Bluffer's Guides

The Bluffer's Guides are a collection of humorous pocket-sized guidebooks, written by experts and offering readers the opportunity to pass off appropriated knowledge as their own on a variety of subjects. The series has sold five million copies worldwide.[1]

History

The Nebraska-based publishing company responsible for Cliffs Notes, those slim volumes of McLiterature sandwiched between yellow-and-black striped covers, has issued a post-graduate reading list called Bluffer's Guides.

The books are designed to teach readers how to wing it through situations or conversations they know little about - like sex, marketing or the great outdoors.

For $3.95 and no more than 80 pages, the authors skim information off the top of a total of 25 subjects and present it in irreverent, easy-to-read language.

Julie Bonnin in the Austin American-Statesman, 1991[2]

The guides were published between 1965 and 1975 in England, where four million copies of 16 books in the series were purchased.[3] Peter Wolfe, the series' first publisher, sold its publication rights to Anne Taute, a second British publisher. Doug Lincoln, a CliffNotes vice president, discovered the guides while strolling through the Frankfurt Book Fair. He saw a throng of viewers looking at the Bluffer's Guides. Wolfe entered into an agreement with Taute to publish the guides in the United States under the CliffNotes brand.[3]

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Terry Lee Goodrich wrote that the Bluffer's Guides have been referred to as the CliffsNotes of life. The books in the series are roughly 60 percent humor and 40 percent truth, Goodrich wrote.[4]

In 2014, the then publishing group nominated British media personality Katie Hopkins as the first recipient of their "Dishonours list", to recognise bad behaviour and etiquette. Company representative Thomas Drewry said, "There isn't a single person in the UK who Katie Hopkins hasn't offended this year".[1][5]

In 2018, the Bluffer's Guide series was acquired by Haynes.[6]

List of books and authors
  • Daniel Hudson, author of The Bluffer's Guide to the Cosmos. [7]
  • Francis Coleman, author of The Bluffer's Guides to Ballet and Opera.
  • William Hanson, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Etiquette.
  • André Launay, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Antiques.
  • Peter Clayton, co-author of The Bluffer's Guide to Jazz.
  • Ross Leckie, author of The Bluffer's Guide to the Classics.
  • Thomas V. Morris, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Philosophy.
  • Michael Toner, author of The Bluffer’s Guide to the EU.
  • Boris Starling, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Brexit.
  • Jonathan Goodall, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Beer.
  • Susie Boniface, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Journalism.
  • Keith Hann, author of The Bluffer's Guide to Opera.

References
  1. "Exeter's Katie Hopkins tops inaugural Dishonours List". Exeter Express and Echo. 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. Bonnin, Julie (1991-06-21). "Pure bluff - Background books are Cliffs Notes for conversationalists". Austin American-Statesman.
  3. O'Connell, Loraine (1991-09-11). "Thin Slices Of Expertise: 'Bluffer's Guides' Offer Just Enough Tongue-in-cheek Information For You To Get By On Without Ever Actually Knowing Anything About He Subject". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2015-03-04.
  4. Goodrich, Terry Lee (1991-12-14). "'Bluffer's Guides' in time for holiday parties". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 2015-03-04 – via Google News Archive.
  5. "West country TV presenter Katie Hopkins, Justin Bieber and Jeremy Clarkson among most offensive people of 2014". Bath Chronicle. 21 December 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  6. "Brexit leads new Bluffer's series | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  7. "Daniel Hudon's the Bluffer's Guide to the Cosmos". 8 September 2009.
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