The Economist Book of Obituaries

When you do a Google search for 'Economist magazine' you get: "Authoritative weekly newspaper focusing on international politics and business news and opinion." They publish books like China's Stockmarket - A Guide to its Progress, Players & Prospects. Ha! Ha! Just the title makes me laug...snooze. How then to explain the delight that is The Economist Book of Obituaries? I'll just take it as the gift it is. There's a dead parrot on the cover. It reflects the obituary of Alex the African Grey. Parrot. He was apparently to parrots what Koko was to gorillas, a ground breaker in the field of animal communication. And he died! Hence the reportage in the Economist. Obituaries describe their subjects thus: Kurt Waldheim, a diplomat with a selective memory; Bip, the world's quietest clown, died ... older than he seemed; Alistair Cooke, smoother of transatlantic tensions; Rosemary Brown, a musical psychic. Start with the joint obituary of Brooke Astor and Leona Helmsley. So different, yet so alike!

The Economist book of obituaries