Admit It, You're Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies, and Irrational Behavior [Paperback]

Judy Reiser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

• Do you refuse to take the top newspaper on a stack (even if perfect)?
• Insist that the toilet paper hang "over"?
• Wait for the phone to ring at least twice before answering?
• Keep returning to the refrigerator hoping that something new to eat has materialized?

Kids say the darndest things? Adults DO them!!! In this follow-up to her successful And I Thought I Was Crazy!, author Judy Reiser offers up more hilarious eccentricities exhibited (and confessed to) by otherwise normal people. Everyone has at least one particular oddity in his or her daily way of life. These side-splitting actions are categorized from hilarious bathroom behavior, funny money routines, and unconventional clothing habits to eating and sleeping peculiarities, germ-a-phobia, and more. Reiser documents the zany traits that make us who we are.

 

Just what extremes do people go to in their everyday activities?

• Flipping through a magazine at a newsstand then reaching for a fresh copy to buy because the one they were flipping through is no longer new. 
• Enumerating (1, 2, 3...) while urinating and trying to end their peeing on an even number. 
• Wearing T-shirts an equal number of times so none of them will get offended. 
• Eating the most expensive part of a meal first, just in case they can't finish everything. 
• Ironing the newspaper before reading it to protect them self against germs. 
• Leaving sunglasses on top of the fridge so a midnight raid won't blind them by opening it. Controlling shedding by vacuuming the cat. 

Collected from real, live, actual human beings, the zaniness begins again in Admit It, You're Crazy! You will laugh while gaining insight into yourself and others! People do the darndest things!

judyreiser.com

Editorial Reviews

Review

Hilarious collection of odd behaviors that are surprisingly endemic among humankind.

Cheerfully embraces bizarre little habits that help us cope.

--Midwest Book Review

Judy Reiser's concept of collecting the foibles of Everyman is not only unique, but genius. 

She invented the category. You will find yourself in her book, and when you do you will laugh out loud.

--Ed Clancy, Radio Broadcaster

Judy Reiser has collected gem-like examples. 

--The New York Times Book Review

Everybody has them. Reiser got grown people to think about it and to tell her about it. 

--The Washington Post

Great stress reliever. Gotta have just for the laughs. Would LOVE to have been on that book's research team!
--Karla Skinner, amazon.com

About the Author

Judy Reiser began collecting quirks when she divulged something crazy she does (she doesn't remember which one it was-there are so many) and her friend shared something he does. After having a good laugh about it, she soon discovered that everyone has quirks. She has been observing, gathering, marveling at and laughing about quirks ever since and personally interviewed thousands of people for her three acclaimed books:

• Admit It, You're Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies, and Irrational Behavior
• And I Thought I Was Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies and Meshugaas
• In a Cell Phone Minute 

She is recognized for helping to bring the subject of quirks and idiosyncrasies to the forefront.

Judy has been a guest on hundreds of radio and television shows. She lives in New York with her husband, who insists that if she had written the quirk books as autobiographies, they would have been much longer!

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740751093
• ISBN-13: 978-0740751097
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,121,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #89 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Humor > Essays

More About the Author

Judy Reiser personally interviewed thousands of people for her three acclaimed books:
Admit It, You're Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies & Irrational Behavior
And I Thought I Was Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies & Meshugaas
In a Cell Phone Minute

Her books have received much media attention with reviews and excerpts in prestigious publications such as The New York Times Book Review, AARP Bulletin, Reader's Digest, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan and many others as well as speaking engagements and appearances on hundreds of national and international radio and television shows, including The Today Show.

Judy began collecting quirks when she divulged something crazy she does (she doesn't remember which one it was--there are so many) and her friend shared something he does. After having a good laugh about it, she soon discovered that everyone has quirks. She has been observing, gathering, marveling at and laughing about quirks ever since and is recognized for helping to bring the subject to the forefront. Her husband insists that had she written the quirk books as an autobiography, they would have been much longer!

