille, as well as the television hit The King of Queens, Patton Oswalt—a staple of Comedy Central—has been amusing audiences for decades. Now, with Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, he offers a fascinating look into his most unusual, and lovable, mindscape.

    Oswalt combines memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remem­bers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, includ­ing a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there’s the book’s centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zom­bies, spaceships, or wastelands.

    Oswalt chose wastelands, and ever since he has been mining our society’s wasteland for perversion and excess, pop culture and fatty foods, indie rock and single-malt scotch. Zombie Spaceship Wasteland is an inventive account of the evolution of Patton Oswalt’s wildly insightful worldview, sure to indulge his legion of fans and lure many new admirers to his very entertaining “wasteland.”
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJan 4, 2011
    ISBN9781442335486
    Author

    Patton Oswalt

    Patton Oswalt is the author of the New York Times bestseller Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. He has released four TV specials and four critically acclaimed comedy albums, including the Grammy-nominated My Weakness Is Strong. He put together the Comedians of Comedy tour and television series. Oswalt has also appeared on many television shows and in more than twenty films, including Young Adult, Big Fan, and Ratatouille. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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    Reviews for Zombie Spaceship Wasteland

    3.5/5

    300 ratings28 reviews

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    • 3/5
      It was mostly good, but some of the pieces fell flat. This would be forgivable if the book was longer. Like, at least a hundred pages longer.In the long run I'd rather just watch his DVDs again.
    • 4/5
      Nice anecdotes about growing up and life on the road as a comedian, interspersed with less entertaining oddities like a short comic and a poem fragment. Worth reading if you're a fan.
    • 4/5
      Patton Oswalt has always been one of my favorite comedians, and this book apes and expands on his comedic persona (and personal life) with over-the-top drawn out descriptive passages and level 2 obscure references (Roxy Music's Avalon, North Dallas Forty).I must say though, if you're not a male aged 18-29 it might not be up your alley. Beware: here be (Dungeons and) dragons.
    • 5/5
      This was great. Loved it. First time I had heard of Patton was on the new MST3000. I mean literally 3 weeks ago. Awesome that he is a D&D fan.


      Now I realize how over qualified he is for that gig. Hope he stays on though.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by the author. Part memoir, part observational essays, part comedy act and parody. At times, Patton's Gen X pop cultural references went right by this late baby boomer, and the sound volume was inconsistent throughout. I've always liked him as an actor though. This is for the under-the-radar nerds who have a lot to say but rarely get noticed.
    • 4/5
      The greatest autobiography I have ever listened to. It was good to relate to on a nerd level and as a movie lover.
      Thank you Patton Oswalt!
    • 5/5
      Very funny, wonderful to hear it read by the author. It was ... interesting; not so much a linear story as a mix of rememberances and short bits. Would totally recommend if you love Paton Oswalt though!
    • 2/5
      There were a few stories that I found interesting or amusing but mostly they weren't my thing. I'll keep enjoying Patton Oswalt on TV and Twitter and probably not in books.
    • 1/5
      This was truly...TRULY...the worst book I have ever read in my entire life
    • 2/5
      Not as good as I expected but still had some flashes of brilliance. I had a hard time relating to the story of his teenage years which took up a good chunk of the early book, and there seemed to be a lot of filler that I didn't find all that interesting. But, the story about his uncle and what drove him to leave his hometown was probably the highlight for me. It was both heartening and bitter sweet. Also the epic poem about his brutish D&D character was pretty impressive.
    • 3/5
      I don't know what to say. This didn't leave any kind of marks in me. I didn't laugh once so apparently this was not funny for me, I wasn't touched, angry or sad, I just listened it though and moved on. I'm still going to give it three stars because of the title, the fact that I didn't HATE it, because I like Patton Oswalt, and because he read the audibook himself.
    • 5/5
      Just finished, and...

      here I am, reading in bed. At the line "Worst Beckett play ever", I laughed so hard that my CPAP mask briefly levitated off of my face. Bravo, Patton, you got me.
    • 4/5
      A book of mostly personal essays from former comedian Oswalt about his days before and at the beginning of his career. These include his high school job at a movie theater, an explanation of how Dungeons and Dragons is played, and the first gifting suite he was ever invited to attend as a minor celebrity. The longest essay is "The Victory Tour", the story of his first headlining gig at a comedy club outside of Vancouver, a week in which the audiences liked every comedian except for him. A fast and amusing read.
    • 5/5
      If you like Patton, read this. Don't listen to the audio book (if there is one). Read it for real. It's a quick read, super funny, and just really great.
    • 2/5
      It was... okay. I like Patton's standup, and his biographical sections, especially the recounting of the 11 days he spent performing for a coked-up comedy club-owning a-hole in Vancouver, Canada was the best of the book. The whole part on his pet theory about how geeks fall into the Zombie, Spaceship or Wasteland categories was kind of interesting, but it seemed a bit of a stretch.

