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This Is Why You're Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks Paperback – October 27, 2009

by Jessica Amason (Author), Richard Blakeley (Author)
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
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Food was once the providence of celebrated chefs and critical connoisseurs. Cooking shows featured all gourmet creations and web sites displayed artfully photographed delights.

Then something changed.

Perhaps it was the desensitizing of web culture or perhaps it was a cry for help from the food-loving public. But by God - there came a day when fancy vegetable towers came crashing down and $50 mushrooms were no longer acceptable. Amason and Blakley wanted see the old stand-bys, the carnival foods of their childhoods, the sticky mess of a deep-fried candy bar, the indulgence of a greasy burger with all the fixins.

It was the birth of the nasty food web-trend. And it was delicious.

The website This is Why You′re Fat is an ode to this trend - whether seen as a commentary on North American dietary habits or a celebration of the deliciously bad - Amason and Blakey are devoted to the world′s newfound obsession with over-the-top food. Within its first month the site pulled in over ten million eye balls, and attracted major nation media including CNN. The world cooked, they listened.

www.thisiswhyyourefat.com

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    144 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Perennial
  4. Publication date
    October 27, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.27 x 6 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0061936634
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0061936630
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Nothing illustrates our nation’s bipolar attitude toward eating more hilariously than this visual coronary. A stomach-turning delight.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Warning: Don’t eat before, during or after you’ve seen this blog.” — Time magazine

“Irresistible” — Boing Boing

“If you dare to eat any of these, make sure you have a cardiologist on speed dial.” — CNN.com

“I love me some This Is Why You’re Fat. It’s hardcore, wet and sloppy, extreme, take-no-prisoners, get down and dirty food porn. And I, for one, cannot get enough of it.” — The Frisky

“This collection of “deliciously gross food” from across the blogosphere is simultaneously disgusting, fascinating, and sometimes perversely drool-inducing.” — Chow Bella, Phoenix New Times

About the Author

Richard Blakeley has been fascinated with video since he was a senior in high school. After graduating from the Pratt Institute in 2006, he landed a job as video editor with Gawker Media and is now the head of its video department. During his time at Gawker, Richard has worked in independent web design for high profile clients and hosted a series of monthly networking events for New York-based media professionals called Media Meshing.

Jessica Amason has always been something of a trend-hunter-from breaking new bands as a music journalist to highlighting the latest web trends as lead blogger for Urlesque.com. After graduating from The University of Georgia and University of Madrid, Jessica moved to New York, where she worked as a music journalist for various publications including The Associated Press and as a columnist for The Aquarian Weekly. Naturally, Jessica's penchant for connecting people and cultural trends brought her to AOL's web culture blog, Urlesque.com, where she has gained a reputation as the site's trend-hunter extraordinaire and has been known to be called a "meme queen."

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Original edition (October 27, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0061936634
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061936630
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.27 x 6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Jessica Amason

    Jessica Amason

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Jessica Amason is the Viral Media Editor for BuzzFeed.com and columnist for The Huffington Post, where she investigates viral marketing and the contagious web. Jessica is also the creator of "viral sensation" Thisiswhyyourefat.com and its book adaptation (HarperStudio 10/27). Jessica has been a featured speaker on topics of social media and Web culture at MediaBistro's UGCX Conference, Gelf Magazine's Media Circus and MIT's ROFLCon. She has worked as a Lead Blogger at AOL's web culture blog, Urlesque.com, correspondent for WePCTV and hosts New York media events like Internet WeekNY's Webutante Ball. Prior to developing a fascination with the social web, Jessica was a music journalist for The Associated Press and Aquarian Weekly. She has appeared as a guest on the Today Show, CNN, Headline News and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Her work has been covered by CBS, ABC News, Time Magazine, The New York Times and Wired.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Richard Blakeley

    Richard Blakeley

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Richard Blakeley has been the head of the Gawker Media video department since 2006 and is perhaps best known for co-creating the over-the-top food blog This Is Why You're Fat. It's success as an overnight viral sensation led to the publication of the book available in stores now. In the tech world, Richard is best known for stealthily turning off televisions at The 2008 Consumer Electronic Show, earning him a lifetime ban from the largest trade show in the world.

    Richard graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in film in 2006. While still in school he was awarded the Consumers for Cable Choice Award in New Media for his online choose your own video adventure game Don't Make Her Cry. The following year he received a grant from mtvU's Digital Incubator Contest for 15,000 dollars. His senior thesis, I'm Going to Show This Tape to Santa won the celebrated San Francisco International Festival of Short Films' Grand Jury Prize in 2007.

    His films have been featured at BAM, Brooklyn Underground, and most recently England's Rolling Rock festival. He has been featured in such magazines as Wired and GQ, and has appeared on numerous television shows such as CNN's The Situation Room, SexTV, and BayTV's The Show. He was named a "Playboy of Tech" by Details Magazine in 2007.

