Hoboken Author Releases Book About Jerks (And Heroes Too)

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken-based author Ed Daly says that after overhearing a conversation one night in a bar on a trip to London, he got an idea for his next book: a historical tome about "best and worst people to ever cross the face of the earth."

The author of Cereal: Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture published, in July, "Heroes And Jerks: The Best and Worst Who Ever Lived" ($19.95). He looks at people from two million B.C to today.

Written in easy-to-grasp list form, the dozens of people Daly chose to cite — from world leaders to writers of hated songs — will make for many debates among readers. "Conversation topics in every page," noted one Amazon reviewer.

“In every era," notes a press release, "there have been transcendent individuals who have pushed the world to become a better place. Conversely, humanity has also had its fair share of individuals whose selfishness and malevolence have caused great pain.”

Daly lives in Hoboken with his wife and two sons and has been described as "the world's foremost expert on cereal and the movie Teen Wolf." He has worked as a pizza chef, a busboy, and a Wall Street bond salesman.

He elaborated recently on what led to the book.

"One night, I overheard [in a bar] some guys talking about the movie Die Hard, so my ears perked up," he said. "This led into a discussion about how they believed everything was better in the past — movies, music, cars. It got me thinking about all the changes to the world in the last few decades, both good and bad. And that somehow led to my quest to learn about every era in human history, and all the positive and not so positive along the way."

Daly said he worked on the book, off and on, for about five years.

"I dug into who really impacted the most from every era and why, and learned as much as I could," he said. "I love history — researching was the easy part. The bigger challenge was narrowing down the long list of interesting people to include."

He said he has a hope for the book.

"I hope this book leaves readers feeling optimistic," he said. "It’s easy to look around at the world today and feel overwhelmed or, at the very least, bewildered. While this book discusses just as many jerks as it does heroes, I think it highlights just how far we have come ... we will learn from our past mistakes and stop allowing these people from damaging the world around them. But humans have consistently overcome many obstacles."

He says he plans to continue writing top-ten lists and pieces that look at something serious, with a humorous bent, or something light-hearted with extensive analysis.

You can find the book on Amazon here.

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