Parody Books

The only thing missing was the fact the The Dude claimed to be a roadie for Metallica on the Speed of Sound Tour and the band actually didn't do an album tour for the album.

Enjoy a few caucasians, put on your favorite robe, jelly shoes and your favorite bowling album after watching the movie a couple dozen times and any true fan will enjoy the book as much as the movie.

Duder Out

Is this your homework, Larry? Is this your homework, Larry?

Full of hilarious stories about how the Coen Brothers came up with the idea for the movie. The book is not something I would recommend for anyone who's not already a huge fan of the movie. Watch the movie about 15 times, then buy this book.

I've heard him go on and on about The Big Lebowski, and after watching it with him (and hearing him quote every line in the entire movie!!!) I must admit I loved it. I bought this book as an impromptu gift, and we've laughed along with it for many hours. The 'Achiever Speak' section is hilarious, and the book really is the perfect accompaniment to the film.
A must have for the hard-core Lebowski fan!

all I have to say is, they track down the origin of the whole film. Little Larry's homework.

I was SO looking forward to this book when I ordered it. However, it's more of a novelty book with lots of filler (quizzes etc.). Some of the interviews are interesting. If you're a Big Lebowski fan, and you can find this book used, buy it! However, do NOT pay full price.

Excellent! I start law school in about a month, and have read several law school prep books. Most of them made me want to run away from law school when they weren't boring me to death. The Law School Trip is just the opposite. I couldn't put it down. Every time you turn the page you learn something new, and I literally found myself laughing out loud at least once every chapter. Read it!!!

A must read for all law students.

From the perspective of someone who has just decided to start law school and has been reading some pretty dry law school stuff, this book was great ... very refreshing! McClurg obviously loves his chosen career, but is able to see the humor and irony in legal education and the field of law.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to others who are trying to learn what they're facing when starting law school.

a person does not have any humor tried hard to be humorous.
terrible book, and insane price, double spaced text, only 200 pages and charge for 23 dollars, a bad book, by all means.

Of all the books that I gave my mom to read, this is the only one that caused her to call me and tell me how hard she laughed.

This is one of the funniest books I have ever bought. If you happen to be familiar with The Onion's online news site, you will absolutely love this book. It is filled to the brim with some of the funniest headlines and stories I have ever seen. Such as "Nation's Dog Owners Demand To Know Who's A Good Boy" and "Girlfriend Changes Man Into Someone She's Not Interested In." And even though you know the headlines and stories are fake, it manages to pull you into it's own reality. If you are looking for something to read that will leave you bawling with laughter get this book. You WILL NOT be sorry.

Strange to start a reprint series with number 13. Maybe they'll go back and fill in early year's of the newspaper's run. As it is, you have classic stories about the metric system taking off in the inner city (think 9mm). Rude, flippant stuff and very funny.

A great book. Even the little "news" tidbits they usually have on the front page of their site, in the sidebars that are not archived, are all there.

A slight gripe: most of the articles are spread over two - and sometimes three - pages. These pages are often not adjacent (e.g. article from p.48 is continued on p.50), so you often have to skip all over the place while other articles distract you.

Another gripe is that this is the only complete volume :). We need more!

My friend bought this book last year and we became obsessed. We still quote from it on a daily basis. "You hurt me just now when you hit me with that shovel" and "I bet I wouldn't be laughing so hard if it was me in that fire" top our list, as well as "Your honking has shown me the error of my ways." Our amusement never fades and it is as funny the millionth time as it was the first. Even real newspapers remind us of the Onion, with headlines like "Pretty China Tea Set Just a Fake." The Onion really does hit the nail on the head. Some articles are slightly disturbing, but in a funny, if offensive, way. There are some incredibly blasphemous articles, but if you can take a joke you will be fine.+++

If you love satire, you'll love this book. It is completely sick and wrong, and that is why I love it. I have laughed extremely hard while reading it in the morning over breakfast. It brings that crazy year in a better light.

This is a very entertaining novel on the fake Steve Jobs. It's easy to see Jobso in my mind dong and reacting to each situation in the book. If you like the "Fake Steve Jobs" blog, get the book.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I do wonder how the CEO of a company like Apple can write a book like this and get away with it tho.... Sorry what? Not the real Steve Jobs?! Oh. Well if is all just made up, I guess it's alright.. Would have been better if it were true though. Yeah, so it's OK. Bummed.

