As a follow-up to The Contortionist’s post from yesterday, I wanted to give a big old-fashioned ‘Holla!’ to John Hodgman, a.k.a ‘The PC Guy.’ 

Not only is he the heart and soul of the Apple campaign, but he is also a regular contributor on The Daily Show and - as mentioned yesterday – an all-around cool and hilarious dude. His first and only book The Areas of My Expertise, is like nothing you’ve ever read.  Advertised as an almanac of complete world knowledge, it's essentially a compendium of  bizarre mistruths and fictions cooked up in Hodgman’s twisted brain. 

In it he broaches such pressing matters as American presidents who had hooks for hands and famous novels that were not originally published as books (such as James Joyce’s Dubliners, which was originally sent by telegraph from the deck of the Titanic). His crowning achievement, however, is his section on hoboes, which gives a detailed account of the history of the American hobo and lists 700 hobo names from days long forgotten. 

Among them are such kind souls as Pantless, Sockless, Shoeless Buster Bareass, and 50-Tooth Slim.  He then went on to record all 700 – in order – and put them on the internet.  Buy the book here.  (That’s really more of a suggestion than an order.  But I suppose you can take it any way you want.)