    After finding success with user-submitted content with This Is Why Your Fat, he recently co-founded Neighborhoodr: a reader-generated blog network for New York City. He is currently obsessed with all things hyperlocal, online promotion, and producing viral content.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
24 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Marie Sadier
5.0 out of 5 stars I said it was fine. Anyway
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2016
Verified Purchase
That's my photo on the cover. I made the "luther burger" after hearing about it. Posted the photo on Flickr and they asked if they could use it. I said it was fine. Anyway, bacon and glazed donuts go REALLY WELL together, but not as well with the hamburger and cheese.
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Thomas Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Hysterical gift!!
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2009
Verified Purchase
Great gift for the holidays! Good stocking stuffer. Unbelievable that people actually make this stuff and even more unbelievable that people eat it. Disgusting but funny!! Great photos of all the concoctions. Yuk! but loved reading it.
One person found this helpful
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Gaby at Starting Fresh blog
3.0 out of 5 stars This Is Why You're Fat
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2010
This Is Why You're Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks

This Is Why You're Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks by Jessica Amason and Richard Blakeley is a funny and frightening compilation of some of the most decadent, fattening, artery blocking dishes in the United States today and the restaurants and towns that created them.

Here are a few of featured dishes:

the McNugettini - which combines vodka, a chocolate shake, bbq sauce and McDonald's McNuggets;
Twinkie Weiner Sandwich - inspired by a Weird Al Yankovic film, combines a hotdog with a Twinkee with Cheez Whiz;
Turducken - a chicken stuffed into a duck, stuffed into a turkey;
Deep-Fried Coke - do you really need a description?!;
The Elvis Donut - peanut butter-glazed donut topped with bananas and bacon; and
The 29,559 Calorie Sandwich

Many of these dishes are accompanied by their recipes. There are a great deal more mind-boggling dishes and recipes.

Needless to say, none of the dishes have their calories listed, but we can safely assume that any one of them likely surpasses the daily recommended calories for most adult males.

This Is Why You're Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks is a crazy compilation and a sure conversation starter. It's sure to take away your appetite!

ISBN-10: 0061936634
Publisher: HarperStudio; 1 Original edition (October 27, 2009), 144 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
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KMMR
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read... hard to imagine these are foods people actually eat
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2009
Verified Purchase
I purchased this book as a gift but couldn't help reading it before I wrapped it... this has to be the most disgusting book I have flipped through and I couldn't believe that some of the pages contained recipes to actually make these horrid concoctions.

I would say that it's worth looking through... fun to give as a gift... but a heart-attack waiting to happen if you actually ate any of it!
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C. A. Deen
2.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointed
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2010
Verified Purchase
I purchased this item based on the web site [...] , expecting the book to be a reference guide for many of the items on the site. As it turns out, the book is a bit outdated, as many, many of the items on the site are not in the book. In addition, at the very least, I would have expected to see recipes for all the items detailed in the book, but to my surprise it appears that it only has about 1/2 of them detailed and most of these are the extreme meat dishes. Granted, many of the food concoctions can be taken apart based on a picture, but to have a book just showing the same picture with a couple more sentences thrown in for good measure is not what I would have purchased. Finally, the book making quality was a bit off. Within a few minutes of looking through the book, a couple of pages came loose from the binding. I would rather have paid more for a book that offered more detail, than purchase this one.
5 people found this helpful
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Toby Barnes
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2014
Verified Purchase
The food in there looks interesting. But there's no way I'm eating any of it...ever.
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DalTex
5.0 out of 5 stars Good product. No complaints
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2014
Verified Purchase
As described. Good product. No complaints.
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Kate B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Review from The Neverending Shelf
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2009
This is Why You're Fat: Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks is the most disgustingly refreshing novel that I have ever read. The short novel is packed with pages of mouth watering recipes and pictures of items such as Grilled Cheesecake Sandwich and my personal favorite, Deep-Fried Moonpie Burger. While there is not much commentary on the items featured, the tongue-in-cheek novel kept me entertained for hours. This is a book I would definitely recommend if you are in need of a good laugh, even if it is at our own society's expense.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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V. Spensieri
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but not high quality
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2015
Verified Purchase
The book is a fun, quick read. The book itself is quite flimsy. I had pages falling out after a couple read throughs.
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Israel
3.0 out of 5 stars Para unas risas
Reviewed in Spain on June 27, 2013
Verified Purchase
Lo compré orque soy seguidor de su web de la misma temática. Divertido y mas que nada curioso. Como lo compre a traves de Amazon EEUU pagur por el 1,5 €. Por ese precio merece la pena, pero poco más que eso.
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J. Kreutz
5.0 out of 5 stars Da läuft einem das Wasser im Mund zusammen
Reviewed in Germany on March 29, 2013
Verified Purchase
Quasi Epic Mealtime im Buch.

Irgendwie traut man sich nicht die Rezepte nachzukochen, weil man schon Angst hat, am Tisch wegen Herzverfettung zu sterben.
Also eher kein Kochbuch für mich, sondern eher ein Bildband , der neben dem HB-Reiseatlas im Regal steht.
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Kallel
5.0 out of 5 stars Man vs Food
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2014
Verified Purchase
Hahahaha, the real question other than why you need a product review to justify buying this is, why don't you own this?! 4 years later, I still have this book. Will be buying a new one soon as my old is tattered
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