FSJ(Danuel Lyons) does an excellent job of mixing the real and the farsical to create a hillarious look at Silicon valley and the geeks folks who work and live there. While the over all effect is enjoyable, the book tends to drag toward the end as he wraps up the story lines. This isn't the funniest book i have ever read but well worth the time.

This book was just too funny! I loved it! And I usually don't read books of this genre, but being a huge Apple fan, I couldn't turn it down. It was a much needed break from my typical genre of Mysteries and Suspense. I highly recommend this book!

For starters, this book has some packaging problems. You'd never know from the wrapper that it was meant to be a novel, rather than (as you might expect, based on the blog) a collection of short essay-like zingers about the tech industry. And while the jacket designer picked the right font (Myriad) the book as a whole suggests not The Steve's aesthetic perfectionism but a cynical make-it-shiny-it'll-sell approach. For goodness' sake, the glue used in this book's binding *smells* terrible. Neither Fake nor Real Steve should have permitted that kind of sloppiness to be attached to his name.

Moving on to substance: this book doesn't have much. The plot, such as it is, is driven by El Jobso's "persecution" by the SEC for options backdating, which causes him to think about dropping out of the industry. This topic is less than gripping, even for Apple cultists. It's dressed up with some enjoyable boardroom backstabbing and we see Steve fire and betray numerous colleagues in amusingly derisory fashion. But the long-form plot you might want from a novel is mostly missing, as the book is written in episodic little nuggets whose connections are sometimes unmotivated. And the Fake Steve character doesn't really develop, beyond the shallowest of eventual revelations (he doesn't really believe he invented the iPod; he worries but then eventually just accepts that he's sociopathically selfish). Meanwhile the novel's other characters are an awkward mix of real names (Jobs loves to get stoned with Larry Ellison, and Hillary Clinton turns out to be kind of mean, ha ha) with fictional and/or fictionalized ones (most of the other Apple staff we meet, the designers and engineers and board members, are composites). You get the feeling some real publishing lawyer told Fake Steve to tone it down at risk of a libel suit, and as a result we're left with a roman a clef whose key doesn't unlock much of interest. Even people who attend WWDC and have read Sculley's autobiography (why would you do that to yourself?) will sometimes be left wondering whether the book is retelling real Apple-history incidents or not.

The zingers you've enjoyed from the blog are here, though less consistently hilarious than you might expect. Sadly, the blog's writing style did not adapt well into the sustained voice you'd expect from a real novel. All the sentences here sound alike: there's little variety of pace or rhythm, and as a result the Jobsian insult-humor punch lines that were the blog's meat and potatoes (ha, vegan joke) instead too often end up as predictable clunkers. The blog is successful partly because it's so topical, with each entry delivering a single point; the book feels meandering and unfocused by comparison.

But you'll still LOL once in a while. There are episodes and moments here as cleverly imagined as anything in the blog, from Jobs prank-calling Sculley to his negotiations with the music industry to his quickly quenched qualms of conscience after visiting a Chinese iPod factory. (Some of this is transcribed verbatim from the blog, in fact, but it's still funny.) It's nice, and sometimes funny, to see the Fake Steve character get a little more room to breathe without having to respond directly to the day's news; just a pity he doesn't have much else to respond to in this awkwardly plotted fake novel.

If you're into politics, you'll enjoy this. If not, most of it will fly right by.

It's amusing but Al Franken is much funnier.

One of the most hilaruous books I have red. It is very up to date and easy to read. The graphics and blue pen handwritten side notes are a real kick.

After the 2004 election, I thought some humor regarding politics was necessary in order to maintain sanity! Andy's one of the best!

All fans of Andy Borowitz's daily online column will enjoy this compact and clever volume. Although the election has passed, and new one is lurking right around the corner and no doubt, the Republican playbook is being dusted off in anticipation. You owe it to yourself to read Andy's comments and also his daily online columns at the Borowitz Report!!

One of the most popular political humor books in recent memory was America (The Book) : A Citizen's Guide to Democratic Inaction, put out by Jon Stewart and others at Comedy Central's The Daily Show. America was a political parody disguised as a civics textbook. Now comes another political parody in disguise, this time as a Republican strategy manual called The Republican Playbook. The book passes itself off as a top-secret manual misplaced by President George W. Bush (complete with "his" doodlings and commentaries within) on how to win elections and political points.