      Worst parts were the odd greeting-card bits, and the reverence given to R.E.M.'s "Fables of the Reconstruction" during his stories about his days spent growing up in Sterling, VA. I get that it was your favorite album, Patton, but as a veteran R.E.M. junkie, even I will tell you that "Fables" was a stinker.
    • 5/5
      If the level of humor were a car Patton Oswalt begins driving his readers in an Acura at as sensible speed. The first two thirds of this book are funny, but not hilarious. In the two appendices at the final third of the book, the Acura morphs into a Mazerati driving at an unsafe and exciting speed. It is a high bar for me to laugh-out-loud at something I'm reading. Few books come to mind, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Loser Goes First by Dan Kennedy. The final third of Oswalt's book is that funny, so funny it's worth the purchase of the book for the final parts. One of the appendices is a collection of script treatments for terrible movie ideas. The treatments are based on treatments he saw while working at a production company and various Hollywood blockbusters. I can't do them justice in this review, but they are a scream. One of the titles is something like Slade III: Pimp Summer Razor Cut Up.The second appendix has a few examples of reviews Oswalt wrote as if he were a vulgar, over-caffeinated fan boy writing about action and super hero movies (which isn't too much a stretch for him).. I'll paraphrase from the review of Blade 2 "Blade $%&#ing 2 is awesome and right away you'll want to break up with your girlfriend because girls won't like this movie unless they ride motorcycles and beat up pit bulls and maybe not even then."If you enjoy Oswalt's humor or if you've never heard him but enjoy a good laugh and nerdy pursuits I highly recommend this unconventional memoir.
    • 4/5
      I have to admit that I picked up "Zombie Wasteland Spaceship" for my husband, because it struck me as the kind of literature he'd enjoy in the library/bathroom. It took less than a day for the book to escape and make its way to the living room where the polite reading is done. As with most collections, some pieces work more than others, but with the strong beginning middle and finish, it was easy to forgive those that didn't, while still basking in the glow of those that did. The book was smarter, more charming and nostalgic than I expected and I feel somehow guilty for my lack of expectation. Oswalt is not a comedian who wrote a book, but a writer and storyteller who happens to be funny.
    • 2/5
      After hearing how wonderful this book is, I tried to like it all. I'm not a stand up comedy fan, so I failed. The last section was horrible.

      I liked the music and book references, those brought back some nice memories. The first sections had some funny stories and a character description. The D&D section was neat.

      But I was disappointed.
    • 5/5
      I have never laughed out loud uncontrollably at a book before. The Wine List chapter is the funniest thing I have ever read in my life. Touching, observant, with just the right amount of snark to help the earnest go down. GET THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY.
    • 1/5
      Wow. Well, this book was a waste of trees. It was nothing. It wasn't funny, it wasn't a memoir, it was just 189 pages of unfunny rambling. With footnotes that took up half the page and should've just been included in the actual paragraph.

      Yikes.
    • 4/5
      I have a hard time rating these types of books, you know, books written by comedians about comedy or their lives or whatever. I was a bit disappointed by David Cross' I Drink for a Reason. It was basically a bunch of stand up bits strung together. Luckily Oswalt doesn't do this, the book is more memoir-ish, yet still maintains the funniness you'd expect. So, yeah it's four stars for this one.
    • 3/5
      The sections of the book that are biographical and narrative are excellent. The two best sections involve a story about working at a mall cinema and the story of his schizopheninic uncle. Either is worth the price of the book. The comedy bits border on the hackish that Oswalt mocks when writing in his own voice. The Zombie, Spaceship. Wasteland philosophical discussion falls flat, though it features Oswalt' self deprecating humor.Seems like a filler book.
    • 3/5
      An odd memoir that is a mix of stories and bits. Oswalt does a good job narrating and Hobo songs were a nice touch.
    • 3/5
      Highly sarcastic, funny, touching and unflinchingly honest. Great for an older teen, who has felt odd and out of place. *Mature language and themes
    • 2/5
      Zombie Spaceship Wasteland was another disappointment; this time, from a very funny guy who could have done much more than this sad excuse of a memoir. Contents include two funny stories; one from a bad comedy tour another from his teenage experience of working at a movie theater. The rest is a hodge-podge of self-important garbage. Really wanted this to be good but it wasn't meant to be.
    • 3/5
      Reading this made me feel like I was the fastest reader on the planet--zoom! Tucked it away in two short hours, during which my wife had to keep asking me why milk was coming out my nose. The essays vary in quality but then again I honestly can say that I didn't understand about a third of the allusions Oswalt made--so who's to say I'm not some uneducated dumbass turning his back on comedic gold. The high points were absolutely hilarious, however and well worth the price of admission.
    • 5/5
      I work in a bookstore and it isn't often that a new book comes out that I absolutely can't wait for the cheaper paperback edition and feel I have to read right away. I enjoy Patton Oswalt on TV but it was a a piece he for Playboy a few years back comparing life with his crazy stripper ex-girlfriend to life with his lovely wife which had me laughing so hard, tears streaming down my face, that made me pay the 20 some odd bucks I did for this book. I cracked the first few pages and prepared myself for the painful hilarity that I was sure would ensue. Then I kind of shrugged off the next few pages, then I started to feel a little bummed that this book wasn't as funny as I thought it should be. Then I got a little pissed that I paid as much as I did for it but figured since I did pay that much I should see it through to the finish if for no other reason except to tear it to shreds and be able to say I did it. No such luck, Patton Oswalt is one sneaky ass little dude as although the chapters read kind of like the life story of the most boring guy ever when I got to the the last chapter, it seemed like the joke he'd been setting up all along suddenly came to uprorious fruition. It seems that the pivotal point this book is making is to prove that all people fall into one of three catagories but I think he proves with is concluding chapter that all of us who have ever recieved a present from an elderly relative, (and isn't that really all of us, serioulsy all over the world ALL of us?) are actually all ultimately, cut from the same cloth. If you find yourself buying this book and wondering why it's not as funny as Patton Oswalt stand up, wait for it, the punchline is a doozy and well worth the 20 some odd bucks for the book. Tears streaming down my face, it cracked me up to no end.
    • 4/5
      I know of Oswalt but I'm not that familiar with his work. But, from the reviews I read this sounded like it would be of interest to me.It's a little bit of everything - some memoir, some humor, some meditations on nerd culture. It's not as uproariously funny as I expected it to be. But there are funny bits, and in the end it left me wanting more. (It's a slim volume - not quite 200 pages.)