She looked at her cell phone one day and thought, "I wonder if there are any good stories here?" She began inquiring and found that there were very entertaining stories. She collected them and the result is, "In a Cell Phone Minute" . The book is shaped like and opens vertically like a flip-top phone.

Judy is also the designer of her books.

People do the darndest things & audiences love to hear about it! Judy has her audience laughing in recognition when she delivers her entertaining, humorous as well as insightful talk.

For more info on Judy & her books visit:
http://www.judyreiser.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Crazy Are We?, May 9, 2005

By 

Virginia Allain "(retired librarian)" (Poinciana, FL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Admit It, You're Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies, and Irrational Behavior (Paperback)

This book collects together lots of goofy things people do. Some of it is compulsive behavior, phobias, or just quirks. It was fun looking though it to see if any were behaviors I have.
I liked the one where the lady puts her hot iron in the refrigerator to avoid any possibility of a fire after finishing her ironing. You can't help but smile at some of the ideas. One woman shopped for food that starts with the same letter (carrots, cat food, corn). Must have made life complicated.
The behaviors are grouped so there's a chapter on food, clothing, money, sleep, germs, bathroom, and miscellaneous.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read!, October 20, 2005

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Admit It, You're Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies, and Irrational Behavior (Paperback)

An OCD ALERT! (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, that is).

Judy Reiser interviewed 2,000 people to find out their quirks--many you and I share.

Her bathroom humor section (toilet paper, seat use, reading material) was amazing as I thought it was only at my house this happened.

She captured the behavior of spouse and friends alike--things you learn to ignore or they will drive you nuts. Married 38 years I know! That's why the concept of tolerance should be added to the wedding vows.

I didn't see myself in hardly any of them, but then I am a compulsive liar. Actually I had no favorites in the hundreds of little quirky stories because so many resonated with me in some way.

Great gift book that will end up in the bathroom, where according to a "man quirk" there MUST be something to read.

Armchair Interviews says: Admit It, You're Crazy is a fun read for your house or a gift--say a bridal shower so the unsuspecting bride will get some much-needed clues.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Going Bananas!, August 15, 2006

By 

Ernest Dempsey "ED" (Pakistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Admit It, You're Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies, and Irrational Behavior (Paperback)

Ever heard of someone who makes holes in her socks? A person who irons his newspaper? What about a cat who runs a treadmill? These and many other quirks are now available in one book to tickle your sane nerve. Author Judy Reiser brings to public notice the many quirks and idiosyncrasies of people in her recent book Admit It, You're Crazy! (Andrew McMeel Publishing, Missouri, 2005).

Judy Reiser's book is a collage of interview clips of numerous individuals, all adults, in first person. These run the gamut of humor from real crackers to slightly off-the-track peculiarities of living. Obsessive thinking and resulting compulsion is the recurring motif in most of the instances included. At times, the behavior will not seem so irrational as some of the persons relate it to their early experiences and some of them definitely reflect the reader's own quirks.

As far as goes the fun part of the book, it will depend on the reader's own rationality whether the instances scribed elicit a guffaw or a sigh out him/her. More matter-of-course response from the reader, more reason to suspect one's normality. Grins! But the book is certainly unique in that the author's absence is nearly fixed (except in occasional questions); in some ways a short coming because after reading over fifty pages you feel lost in a deluge of voices popping in and out incessantly.

One beautifying feature of the book is the adornment with colored headings, fun figures, and vignettes that go in perfect accord with the business of going bananas. Money, eating habits, bathroom behavior, travel, and germ-response stories are presented with the profession, gender, and age of the people involved. Judy Reiser has done a nice job in letting people put on the make-up of self-critical smile before they stand under their shower. Wink!

PS: Judy Reiser is open to receiving more quirks and idiosyncrasies from people. She can be reached by e-mail given at the end of her book.