The trick in a book like this is to be over the top enough to be funny, yet just realistic enough to make it look and feel like what is being parodied. America succeeded in this, and so does The Republican Playbook. No opportunity to pick on Republicans is missed, particularly ones from the current administration-but the book offers "forewords" to "previous editions" from other Republican presidents that are equally entertaining. However, the book is seldom so overtaken with anger at the current administration that it loses its sense of humor, and maintains just the hint of plausibility needed to make a book like this work. The book is organized into five "lessons"that concern current political issues such as Iraq. Within these lessons. among the more entertaining sections are "Official Republican Supreme Court Litmus Test","How To Drain All Spontaneity From Your Town Meetings", and "Dr. Frist's Long-Distance Diagnosis of Leading Democrats". As he does in the last of these three, Borowitz is able to take plenty of digs at the Democrats, too. The Republican Playbook is a fun, relatively quick read that is clearly targeted to liberals, but many conservatives should be able to see the humor in it, too. This is one of the more entertaining American political parodies of the past several years. I repeatedly laughed out loud reading it, and other fans of current American politics will, too.

Lovercraftian stories seem to be hit or miss. They either conclude in a clever or chilling twist that leaves you wondering or in an underwhelming way that makes you shrug and move on to the next one. Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos deliver both and generally more hits than misses. Many of the stories are not Lovecraft's own but they certainly match the spirit of their friend and inspiration.

Among the best and most suspenseful stories are Notebook Found in the Deserted House, The Black Stone, Sticks and The Salem Horror. On the other hand, the last story of the collection is not simply bizarre and poorly thought out but nonsensical. As long as you don't mind a dud or two and you're a fan of the genre, this collection is definitely worth your attention.

This was an excellent introduction into the Cthulhu Mythos. As others have noted, this is not all Lovecraft. Regardless, the stories are core to the mythos and very enjoyable. As someone that is very new to the Cthulhu Mythos, I found the book to be great in the story selection.

Well done thou good and faithful servants. Especially you J.K. Potter! Much has been said about the stories and deservedly so, but Potter's "photos" of Lovecraftian creatures are also well worth mentioning.

Lovecraft is of course the master of his own storytelling framework, but some of the other authors have an interesting take on his work. Others are a bit derivative and didn't hold my attention. I love the genre though.

I'm currently writing a novel that draws on the Cthulhu mythos as background material, so it made sense for me to read where others have gone before. James Turner, the editor, has done his job, too: each short story smoothly flows from one to the next; creating a narrative you can actually follow that makes it a pleasure to read the collection. Anyone who has read The Hastur Cycle knows that a good organizer is a rare thing amongst short story compilations, particularly H.P. Lovecraft's, where the ego of the editor often takes precedence over the purpose of the compilation.

H.P. Lovecraft stories hew to a particular formula. Each story begins with a quote, usually fictional, from a deceased protagonist hinting at something awful. Then the story begins in first person; perhaps as a dialogue between the author and the reader, sometimes in an imagined conversation and at other times in narrative format, be it a diary, collection of notes, newspaper clippings, etc. There are many adjectives applied to nouns that aren't normally used in everyday speech; rocks and walls and houses become blasphemous and corrupt. This is only appropriate, since ninety percent of the protagonists are failed horror authors, scoffing at the mundanity of vampires and werewolves. The author explains how he came upon the reality-shredding horrors, often scoffs at his naiveté, and then ultimately reveals a terrible truth at the end of the story. Sometimes the author himself reveals this mind blasting madness, at other times a short footnote indicates what happened to the author (if he died/disappeared as a result of the conclusion). And almost always, there is a statement in the conclusion, highlighted in italics, that reveals the OOGA-BOOGA moment. Some examples:

"...what nameless shapes may even now lurk in the dark places of the world?"
"...the revolting and bestial stone miniature of a hellish monstrosity walking on the winds above the earth!"
"What they really are is fingerprints!"

You get the idea.

Ironically, there's little evidence that Lovecraft himself wrote this way. In fact, the italicized declaration is nowhere in evidence in his own two contributions ("The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Haunter of the Dark"). Which is interesting, because one of the sanity-wrenching insights from this compilation is this: Lovecraft birthed his own style of horror by collaborating. Appending his name to the mythos is missing the point of the whole series.

