From the New York Times bestselling author of Texts from Jane Eyre, co-founder of The Toast, and writer of Slate’s “Dear Prudence” column, an intelligent and hilarious essay collection of cultural observations ranging about popular culture – from the endearingly popular to the confoundingly obscure.

Sometimes you just have to yell; Ortberg has mastered the art of “poetic yelling,” a genre surely familiar to fans of his cult-favorite website The Toast. In this irreverent essay collection, Ortberg expands on this concept with in-depth and hilarious studies of all things pop culture, from the high to low brow. From a thoughtful analysis on the beauty of William Shatner to a sinister reimagining of HGTV’s House Hunters, Something That May Shock and Discredit You is a laugh-out-loud funny and whip-smart collection for those who don’t take anything-including themselves-much too seriously. Some chapter titles include: “Poems Should Be about Your Friend at Oxford Who Drowned,” “I Think Seagulls are Probably Pigeons’ Shift Supervisors,” “Something Nice Happens to Oedipus,” and “No One Understands Henry VIII Like I Do.”