Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation , also abbreviated to Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation , is a non-fiction book about The Simpsons , written by Chris Turner and originally published on October 12, 2004 by Random House . The book is partly a memoir and an exploration of the impact The Simpsons has had on popular culture.
14-430: Planet Simpson was written by Canadian author Chris Turner , who is a big fan of The Simpsons , although "not even the biggest fan I know personally ... I think I am actually a pretty average hardcore fan. What I brought to it was a sense that because the show is as well put together as it is, it really offers a wide lens for looking at culture generally." Turner notes: "I can count on The Simpsons to provide me with
28-465: A long time because I highly doubt we'll see such a melding of a stellar pop culture icon ( The Simpsons ) and eloquent cultural critic (Turner) again for a long time." Kevin Jackson of The Times gave a largely negative review of the book. While feeling Turner's knowledge of the show was vast and finding much of the initial "less well-known aspects of Simpsonian pre-history" interesting, he overall felt
42-403: A solid thirty minutes of truth, of righteous anger, of hypocrisies deflated and injustices revealed, of belly laughter and joy. It is food for my soul. Seriously. I think many Simpsons fans would agree. And that, as far as I'm concerned, makes it a kind of religion," he explains in the book. He had previously written an essay during his time at Shift entitled "The Simpsons Generation", which
56-1194: Is a Canadian journalist and author. Turner was born in Moose Jaw , Saskatchewan , where his father, a fighter pilot, was stationed with the Canadian military . As a military brat , he lived in the Canadian North, the American Midwest, and Germany. He graduated from Queen's University , in Kingston, Ontario, in 1996 with an honours Bachelor of Arts in history. He also holds a journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnic University , Toronto (1998). While at Ryerson, he completed an editorial internship at Shift magazine. Following graduation from Ryerson, Turner reported on culture and technology for Shift from 1998 to 2003. His writing has also appeared in, The Walrus , The New Yorker , The Globe and Mail , The Independent , The Sunday Times , Time , The Guardian , Utne Reader , Adbusters and The South China Morning Post . Turner
70-710: The 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence, the highest honour in Canadian magazine writing. In 2023 he won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his book How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World . Turner ran as the Green Party candidate for the Calgary Centre federal by-election held on November 26, 2012. Ryerson Polytechnic University Too Many Requests If you report this error to
84-609: The Governor General's Literary Award and the National Business Book Award and was listed on the Globe and Mail ' s 2007 " Globe 100" list of the best books of the year. Turner's magazine writing has earned him nine Canadian National Magazine Awards, including the 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence (the highest honour in Canadian magazine writing). Books written by Turner include
98-441: The book at the bookstore because it is about The Simpsons and assume that it is "little more than a laugh-along-with-me book with lots of pictures and funny quotes." Gloade commented that this is "not the case. I laughed out loud regularly at the many Simpsons quotes, but that's only a small part of the total package." He concluded that Planet Simpson is an "enjoyable reading experience, one that will likely be matchless still for
112-433: The book was " sui generis ," and its "combination of motor-mouthed omniscience and voluminous footnotes is reminiscent of a certain style of highbrow writing about pop music." Curtis Gloade of The Record described the book as "almost 500 pages of this sort of meticulous, clear, and I believe, accurate rhetoric. It kept me nodding in agreement throughout. And laughing, too." He also wrote that he hopes people will not skip by
126-543: The book was mostly "flimflam and filler" and criticised Turner's "gee-whiz prose and occasional lapses into plain old illiteracy" and ultimately failed to achieve the analytical goal Turner set: "It would take wit as keen and literary flair as supple as [the show's writers] to do justice to the show, and Turner is gifted with neither: he may think like Lisa , but he writes more like the Comic Book Guy ." Chris Turner (author) Chris Turner (born July 25, 1973)
140-610: The first chapter includes a look at the author's Top 5 episodes. Turner lists " Last Exit to Springfield " as his favourite episode. The other four episodes ordered by airdate: " Marge vs. the Monorail ", " Rosebud ", " Deep Space Homer " and " El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) ". Christopher Hirst of The Independent felt the book would largely appeal to fans of The Simpsons who would enjoy "Turner's critical intelligence and social awareness," while "non-fans will see 470 pages of geeky raving." He felt
154-715: The following: The Leap was a finalist for the 2012 National Business Book Award and longlisted for the BC National Award for Canadian Nonfiction. The Geography of Hope was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction, the National Business Book Award and the Alberta Literary Award for Nonfiction. Turner has received seven Canadian National Magazine Awards for his work in Shift , The Walrus and Alberta Views . His essay "Why Technology Is Failing Us (And How We Can Fix It)", won
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#1732791509876168-422: Was syndicated across North America. Turner wrote Planet Simpson because there had not been a book that had looked at the "genesis, past, characters and influence" of the show, only official episode guides or academic pieces. Planet Simpson examines the show's satirical humor and its impact on pop culture. It also looks at numerous episodes of the show. It features a foreword by Douglas Coupland . The end of
182-590: Was the writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City , Yukon. Turner lives in Calgary , Alberta , with his wife, the photographer Ashley Bristowe, and two children. Turner's works include the bestselling Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation , published in 2004, and Geography of Hope: A Guided Tour of the World We Need , which was nominated for
196-663: Was the recipient of a Fleck Fellowship at the Banff Centre in 2010. In 2009 he co-founded CivicCamp in Calgary. He was featured speaker for the Deakin Innovation Lectures in Melbourne , Australia, in 2008. He has given keynote addresses or lectures at thirteen university campuses, four literary festivals and approximately thirty major professional and industrial conferences nationwide. In 2013 Turner
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