100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

πŸŽ‰ Meet Toy Hero - our brand-new toy store, built by the team behind Book Hero

The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures

3.76 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 361 ratings, 34 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile celebrates the art of spectacular failure with wit and originality. The book presents 235 hilarious stories of colossal blunders from around the globe, showcasing those who transform simple tasks into extraordinary disasters. From the Outer Hebrides to America and beyond, it highlights the shining immortals of getting it wrong, including a Syrian driver who set a world record for getting lost under Sat-nav guidance.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3299
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is perfect for readers who enjoy humour, particularly those who appreciate absurd and inventive stories about human folly. Fans of lighthearted collections and those who like to laugh at the unexpected will find it thoroughly entertaining.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Celebrate the very best in failure with this all new collection of outrageously funny misadventures from the author of the classic number one bestseller The Book of Heroic Failures.

With Stephen Pile's The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures, celebrate the very best in failure with this all new collection of outrageously funny misadventures from the author of the classic number one bestseller The Book of Heroic Failures.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Anyone can be a success, but it takes real and original genius to foul up big time. These are the all-time greats, Gods in our field of study, surreal artists, who spurn mere drab success to explore the vast, magical, life-enhancing possibilities of getting it wrong. Any of us could make a mistake, but these great souls can turn the simplest everyday task into a scene of jaw-dropping wonder. These are the immortals.

Stephen Pile, President of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain and author of the number-one bestseller The Book of Heroic Failures, takes us on an all-new and mind-bendingly hilarious tour to celebrate the most spectacular and absurd failures of the last twenty-five years.

Failure is everywhere. There are 235 stories in total spread from the Outer Hebrides to America, Ireland, Australia, Europe and Africa. The Syrian entry, for example, holds the world all-comers record as the driver who got most lost under Sat-nav direction (5000 miles).

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780571277315

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 October 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 200.0mm

Weight: 240g

Pages: 304

About the Author

Stephen Pile was a journalist for far too long and is the author of The Book of Heroic Failures. He is also the Founder and President of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain and was the Artistic Director of the First International Nether Wallop Arts festival in 1984, which came about by accident. The next week Stephen met his wife, had three children, became a television critic for 14 years and hasn't been out of the house since, which is why Britain looks so strange and changed.

Also by Stephen Pile

View all
  • The Not Terribly Good Book of Heroic Failures
    All successful people are the same (you know, drive, will to win, determination) β€” it's just too dull to contemplate. But everyone who messes up big time does so in a way that is completely individual. Step forward the fifty Mexican convicts who dug an escape tunnel out of their jail and came up in the courtroom before the judge...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Humour

View all
  • Me vs Brain
    The hilarious book from TikTok and Insta sensation, Hayley Morris Brain - No one's going to buy your book Me - But it's good! My editor says so! Brain - Well she would, wouldn't she... Btw, didn't you leave your hair straighteners on? Me - I can't get into this now, I've got a book description to write Hello! Hayley...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • What A Way To Go
    The Million Copy #1 Bestselling Author of How to Kill Your Family is back with the new book of the moment. Featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Sunday Times Style, You Magazine… 'Super-sharp, lethally witty' - NIGELLA LAWSON 'Delicious' - JOJO MOYES 'Very funny… I inhaled it' - JOE LYCETT β€˜Taut, pacy, seamless… a huge pleasure to read’ - MARIAN KEYES β€˜I...
    Paperback
    $3699
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Murdoku
    Place the suspects, reveal the killer! An innovative puzzle book that incorporates murder mysteries with sudoku-like logic. An addictive mix of cosy crime and colourful grid logic puzzles. These visually appealing, addictive puzzles drop solvers into immersive mini murder mysteries, combining the elegant simplicity of games like sudoku with the storytelling of classic logic problems. But Murdoku introduces its own...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Minute Cryptic
    Welcome to your brand-new wordplay obsession. From the creators of the hugely popular online puzzle platform, Minute Cryptic, comes this step-by-step guide to solving cryptic crosswords. With over 160 different clues for you to solve, each chapter takes you through a different wordplay concept essential for unlocking cryptic crossword clues. As you complete the book, you'll build your skills and...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Elsewhere:
    $3600
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Detective Beans and the Map of Mystery
    Enjoy this new DETECTIVE BEANS adventure in the bestselling and award-winning graphic novel series by Li Chen! Your favourite kitten detective is back with a new mystery to solve . . . and treasure to find! When Captain Scuttlebeard gives Beans a treasure map, Beans is determined to find the prize at the end. The clues take him all over...
    By Li Chen
    Paperback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2200
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Gate of the Feral Gods
    The fourth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that's talent. Surviving in a multilevel dungeon that also happens to be the set of the galaxy's most watched game show has taught Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess...
    Hardback
    $6000
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people β€” but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Kitchen Confidential
    The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations: 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Irvine Welsh. BEFORE THERE WAS THE BEAR, THERE WAS BOURDAIN. β€˜Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino’ β€” A.A. Gill β€˜Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli’ β€” Daily Telegraph After twenty-five years of sex,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Game On
    Book three in the No.1 New York Times bestselling Into Darkness series,following the dark rom-com sensations Lights Out and Caught Up. The game ison for these enemies-to-lovers with laugh-out-loud banter and scorching-hotbrat play. I hate that woman. Tyler Neumann has spent years looking for his father, and not because he wants to meetthe man. No, he wants to destroy him....
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Women's Prize Winner
    The Correspondent
    84 Charing Cross Road meets A Man Called Ove in this heartwarming, witty story about the life of an extraordinary woman, told through her letters. In her letters to family and friends, we come to know the life of Sybil Van Antwerpβ€”stubborn, cantankerous, opinionated, always steadfast in her belief in the power of the written word. But as the clock...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3700
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Pumpkin Spice CafΓ© (Deluxe Edition)
    The first book of the viral Dream Harbor series by #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author Laurie Gilmore! 🍁 TikTok Made Me Buy It – Winner of the TikTok Shop Book of the Year 2024, Sunday Times and USA Today bestseller. As seen on Good Morning America! 🍁🍁🍁🍁 When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice...
    Hardback
    $3499
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
    The sixth book in the explosive LitRPG Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Chaos reigns on the eighth floor. Coast Guard vet Carl and Princess Donut have survived longerβ€”and climbed higherβ€”than anyone expected in the galaxy's favourite reality show, but now the game is wide open. The task: capture six monsters and turn them into battle cards. The stronger the creature, the...
    Hardback
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.