The Internet is a Playground

Starred review from May 2, 2011
Hailed as a humorist for the digital age, Australian graphic designer Thorne (www.27bslash6.com) became an internet sensation after posting e-mail correspondences in which he attempted to pay his chiropractic bill with a crude drawing of a spider. Thorne's first book is a laugh-out-loud collection of his e-mail exchanges and satirical essays. As a rule, Thorne says he never initiates an e-mail; he just responds "stupidly" to what he receives. The book includes the biting "Please Design a Logo For Me. With Pie Charts. For Free," considered one of the most-forwarded e-mails of all time, as well as "Missing Missy," in which Thorne designs a poster to help a friend find her missing cat; he has great funâat his friend's expense. The book reads as if The Onion published Letters From a Nut, but some of Thorn's anticsâsuch as inviting himself to a neighbor's housewarming partyâwill make readers squirm. Others may offend ("Sponsor a Poor Black Boy"), or shock ("Belly Messages," in which Thorne pretends to be a horny woman on the Internet). Thorne's electronic voice is pointed, effective, and childishly exuberant, a bracing mix. His sense of humor could be called immature, but some people just want to have fun; Thorne does so at everyone else's expense. Illus.