The first story, The Call of Cthulhu, lays out Lovecraft's style and beliefs (including references to Theosophy). The encounter with Cthluhu is a bit anticlimactic (poor thing gets a boat rammed into his forehead), but certainly there's enough dread and action to make the story interesting. The Return of the Sorcerer, by Clark Ashton Smith, is by far the best of the lot. Smith conveys dread and terror on a very small stage (a house). This short story was also clearly the inspiration for Sam Raimi's Evil Dead, including a headless corpse with a saw and hands that move of their own volition. Ubbo-Sathla, on the other hand, is more of a historical piece that's not very interesting. The Black Stone, by Robert E. Howard (he of Conan fame) makes an admirable attempt at imitating Lovecraft but ultimately falls back on rote scare tactics: cultists sacrificing newborns.

The Hounds of Tindalos, by Frank Belknap Long, is a foray into time travel through drugs. Or a drug trip where someone thinks they're time traveling. Whatever the case, it introduces said Hounds and the concepts of extradimensional spaces. His take on the concept is interesting. Long also contributes The Space-Eaters, about weird tentacled beings that draw out people's brains through their skulls. While the story is fascinating, he seems to have completely missed the point of Lovecraft's uncaring, alien universe: The protagonists make the sign of the cross to ward off the alien monsters. Alien beings neither care nor even perceive human religions, and to prominently place Christianity as being "right" about the nature of the alien threat really saps the spirit of Lovecraft's isolation and madness.

The Dweller in Darkness and Beyond the Threshold, by August Derleth, are suitably creepy and a little wordy, burdened by Derleth's constant struggle to make the Cthulhu Mythos make sense. As usual, Derleth believes that every elemental being has a counterpart, and that by summoning one you defeat the other. All of which is a little too trite and neat for the unknowable horrors of a universe that conforms to no human logic.

Then we have the Robert Blake collection. Blake fawns incessantly over Lovecraft; if there's an overarching flaw amongst these short stories, it's his imitators' insistence that "Lovecraft was right." And not in a subtle way either. Such declarations are usually exclaimed with hysterical laughter, beating the reader over the head again and again that Lovecraft's work was real. To be fair, these authors were largely writing for each other, so what seems overbearing now undoubtedly appeared to be chummy to the authors. Thus, Robert Blake becomes a fictional character named Robert Bloch in the Shambler from the Stars. H.P. Lovecraft's The Haunter of the Dark invents and then kills Blake off; it's also one of the most frightening stories in the series. Imagine being obsessed with a terrible, dark place...and then find yourself sleepwalking there, awaking in the very place that haunts your dreams? Excellent stuff.

Unfortunately, Bloch has to go and mess the creepy narrative up with The Shadow from the Steeple. As a follow up to Lovecraft's story, Bloch unintentionally creates a science fiction spoof. Here, we have a villain who is deeply suntanned...because he invented the atomic bomb! A prophesy speaks of how the "dark One" of which "wild beasts followed him and licked his hands." Far be it for Bloch to use any sort of symbolism; instead, two panthers are released from zoos for the sole purpose of licking the antagonist's hands, just in case we're not sure who he is. This is bad science fiction drek on par with Plan Nine from Outer Space, but because it was a tribute to Lovecraft it's included in this section. Bloch redeems himself with Notebook Found in a Deserted House. Perhaps the inspiration for the original Blair Witch Project, this story is told from the point of view of a child, isolated in the woods with only a few adults. As one by one the adults go missing, a palpable dread comes over our poor narrator, who has nowhere to turn to. Of all the "this is my diary" type stories, this is the most disturbing and effective.

The Salem Horror by Henry Kuttner isn't particularly noteworthy, other than to mix witches with alien horrors, diminishing the horrific qualities of both. And again, the protagonist is another writer looking for the next great horror story. Don't any of these authors use their imaginations and come up with some other profession? The Terror from the Depths, by Fritz Leiber, drags and drags and drags. It's also guilty of the "and then he was dead!" appendix. Not great. Rising With Surtsey, by Brian Lumley, is actually interesting, involving the body swap of a horrible alien wizard and a human. It borders on parody at times (see the alien wizard in human form struggle to use these strange things called...HANDS!) but it's still evocative. Cold Print, by Ramsey Campbell, is barely a coherent story, involving Y'golonac, who feasts on the perverted. But our protagonist isn't practically strong-armed into the bad guy's hands (literally), which makes the story less scary.

