On The Offensive

This book in no way endorses a belief in racism,'' states the epigraph of ego trip's Big Book of Racism! (ReganBooks, $22.95). ''We just hate everybody.'' The savagely funny, no-epithets-barred collection of lists and essays goes on to skewer every color of the rainbow, while mixing enough history and data to fill an almanac.

Denny's is mentioned about half a dozen times in the book, so when we asked the five authors (Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Chairman Jefferson Mao, Gabriel Alvarez, and Brent Rollins) to lunch, the chain -- famous for its ''Moons Over My Hammy'' and once infamous for its alleged racist practices -- seemed an apt spot.

The diverse quintet of hip-hop journalists (two blacks, one Latino, one Asian, and one black/Asian) -- who were promptly seated and served, thank you very much -- first collaborated on the subversive mid-'90s rap magazine ego trip. In 1999, they published ego trip's Book of Rap Lists, with entries like ''Rap Artists Who've Survived Shootings'' and ''8 Songs About Body Odor.''

In the Big Book of Racism! the authors, who've spent much of the last two years compiling the lively 292-page tome, again demonstrate their knack for sharp, funny lists (''10 Items Found in Every Asian Home Not Worth Stealing''; ''10 Reasons Black People Love God So Goddang Much''). Just as impressive is their encyclopedic knowledge of popular culture, which they use to examine bigotry in everything from sports and music to videogames and Saturday-morning cartoons. The results are unerringly smart, witty, balanced -- and surprisingly educational. In fact, the back cover recommends that booksellers place it in the ''Race Relations'' section.

''We're making the antiacademic academic book,'' says Alvarez. Jenkins adds, ''You don't have to have an M.B.A. -- or be in the NBA -- to understand where we're coming from.''

''But,'' says Rollins, ''the book is faaaaan-tastic!''