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The Ridiculous Race | 
| Authors: Steve Hely, Vali Chandrasekaran
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $6.24
You Save: $8.76 (58%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 108587
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0805087400
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.41
EAN: 9780805087406
ASIN: 0805087400
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The most absurd, hilarious, and ridiculous travelogue ever told, by two hit-TV comedy writers who raced each other around the world—for bragging rights and a very expensive bottle of Scotch It started as a friendly wager: two old friends from The Harvard Lampoon, now hotshot Hollywood scribes, challenged each other to a race around the globe in opposite directions. There was only one rule: no airplanes. The first man to cross every line of longitude and arrive back in L.A. would win Scotch and infamy. But little did one racer know that the other planned to cheat him out of the big prize by way of a ride on a quarter-million-dollar jet pack. What follows is a pair of hilarious, hazardous, and eye-opening journeys into the farthest corners of the world. From the West Bank to the Aleutian Islands, the slums of Rio to the steppes of Mongolia, traveling by ocean freighter and the Trans-Siberian Railway (pranking each other mercilessly along the way), Vali and Steve plunge eagerly and ill-prepared into global adventure. The Ridiculous Race is a comic travelogue unlike any other, an outrageous tale of two gentlemen travelers who can’t wait to don baggy cardigan sweaters, clench corncob pipes between their teeth, and yell at their sons, “You lazy bums! When we were your age, we raced around the world without airplanes!”
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 The Ridiculously Flawed Race September 29, 2008
The concept of this book had unlimited potential, only to be botched by two ridiculous participants who had no intention of making this a legitimate contest of racing around the world and back in opposite directions without flying. Vali's effort can even be considered as defrauding the publisher, Henry Holt and Company, who funded the race. Mr. Vali broke the cardinal rule of "no use of airplanes" repeatedly -- ten times by his own admission -- and most of his stops were in popular tourist destinations with little to no value to the reader. Vali's participation in this race was completely irrelevant.
Steve could have carried the book on his own, but even his effort was not genuine. He took twenty five days to travel from Moscow to London when he could have completed the trip in three days. Between Moscow and London, Steve spent three weeks in Western Europe in hardly "uncharted territory".
It's certainly understandable that some of the authors' actions were in the spirit of adding comedic-entertaining value to the race, but these two gifted writers could have just as easily written a five star book by adhering to the rules of the game and making a valiant effort to circle the globe as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Vali's maturity level and Steve's tendency to veer off course ruined a perfectly entertaining concept.
Great premise, wish they'd written a better book September 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book started off with a bang. It follows the story of two young men, Vali and Steve as they first make a wager to travel the world without airplanes, and then commence their journey.
But as the book labors on, I got the feeling not only did Vali give up on the integrity of the race, but also gave up trying to write a book. Which is a shame, as he is the more gifted of the two writers.
This book had some very funny moments, some that made me laugh out loud, but honestly it felt like homework reading this book at times.
 Funny Travelogue For Those Who Appreciate Silly Humor September 5, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I haven't laughed while reading a book as much as I did reading this one in a while. It is exactly what you would expect from a couple of television comedy writers (My Name is Earl and Family Guy!) who decide to race around the world without using airplanes. If you're not a fan of those shows/that type of humor, then you may want to stay away.
While their comedic talents really shine through in the book, the book is also fascinating from a travel and cultural perspective. For example, this is personally the most I've ever read about Mongolia. Of course, based on the descriptions in the book, it may also be the most I WILL EVER read about Mongolia, but it made for several very funny stories.
The book is a light, easy read, with no real chapters, but instead with short sections, alternating between the two authors. Easy to get through, very funny, very entertaining and very recommended for anyone who likes a little bit of humor thrown in with their travelogues.
I've read it twice already August 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you have ever traveled abroad this book will not only hit your funny bone it will destroy it. Even if you have never left the state you were born in, you will love the story these two lunatics weave. I want them to do it again and take me with them.
The Annoying Race August 15, 2008
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I picked this up on a lark and was not a fan. The authors are just so unbelievably irritating and immature, particularly Vali. They remind me of college freshmen who desperately want to be liked, and who seek attention by inventing an over the top image that wavers between bravado and self-deprecation. Both guys take pains to describe their drinking throughout their trip, in an effort to give them a rakish, Hunter Thompson vibe that doesn't work. Both liberally drop Bob Saget-style one-liners at every opportunity, to showcase how funny they are, and prove the opposite instead.
Vali was like a mosquito in my ear as I read. His jokes were so bad. Examples: "By the time my flight landed, I was sick as a dog. (And I'm not talking about one of those healthy dogs)." And "Of course, you shouldn't judge a country by its cabdrivers. If you did, you'd think everyone in the country drove cabs for a living." And "As everyone knows, there are two sides to every coin (the tricky part is that most things aren't coins)." And, how about "At the edge of the garden is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I stood there for a few minutes telling everyone who passed by, `I know who's buried here. It's my friend Bob. Don't tell anyone.'" Just awful.
One of the problems with The Ridiculous Race is how deliberately Steve and Vali set out to write it. Most nonfiction works describe an amazing event that befell the author, long before writing about it came to mind; things happen, and then it strikes the author that those things would be worth sharing with others. In this case, Vali and Steve got a publisher interested in their dare beforehand, who gave them an advance to spend during their race around the world. Their resulting attempts to justify the paycheck fill the pages with way too much of their forced, tepid brand of wackiness. Vali so much as lets you know a couple of times that he wanted to go to sleep in his hotel, but had the book to think about, and headed out into the town for more "adventures" (mostly talking to strangers at bars or eating exotic foods). Steve mentioned at one point that the trip was costing him way too much, and that he'd need to sell a boatload of copies of the book. How about some mystery, guys?
The race was only about 50 days or so, and it wasn't all that ridiculous. Steve and Vali were more tourists than voyagers, only occasionally veering lamely off the path of least resistance. Their knowledge of the places they visit runs as deep as the Google searches they describe. No one picked up any ladies despite a lot of wasted ink thinking about it (a couple of blind dates don't count). There were no real confrontations or elements of danger- just idiotic questions asked of people, invented "imagine if" scenarios, and narratives of completely risk-free events like a Jack the Ripper tour in London, overnight train rides, a visit to the Sistine Chapel, and a week spent on a luxury cruise line. Fueling the authors' already bothersome attempts to win readers' admiration was an "Awesomeness Contest" representing a side bet to the Ridiculous Race.
The most outlandish aspects of the race were the least funny (*** SPOILERS ***): Vali tries to get a head start at the race's beginning by handcuffing Steve in his apartment. Vali cheats immediately by flying and then incorporates air travel at every opportunity. Vali sets off for Mexico to meet with a jetpack hobbyist, based on the absurd and unfunny idea to cross the ocean with it, and never so much as gets a foot off the ground.
Vali was at his worst when effecting an air of danger; he wants so badly for his story to read like a James Bond serial, but is way too non-threatening to pull any of it off. On the border between Jordan and Egypt, for instance, he got immigration officials to allow him to use an ATM beyond security to get money for his visa. "Even though I wasn't handcuffed, I walked with my hands clasped behind my back as if I was. I wanted everyone who saw me and my armed escort to think I was some sort of awesome internationally wanted man- the sort of guy who did away with his enemies by forcing them to gorge themselves to death on fine caviar." This is the same guy who chickened out of visiting the Kremlin armory after paying admission because some 14 year olds were glaring at him menacingly. Sorry, not dangerous. And not funny.
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