The Return of the Lloigor, by Colin Wilson, is dreadfully slow. It involves ancient dragon-like beings that control the dark places of the Earth. It also suffers from the postscript syndrome. "For he was a good and sincere man, and is mourned by innumerable friends." My Boat, by Joanna Russ (the only female contribution to this volume), is wish-fulfillment fantasy, completely out of the context of an uncaring alien world, transforming the mythos into some sort of fairyland. Sticks, by Karl Edward Wagner, is supposedly the original inspiration for the Blair Witch Project (although I prefer Notebook Found in a Deserted House). The strange sticks, creepy house, and weird noises in the forest are all here, but it's written in a disjointed style that muddles the story.

A word about the postscript endings: The reason the ending to the Blair Witch Project worked so well is because the audience, even if for only a moment, believed the story was true. This is the only way to effectively pull off this kind of post-narrative horror. It's entirely possible that readers were more willing to suspend their disbelief when these stories were originally printed, but the very nature of the text printed in a collection of short stories ruins the mood. That's what made The Ring so neat; only at the end of the movie was the audience challenged with the possibility that if the film was actually a recording of true events, thereby implicating the audience in the horror by merely viewing it.

The Freshman, by Philip Jose Farmer, is the culmination of too much navel-gazing from the Lovecraft crowd. Now we have everyone at Miskatonic University involved in some sort of bizarre conspiracy, with a misplaced protagonist transplanted into a story for much younger folks. It didn't feel scary, just awkward. Jerusalem's Lot, by our very own Stephen King, is written in letter format. This quickly gets tiresome, interrupting the flow of the narrative. King closely hews to the Lovecraftian format, including the italicized scare and the postscript about the author. He's certainly written much better.

Finally, we have Richard A. Lupoff's Discovery of the Ghooric Zone. Taking The Freshman's fawning over Lovecraft to a new level, this disjointed story follows Lovecraft's universe well into the future. Unfortunately, it doesn't dwell enough on the characters or the premise, instead throwing in tidbits like the rise of the Deep Ones and other crazy stuff. While it might make for a really interesting setting for a role-playing game, it's not a cohesive short story.

Overall, it becomes very clear that Lovecraft wrote better horror than many of his imitators. The best of this collection find horror in the little things: a house, a child's terror, and the dark steeple of a church. In paying homage to Lovecraft, there was a fine line between paying tribute to his work and unintentionally parodying it. The authors that understood the difference wrote the most interesting stories.

THE GOOD CITIZEN'S HANDBOOK is mildly humorous book that features 1950s era illustrations of upstanding American citizens and corny advice about how to behave properly.

I get that author Jennifer McKnight-Trontz intended this to be a funny read/look but some of the information included here is neither funny nor valuable. Instead it falls flat on its face when trying to rib mid-century American values.

With absurd information about how a good citizen properly does stretching exercises or righteously plants a tree, this book fails to deliver much needed advise for American-born or recently naturalized citizens who appreciate humor and want valuable advice.

If THE GOOD CITIZEN'S HANDBOOK were actually side-splittingly funny, I could live with its lack of good information, but because it is only mildly funny, I find it unfortunate that the book offers so little good advice.

Still if you like those fantastic mid-century line drawing illustrations, THE GOOD CITIZEN'S HANDBOOK is worth a look. Just don't expect anything more than a mildly funny, very small coffee table book that will keep guests amused for only a few minutes.

-- Regina McMenamin

Cynical, sentimental and slick. I gave this to my dad and he thought it was a very sensible book. I found it demonstrates how paranoid we have become - imagine a society where a child could walk into a neighbors house alone and without an invitation? It also an excellent collection of old illustrations.

"The Good Citizen's Handbook: A Guide to Proper Behavior" by Jennifer McKnight-Trontz is book informative, helpful, nostalgic, and a bit funny at times. In any event this book or at least the good items in it should be taught to all children by their parents, and reinforced at school.

Please take note and consider this when reading other Amazon customer reviews:
McKnight-Trontz explains in the introduction that both the information and images in this book were culled from civic textbooks, scouting manuals, government pamphlets and citizenship manuals from the 1920s through the 1960s. See my comments on the illustrations near the end of my review.

