Customer Reviews

Accidental Playboy: Caught in the Ultimate Male Fantasy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Everyone straight male in his 30s will get this book. And every woman will be so amazed (and happy) about what they learn. What a talented, hilarious, loveable guy (and writer). As clever as Dave Eggers or Woody Allen, but much more... more sweet, or honest, or real -- something.

I found this book in the political figures section of audible.com and downloaded it on a whim. It turns out to be the most entertaining piece of non-fiction that I have read/heard in a long time.
Leif Ueland, fearless reporter, begins the 1999 search for the millenium playmate very tentatively and is hesitant to dive into the playboy culture. As the bus trip/search progresses, he becomes more bold and lives out a handful of his own "Hef-scapades". Leif Ueland offers an incredibly insightful and sensitive perspective of the millenium playmate search and the Playboy corporate culture. The book is reminiscent of Hunter S Thompson trips but with a 90's flair.

I actually just finished listening to this book from Audible.com, and I jumped on Amazon to buy copies for people I know...which I am normally hesitant to do-push copies of something I have read onto others. But this book is surprising...an insight into a world that is not normally avaiable to most of us...and funny...because this is not the "typical" male response you would expect in light of seeing scads of women naked and often available. As a woman, I thought that it was kind of liberating, and as an avid reader of Playboy, a fun "backstage" view of part of that mystical world. Leif is undoubtedly on the fringes of the Playboy world, but gives a unique perspective on the human condition, as it relates to gender and sexuality. An easy, must read for many!

I just finished this hilarious book, Accidental Playboy. I purchased the book to give to my boyfriend for X-Mas, knowing he would love it. Unfortunetly, I randomly opened to page 5, my eyes focusing on a line that I don't think I can repeat here. I only put it down to sleep and eat. Ueland is so honest about his sexuality, or lack there of, and I adored that as well. I also loved how he revealed so much through the scenes with his therapist and really let women in on how the mind of at least one guy works. I could go on and on. All and all I loved it and now must buy my boyfriend his own copy.

After a exhausting week at work, I picked this book up along with some Haagen Daz and bottle of champagne wanting a mindless, childish weekend at home. I started the book not expecting much, Ueland won me over after a few pages. I resisted, and much like being in the company of a new love affair, I slowly melted and was left begging for more. Although I am not claiming it to be the most well written book, nor a masterpiece, it is however brutally honest and says what most men would hesitate to say. His wit, his words, the sarcasm... We need more Ueland's around. I suggest anyone with any sort of interest in human nature to pick it up, and any gal ever confounded by the male sex needs a copy as well. Oh and did I mention, the general male population could stand to take a few tips.

I know this is supposed to be a memoir/personal account but this guy is more self conscious than Woody Allen at his worst. Everything is portrayed in terms of how he responded to it or how it responded to him. And he's not very interesting.

I first heard about this book about five years ago, and I can't believe I waited this long to read it. It fascinating, funny and very well written. For the single, straight guy it's pretty well unputdownable. And although the subject may seem like fluff, it's actually quite insightful. Like reading a book about evolutionary psychology, you learn something.

I thought this book was interesting and funny. The author seems quite honest and tries to be such a "good guy" despite finding himself in the middle of the "ultimate" male fantasy. He is introspective on some levels, but doesn't seem to ever realize that little by little he becomes just another man perpetuating harmful stereotypes about women and supporting a corporation that thrives on objectifying them. If Mr. Ueland has foremothers who were writers, they would probably be proud of his skill as an author. But I'm guessing that his feminist foremothers, whom he mentions, would be disgusted.

The book chronicles nerve.com columnist Leif Ueland's experience after he was "accidentally" thrust by circumstance into the position of chronicling Playboy's search for their year 2000 "playmate of the millennium" for the Playboy Web site.

So, early on, the book promises to be something of an expose of the shallowness involved in the whole liking-people-for-their-looks thing, by someone who thinks of himself as a deep thinker, who is working on the great American novel. But, the opposite turns out to be the case. It is, "accidentally" an expose of this so-called deep thinker who, as a friend of mine put it, "thinks he's a saint because he's one step removed from the devil himself." That is, because he's maybe 10% less shallow than the incredibly shallow people around him, he thinks he's incredibly un-shallow, which he isn't. Almost immediately, he's dropped his idea of making his playboy.com column classy, and is obsessed with making it popular. And he keeps telling himself that, because he'll never have another opportunity like this, it's important that he have sex with someone once during this year of working for Playboy. And like a made-for-playboy movie, the book's climax comes when he sleeps with a random stranger who he met on the road, as though that resolves everything.