The Darwin Awards

If you're tickled by the spectacle of a man who electrocuted fish with household current, then waded in to harvest his catch without removing the wire, this bestseller will have you in stitches. These are true stories of those who yanked themselves out of the gene pool and therefore, supposedly, improved the species. For mortally foolish acts, they win an award: The Darwin. The production is first-rate. Jason Harris is almost laughing himself as he reads; the musical interludes punctuate without intruding. I chortled, but couldn't quite shake the suspicion that luck, more than genius, has kept me out of the running. B.H.C. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine