“The Little Handbook for Navigationally Challenged Cidiots”
Reviewed By: Avraham Azrieli
Avraham Azrieli writes books and screenplays. His website is: www.AzrieliBooks.com

“The Little Handbook for Navigationally Challenged Cidiots” by G. Head (Author), D.C. Head (Contributor), Ken Head (Contributor), and S.V. Head (Contributor) is a supremely funny book of remarkably clever observations on today’s driving habits.

While we rarely find our review to agree with the publisher’s description of a book, in this case, we do. Here’s the one from Amazon:

“Filled with hundreds of common driving offenses, this gut-wrenching funny handbook features hilariously, jaw dropping terms and phrases describing some of the nastiest driving habits you or another cidiot have engaged in almost every day on the highways and byways. Inside, you’ll find “The Motor Mouth Motorist” who suffers from road rage, “The Para Lane Bluffer” who can’t decide if they want to merge with oncoming traffic until the last second, “The Eye Shadow Bandit” who thinks she’s skilled enough to drive at high speeds while applying makeup in the car mirror, and many more epic adventures of daily cidiot driving habits that are far too many to list here. Whether you’re the culprit or the victim of cidiot driving, The Little Handbook for Navigationally Challenged Cidiots will have you laughing, pouring tears, and showing off your enriched cidiot vocabulary.”

If anything, the above description is an understatement. And if you’re wondering (wisely) whether the book provides a definition of “Cidiots,” you’re in luck. Not only is there a definition, but there’s also a short quiz to test yourself (in confidence) whether you are one of those cidiots (and to what degree: a major cidiot, a borderline cidiot, or a future victim of a cidiot). Here’s one of the questions, for example:

“The railroad bucks are coming down due to a train approaching in the distance. You would: a. Stop and wait patiently for the train to pass. b. Make a u-turn and try to find another street or route to avoid waiting for the train to pass. c. Attempt to beat the train by speeding around the railroad bucks.”

In fact, we found the quiz by itself to provide enough laughter, insights (and shame) to make it worth buying the whole book.

What distinguish “The Little Handbook for Navigationally Challenged Cidiots” is its uncanny observations of odd, obnoxious, selfish, and outright stupid behavior every driver and passenger witnesses every time they venture onto the roadways. Not one section could be read without recognizing a familiar and memorable ‘cidiotic’ moment that could have ended with clashing metal and agonized screams, or at the very least, a juicy expletive. We especially enjoyed the authors’ marvelous ability to attach titles to the cidiots by their particular habits, such as “The Inner-Laners” (going straight from the left-turn-only lane), or “The Arrogant Knights” (dropping off passengers while blocking all three lanes of traffic), just to give you a taste.

In summary, “The Little Handbook for Navigationally Challenged Cidiots” is an absolute riot: hilarious, brilliant, and outright indispensable for both drivers and their unwitting passengers, as well as for surviving pedestrians and public-transportation loyalists who mistakenly believe that their mode of travel is safer. In fact, any reader who has ever been in a moving vehicle (or plans to risk it in the future) would laugh out loud, keep turning the pages, and quote sections to family and friends. Highly recommended!