Customer Reviews

I Am What I Ate...and I'm Frightened!!!

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a short little book that covers Cosby's thoughts on growing old, having your body wear out, and how we're obsessed with wanting to be healthy without making any changes to our lifestyle.

While he's trying to be humorous, I think he's trying to make some serious points about our society. Such as, how people who are smokers will go to incredible lengths and discomforts to be able to have a cigarette. Or how people who need to change their eating habits will play mental games to try and avoid it (or ask for drugs to erase the effects of the bad food). Too much of it rings true...

If you have a chance to read it, I would recommend the book. Don't know that I would go out of my way to buy it, but having a library a block away makes some things much easier... :-)

Since childhood, Cosby has made me laugh. He's proven that humor can be funny and clean simultaneously. His facial gestures, his voices, his rolled eyes, all add to the comedic experience.

In "I Am What I Ate..." Cosby tackles the issues of health and dying in the grand tradition of irreverence. Speaking from a platform of retirement age, he can get away with this--particularly when he's throwing barbs at himself. The sections on food and smoking had me laughing out loud. Interspersed, Cosby adds some wry insight to the indulgent American mindset. The writing is conversational and breezy. I could almost imagine that Bill Cosby was reading it aloud.

And that's my only complaint. He wasn't reading it. He wasn't even in the room. Much of his humor works wonderfully in a live setting, but here it brought mostly smiles, few actual laughs.

For a lightweight look at a heavyweight subject, this book is fun. I'd still rather see the man live. Please, Cosby, hold off on any funerals...we love having you around!

In this book, Bill Cosby discusses, in a humorous way, various changes he has experienced at age 65 and his struggles to give up his excessive, unhealthy eating habits after learning from his doctor that he has very high cholesterol and a thirty percent blockage in the carotid artery.

While it is neither the roaringly humorous book I expected nor a preachy diet book, it is a quick and pleasant read that had me chuckling quite a bit and identifying with many of his observations. His casual writing style, delivered as though he were sitting next to you and talking, accurately captures many of the rationalizations people often use to justify behavior they know is not in their best interest, be it smoking, drinking or eating fat and cholesterol-laden foods. I thought one of the funniest sections was his discussion of hair and skin, where he observes that "as you get older, you don't have oil. The skin is drier." And, regarding hair, he wants to know why he lost hair from the top of his head and it came out on his back and in his nose and ears. Gray hair at that! "What am I turning into?", he asks. I suspect there are a few of us in our fifties and sixties who have had similar thoughts. He also cites his father as having compared the human body to a machine, which, at age 65, has "old parts" -- a simplistic but plausible explanation for many of the aches, pains and limitations one experiences in the later years.

In all, the book is funny and enjoyable. And, possibly, it may be helpful to those struggling with changing their eating habits and other aspects of getting older, as they step back and see it through Bill Cosby's eyes.

Less and less of what is self-labeled as "humor" these days causes me to laugh. Bill Cosby's "I Am What I Ate . . . and I'm frightened!!!" is a happy exception. Many people claim that comedy is all about timing . . . which can be hard to do in a book. But with deft twists that I defy you to see coming, he takes you down a laugh-ridden labyrinth of all the foolish things people do about their health. What makes the humor especially powerful is that Mr. Cosby is frequently telling stories on himself. But at the same time you'll recognize yourself . . . and people he knows in these stories.

The basic set-up is that Mr. Cosby is excited about turning 65 . . . because he can spend his social security check to secretly buy food that his wife doesn't want him to eat because it's unhealthy. She runs the check book on a tight leash (with frequent cross-examinations about spending), so this is a real boon.

That happy thought is muddled, though, when Mr. Cosby goes to have a physical. He finds that he has the body of someone much younger than 65 . . . except for a sky-high cholesterol level and a partially blocked carotid artery (the one that takes blood to the brain). Suddenly, he has visions of all that unhealthy food he has eaten all over the years. Ugh!

From there, Mr. Cosby takes you on a funny excursion into all of the other ways that our bodies run down hill (age, hair loss, joints that wear out and physical conditioning), the ways we rationalize "not" doing what we should (conveniently forgetting, changing our focus and simply making up crazy excuses) and the foolish ways that doctors try to overcome our self-destructive tendencies.