There is a lot of good information here and many different viewpoints on what the definition of a good citizen is, and how children and adults can do things that constitute being a good citizen. Some of the information seemed a bit comical to me yet other parts were things that (sadly) I had never discussed with my children before just because it had not occurred to me to discuss them, therefore the book served as a basis for some good discussion. I am happy that I read this to my children and think it could and should be re-read periodically, perhaps a few times per year! I also thought, as I read this, that I was never taught many things in this book when I attended public school in the 1970s and 1980s, as part of social studies/civics (which is a shame). I also think that much of this SHOULD be taught to all children in school. If they can teach sex ed and programs to discourage drug use, then they can and should teach this stuff as well. I also was surprised at the high level of patriotism here. I was surprised that in my public school experience, I did not learn any of this "patriotic attitude" and was surprised that from the 1920s-1960s this stuff was being taught in schools. I think we need a revival of this!

The book is divided into chapters covering different areas we can and should be good citizens in: with ourselves, in the family, at school and work, in the neighborhood, in the community, in our country and in the world. The section about ourselves includes personality traits, behaviors, character traits and values as well as health recommendations such as avoiding infection, how to cough and not spread germs, how to stand with good posture and what to eat. The comical parts are the examples which highlight things that someone thought to be very important such as that a good citizen eats "plenty of meat" which made me wonder if this was from a government publication connected with the USDA. Behaviors such as not talking back, controlling oneself and obeying the law are other high points. A section titled "Your Happy Family" contains good advice:

"The urge to get more and more luxuries consumes many Americans. In the "old days" the members of the family had very little in the way of luxuries or even comforts; they depended mainly on one another to make life happy and interesting. Today, we are more "gadget-minded." We tend to think less of human relations, and more of things that we and buy and use, often to impress other people. This has had its effect in weakening the home.
Think less of what the "Joneses" are doing or buying, and more about how to have a good time with your family without spending money. Think about what really makes you and your family happy-important things such as each other's company, a good story, exercise, and learning."

I loved that section!

The section on school and work includes what we now call "anti-bullying" advice: play fair, play with "the laws of clean play" which includes not cheating. I grinned at some of the phrasing such as "Clean play increases and train's one's strength, and helps one to be more useful to one's country" and goes on to make a few recommendations about being a good loser or a generous winner and to treat opponents with politeness. It seems to me all children should hear all the information in this book.

Regarding social ills, the section on community includes a page encouraging the avoidance of being a drunkard and warns "alcoholism means death to the nation". I am not faulting the book but will mention that missing from the book due to the fact that such things were not discussed in the 1920s to 1960s are warnings against cigarette smoking, illegal drug use, other unhealthy acts such as sniffing glue, and sex issues and warnings of sexually transmitted diseases.

The section on our country contains information about voting, jury duty, how to write our legislators and politicians to voice our concerns, and recommending that we be happy to pay our taxes. The patriotism level here is high!

In response to the negative reviews which some claimed was due to non-inclusion of non-white people in the illustrations: I want to state here that this is false. Images of black Americans are rare but not totally (see pages 54, 100 and 103). People of other cultures are discussed on the "good citizenship in the world" section and show Asian people on pages 130, 131, and 136. However we should all note as described in the introduction, that this author was really an editor and the text and illustrations were taken from other sources dating back to the 1920s through the 1960s. The fact that the textbooks and government documents used primarily Caucasians in the illustrations should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with American history. Take this for what it is worth. This book was published in 2001 using old information. There is no reason to slight the author or the book for not writing in modern terms or addressing modern issues or showing people of all ethnicities.

The Good Citizen's Handbook is a hilarious throw-back to the ideals of a bygone era--the 1920's through 1960's. McKnight-Tronz has created a visually appealing look at "good citizenship" as preached by olden days civic texts, citizenship manuals, government pamphlets, and scouting manuals. It's no surprise that this book has gotten some negative reviews for racism (no illustrations with anyone other than Caucasians), sexism (women belong in the house, doing chores), and the like.

Is this a satire or a book telling us to go back to good old-fashioned values? McKnight-Trontz seems to leave that up to the reader for interpretation. Some passages seems to be included purely for their laugh factor, but many others harken back to values that young people of today could use. Enjoy this book in whatever light it reaches you, and make sure the children of today get a taste of older wisdom.

Do any of you people realize that this is suposed to be funny, poking fun at these images and ideas? Lighten up. Just like teh book "Hang in There" it is supposed to be FUNNY. Get with it.

sat·ire
n.

A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
The branch of literature constituting such works. See Synonyms at caricature.
Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity.

