Hell in a handcart? Nah. We're plunging into the abyss in a leaky bin bag. Thanks to global warming, we'll drown, fry or starve. Before that, if we're lucky, an asteroid will pound us into star dust, the next pandemic uber-virus will have the whole human race singing 'Goodnight Vienna', one of the madmen running the planet will press the button that says BANG, or we'll all become slave drones for a super-race of intelligent robots. The future's looking dandy, then. And it's never been any better. From the Emperors who slaughtered whole cities, to the artists whose most creative work was their own suicide, from the wiped-out species to the burned books, the massive swindles to the official f*ck-ups and the cretinous quotes of those utter cu ... curmudgeons in charge, our world has always been a festering dung heap. Sure, go ahead, cry about it. Or take this medley of melancholia-inducing malfeasance and turn it into a fun activity for families and groups of friends. That's right. Over 400 pages of quiz and picture rounds, puzzles and anagrams devoted to the very worst aspects of existence. Abject misery, or Abject Quizzery? It's the only choice you've got. AUTHOR: Karl Shaw was a journalist for several years before working in the advertising industry and in marketing (at one time for the country's largest manufacturer of stool sample jars). He currently lives in North Staffordshire, England, where he has channelled a misdirected education into several books including Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty and 10 Ways To Recycle A Corpse.