The Book of Heroic Failures
Encyclopedia
Teruo Nakamura
Private was a Taiwan-born soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought for Japan in World War II and did not surrender until 1974.His name in his native language appears to have been Attun Palalin...
, a soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
who fought for Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
until 1974.
The original edition included an application to become a member of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain; however, this was taken out in later editions because the club received over 30,000 applications and closed on the grounds that it was "a failure as a failure." The American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
version of the book was misprinted by the publishers, who left out half the introduction. As a consequence, later versions of the book came out with an erratum
Erratum
An erratum or corrigendum is a correction of a book. An erratum is most commonly issued shortly after its original text is published. Patches to security issues in a computer program are also sometimes called errata. As a general rule, publishers issue an erratum for a production error An erratum...
slip longer than the entire introduction. In his second book, The Return of Heroic Failures, Stephen Pile reports that Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese pirates
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
were not aware of this and did not include the erratum slip.
His second book came out in Greece in 1992 although his first one had never been published. In fact, his second book was named "Η ΤΕΧΝΗ ΤΗΣ ΑΠΟΤΥΧΙΑΣ No1". A small erratum slip in the book itself explains that it was a mistake. In an interview with English Radio DJ Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall (journalist)
Andrew Marshall is a Journalist and Radio DJ from Britain, who has worked for both the BBC and ILR stations. In the 1980s he made shows for Radio Mercury, which included Andrew Marshall Meets The Stars, a Sunday afternoon show which usually would feature an interview with at least one famous person...
, Pile said, "The Book is one of the least successful books ever issued in the USA, I don't think it has reached double figures there as yet and long may that remain the case."
In 1999 Penguin made the decision to re-publish the book as part of their "Penguin Readers" series to encourage reading from a young age, although many critics consider this edition to be a "watered-down" version of the original, lacking its wit and humour.