A fun, easy-to-read look at life in Minnesota and how to get along when visiting or moving there. It does leave one questioning the accuracy of all the author has written as most of seems more "tongue in cheek" than real. So, if you are looking for some chuckles reading about the idiosyncrasies of living, traveling, visiting, and dining in Minnesota, this is a good start; but, don't consider it a genuine travel guide.

This will make most people laugh at least a little at some of the ridiculous truths about folks from Minnisota.
Being from the north and somewhat west (Rochester NY) I know people just like the ones this audio describes and can relate to how they act and how they interact with one another. Like the advice one guy gives to another vs. the advice one guy gives to a gal. Check out the "If a guy..." sketch its hilarious. Or the description of "A little lunch" neither little nor at lunch. Usually served with a "hot dish" which typically requires mixing in a can of mushroom soup.
After hearing this I'm ready to venture into the wilds of Minnisota.

I literally laughed out loud, constantly. I have relatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin, whom I visit often, which probably helps. I could just picture and hear the descriptions and dialogue. This book is perfect for the coffee table in our cabin "Up Nort".

This book is a classic! My husband is from a rural midwestern town and the section on waving etiquette is so true.

Hot dishes, walleyes, how to wave, pancake feeds, and appropriate Minnesotan grammar, it's all there even though my relatives in Minnesota would beg to differ. "So, what gave you the idea that we talk like that then." How to Talk Minnesotan is one of those type deals you can pick up, open to any page and have a good laugh while feeling as though you're right there in Bemidji. Yeah, good deal. You could do worse.

This is a great way to learn how to communicate with the 'red-neck in your family or neighborhood.

For us rednecks this word is way too big. But I can't think of what else to call it. Jeff Foxworthy's three Redneck Dictionaries are full of "morphophonemic alterations."
On the other hand, we don't need to actually know the techincal definition to enjoy them.

Brandon Simpson

I bought this for my grandson as a Christmas gift, so I am not able to tell you much about the book. My grandson did ask for this book and was very happy to recieve it.

Pure clean belly-laughing fun. Great for a party warmer or to kill an hour of bordom.

My 11 year old son loves the redneck words and he makes them up all the time but some of the definitions are racey so I went throught it first and used white out! Worked for us! Funny material! We are definatly red necks!

This book is written as a funny joke. The dress is awful and I thought it was funny when she wore it in different situations. Some of the people who didn't like it sound like they were uptight brides who were worried their bridesmaid didn't like the dress they picked out. If one of my bridesmaids wore her dress to get her driver's license picture taken, I'd laugh (...) off.

There isn't much (if any) real advice for what to do with a bridesmaid dress, so if you are looking for such a book, you might not like it.

I bought this book for one of my bridesmaids, in whose wedding I was also a bridesmaid. She kept assuring us that we would be able to "wear that dress again," so when it was my turn I thought this would be a funny gift for her at the rehearsal dinner. The book is not quite what I was expecting. I thought the pictures would illustrate the funny suggestions, but the pictures were just wierd. They were just pictures in the dress in different places, not what I had in mind, but it was too late to return it and order another.

I'm sure I'll get more of a reaction after giving my bridesmaids this book than after they open the jewelry I'm also giving them.

This is hilariously funny and I would recommend that any bride with a sense of humor consider giving it to their bridesmaids along with the more "traditional" gifts.

I gave this book to my bridesmaids, along with a more traditional gift. The two who had already been in 5 or more weddings loved it! They both have the closet full of pouffy tafetta and chiffon in a rainbow of colors they didn't look so great in and will NEVER wear again. I tried to keep the dress I chose for them simple and not "bridesmaidy" but if they will never want to wear it again, at least this book will give them ideas of what they can do with it. A fun gift for your bridesmaids and to keep the bride in touch with the fact that no matter what she thinks, her bridesmaids will more than likely not like the dress she chooses. But at least now, they have recycling options.

This gift was the most popular that I gave my bridesmaids. From the start of my wedding planning, I knew that they would never wear the dresses again. So, I picked the most affordable dress that I liked and admitted right up front that I knew that they would never wear it again. (Coming from someone with about 5 bridesmaids dresses hidden in my parent's home.) At the rehearsal dinner, I gave the girls this book along with jewelry to wear at the wedding. They loved the book! The girls kept laughing and pointing out some of the unusual places that the author wore the dress. It certainly helped everyone put a smile on their face and relax before the wedding. :)