Then, he looks around to see the bad habits that others have . . . and also rationalize (drinking, smoking and binge overeating), and finds similar room for humor.

If you are like me, you can almost hear Mr. Cosby's voice as he delivers these wry witty commentaries on the human condition.

What makes them so funny is that he's not exaggerating very much! People are really funny about their vices.

All those who really love food will get the biggest kick out of seeing their obsession exposed. As one such person, he had me laughing aloud during many points in the book.

The book also contains occasional illustrations by George Booth that add to the fun. My favorite is the one on the back cover of the dust jacket.

To give you a flavor of the book, let me share a few quotes from the last chapter:

". . . three choices everyone has: Don't go to the doctor at all. Just ignore everything until one day your eyeballs roll up under your eyebrows, your body slumps forward, and you wake up in traffic in the back of a large, strange vehicle."

"Why is she anemic? Well, from the blood tests it seems that she's lost three-fourths of her blood. They took her blood to find out why she's losing blood."

One of the great beauties of this book is that each story builds on the previous ones . . . so new information creates humorous echoes in your memory that remind you of the rest of the book. The cumulative effect is marvelous.

As I finished the book, I began to wonder why we are so perverse in harming ourselves. Sure, Mr. Cosby has provided lots of "excuses" but we're all smart enough not to believe our own excuses. Maybe we just want to be indulged like most of our parents did while we were little . . . but no one does any more now that we are grown. It that's the case, find your indulgence in less unhealthy ways. Remember, 65 is coming for most of us!

Bill Cosby is by far one of the most funny comedians alive, plus, he's funny to everybody. He isn't rude or anything. In this book, Bill shares his opinions on weight loss, smoking, drinking and other things in a funny manner. It also went quickly. It was easy to understand yet very entertaining.

I Am What I Ate. . .and I'm Frightened is a book anyone and everyone should read. Those who have problems with cholesterol, or those who pretty much have any health problem, or for even those who love food and would DIE to give their favorites up and only be able to eat them every "once in a while" (3 months) will love this book. Bill Cosby really illustrates his many situations with food, and what he can and cannot eat. There are many times when you wonder where he gets his stories, and how many other people there are out there that relate to his stories. But, at the same time, you wonder how it is that he has funny stories that he can tell about and you never do, and they all happen to be from his personal life. This book made me laugh, snicker, and giggle out loud. All I can say is, if you love to laugh you'll be floating on the ceilings (Mary Poppins) because of this book.
And why would you wear a cotton sweater in the winter? I guess you'll just have to read the book.

Whether you do or don't like the humor of Bill Cosby, you should read this book if you have any sense of humor at all then you will enjoy it if you do! It's everything funny about why good food can make us feel bad. This book is great for anyone who is having to go to the doctor... over and over... or multiple doctors because it reminds you to laugh to keep from crying! And helps you laugh so hard you cry - at least I did!

Bill Cosby the doctor of comedy has written a book about a healthy life stile. If you dodge diets, you should read it. If you're creative you should read it. If you like imagining people making a fool of themselves in the act of not following their diets you should read it. In my opinion this is a funny book. He eats a cookie and gets caught because he said he was going to the bathroom. If you like funny books you'll like it.

I Am What I Ate by Bill Cosby is hysterically funny. When his doctor tells him his cholesterol is high, and he needs to change his diet, Bill Cosby does what he does best and laughs about it !
I loved the story about his Aunt hiding the pork chops in her bedroom. And the chapter about eating everything in "moderation".
What a hoot ! Anyone whose gone on any kind of a diet will love this book. And if you are a person getting up there in age, and dealing with cholesterol and blood pressure .... this book will make you feel alot better and make you laugh !

Well, his partially blocked carotid artery has not impaired the quickness of his wit for skewering the ironic quirks of the human species, Americans in particular. The skit-like chapters are clever as always and include his trademark self-deprecating jabs.

Unfortunately I was hoping that he would have us all laughing hard enough to actually confront some of our death-defying dietary and addictive choices, but he's not quite there. As a Christmas gift you may want to accompany it with your favorite low-carb book. Let's hope it keeps a few million Americans laughing right into their New Year resolutions.