Snafu The definitive guide to history's greatest screwups

Comedian Helms debuts with an informative and amusing survey of the American government's wildest mistakes. Adapted from Helms's podcast of the same name, the book sorts errors into eras, beginning with the 1950s and ending in 2021. Some of the SNAFUs are well-known, like the CIA's MKUltra program ("the Greatest Generation's own twisted version of 'fuck around and find out' "). Others are relatively unknown and startlingly weird, like scientists' ill-fated attempt to nuke a portion of the moon in a show of dominance over Soviet Union space pioneers (the plan was abandoned when it was pointed out that the moon would just become a dust cloud--"So anticlimactic"). And some SNAFUs are just unsettling, like multiple attempts made at surveillance by attaching cameras or listening devices to common animals, such as cats and pigeons. With his wry intelligence, Helms makes an ideal guide through these historical blunders; one can picture him in his former role as a Daily Show correspondent, with his eyebrow always raised in conspiratorial disbelief. Bracingly, the book constitutes a call for optimism in the face of the world's apparent unraveling: "We've been here before," Helms reassures, "and we'll get through this, too"--after all, America's "situation normal" is "all fucked up." It's a charming and irreverent alternative history. (Apr.)

Failure is funny--and heartening. Helms' compendium of high-profile miscalculations--from the Beanie Baby bubble to a sunken Soviet submarine--is dotted with wry observations and outright groaners. An offshoot of the comedian-author's popular podcast, this book reflects his hunt for "retroactive comedy," which left him "optimistic" in unstable times: "We've been here before, and we'll get through this, too." The same can't be said of Acoustic Kitty. Under a secret 1960s project by that name, the CIA implanted a microphone in a cat's ear, vainly hoping to eavesdrop on adversaries. According to one agency staffer, the multimillion-dollar project was scrapped when a car hit the first A.K. Cold War technological folly provides Helms with tons more material. A toymaker put uranium in a children's science kit. The U.S. military inadvertently dropped a bomb on South Carolina, fortunately killing no one. "Rich weirdo" Howard Hughes helped the CIA build a huge mechanical claw in a failed effort to scoop a disabled Russian sub off the ocean floor. Expensive mishaps are firmly within Helms' wheelhouse. His look at the "crash" of the Beanie Baby market--relative scarcity ballooned prices for the 1990s toy--features a soap-opera actor who spent $100,000 on "an ill-planned attempt to pay for" college tuition. Another recent mess-up--a failure to convert English measurement units to metric--caused NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter to blow up. "That is so dumb," observed one space expert. Helms' observations are gentler. He quips that a scientist lost the Mars satellite because he'd "forgotten to upgrade his PC to Windows 98." For its part, the Army, he kids, was probably jealous of the Air Force's missiles: "Come onnnnnn. They get all the cool toys." Fortunately, his factual narratives are better than his jokes. A gently humorous survey of bad ideas and unforced errors. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.