Customer Reviews

Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book tittled 'Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever - The making of a Happy Woman' is part an entertaining book (I had lots of laughs reading it) but, and it is part a 'How to be your genuine self' guide book for the feminine gender; specifically. For the young girls and for the more mature ladies and from the single to the married to the divorced women.
Drawn from her experience as a Family Court Judge in New York City for over 25 years, Judge Judy says she has seen and heard enough of the thousands of excuses that women (in particular) make in order to get or keep their men, and that it is about time that women take responsibility for themselves, and, by themselves.
In this book she talks about 'why' beauty fades and dumb is forever. She explains 'how' women are the trunk of the tree. She also talks about denial and how it is just a river in Egypt.
I, specifically, like how Judge Judy finishes her book by passing on this message to all women; that 'If you have a healthy spirit, a positive outlook, and a sense of personal accomplishment and importance, you will be a better partner, friend and mother.' In this chapter she had just finished discussing about standing tall, and, not necessarily in the physical sense (Judge Judy stands just over five feet tall).
This book can be read by the male species (such as myself) as well. Why? Because, I believe that a true man can be measured not only by his character and his values, but also by his willingness to learn and discover new (or old) things in life to increase his caring capacity.

Just like on her TV show Judge Judy tells it like it is. In this book, Judge Judy talks about everything from toilet paper rolls, to little girl beauty pageants to the death of a spouse. And all along the way she tells some of the funniest stories. Some of the funniest are the ones that involve her husband Jerry. But even though she's telling funny stories about her husband and others, she is trying and succeeding at getting a point across to women--YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE.

This book is excellent. Judge Judy is quite the author. Beauty Fades... is easy to read and teaches a lesson while being entertaining. Every mother should give this to their young daughters to read. Judge Judy teaches that you must have a sense of humor in life. She also teaches to not let yourself be trampled on in the work force by your male counterparts. Those are just a couple of the lessons given by Judge Judy.

Judge Judy is definitely a positive role model for any age female. She knows what she wants and goes after it. More women need to be this way. Keep up the excellent work on and off TV Judge Judy :)

Words cannot describe my absolute love of this book. I have all of Judge Judy's books and this one is my absolute favorite. I have read it at least a dozen times and have applied much of this advice to my own daily life. Judge Judy talks about this subject with her usual "I'm not going to take any crap off of anybody" approach that we see all the time on her show, in her courtroom and dispenses it freely and objectively. She readily admits that, as a woman, she has made a few mistakes in her lifetime just like we all do. I admire the fact that she made a success of herself in such a male-dominated workplace as the judicial court system. My favorite story in the book has got to be the one where Judge Judy, as a family court judge, was in the cafeteria talking to a colleague when this old man judge came up to her and informed her that this room was for judges only. She then pretended that she was the cleaning lady! But then secretly took delight in the fact that this guy was embarrassed when he found out that she was actually a judge! Wouldn't we all love to do that? This is a definite must for any woman who is at any situation in life. Growing up, being a wife and mother, juggling a career, being a success, etc. A gem of a read.

TV's Judge Judy holds court in this book, a candid account of her life and the lessons she learned from living. It's a must read for every young woman -- and for her mother, too -- and would make a great gift.

The little lady judge with the big loud mouth pulls no punches. Her commonsense advice comes from experience. She rues the day she agreed to quit a Washington D.C. law school so that she could move back to New York and marry; if she had to do it over, she says she now knows it would have been better to ask her fiance to move for her career. She went from being the top student at a leading law school to being just another ordinary student in a lesser one.

She advises young women not to do like she did, treating their own education and career less seriously than their husband's.

Getting an education that qualifies women for well-paying careers, the judge writes, is "divorce insurance". After all, mothers are the ones who probably will have to support their children should they be divorced.

Not everything in the book is serious. There are laughs along the way. If you think Judge Judy bangs her gavel too loudly in the courtroom, imagine her banging two metal frying pan lids together, like cymbals, in the middle of the night over her sleeping husband. That was to drive home the point that she didn't like his leaving the toilet seat up. (Don't try this at home!)

All in all, the judge gives blunt, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is words of wisdom, delivered with the same force that she uses in her courtroom lectures. "Beauty Fades But Dumb is Forever" wins on appeal.

I finally found a book with which I can identify! Judge Judy is a no-nonsense woman, no games here. She has the ability to "read" people quickly and they don't pull anything over on her. She is intelligent, witty, with a rare talent these days, COMMON SENSE!

I loved the book and am recommending it to everyone. Her sensible, confident approach to life is refreshing and makes for healthier relationships. She shares her passion, pain and struggle.

I loved the story in the "Lawyers Lounge," an example of guts and class! This book is easy reading and not convoluted. No Pop-Psychology here, just straight to-the-point and witty! It isn't about putting men down either. It's about INDEPENDENCE - financial and emotional.

I recommend ALL women read this book and make life a little easier for those of us who are still fighting for "equality" in the workplace!

My comments pertain to the audio tape edition, a three-hour abridgement of the book. I was surprised that I received a review copy from the publisher since they normally send only new hardcover titles. I have liked hearing Judge Judy's tough line in the past, I assumed I would thoroughly enjoy these tapes.

I can't say that I did enjoy them, except for brief snippets. Not that she didn't put in a good effort. More specifically:

1.) She assumes a war between men and women that is often not there. She keeps citing women being put down in the workplace, hasn't she seen how wimpy males also get run over (usually even worse than females)? Having worked for companies run primarily by women, I found her thoughts on the matter to be crude stereotypes, and at times very archaic. Women are not objects of scorn in the workplace, maybe where she works, but not in any of the firms where I have worked.

2.) Marriage is more than a business bargain. She keeps making it sound like marriage is only valuable for what one gets out of it. Marriage is a partnership, and it succeeds t the extent that both spouses sacrifice for each other. Sacrifice for Judge Judy sounded like an abomination. And yet, my spouse and I willing to sacrifice for each other, and in fact, our marriage is better because of it. I don't reflect at the end of the day as to what I got out of my marriage that day. After 15 years of marriage, we have something more than an arrangement for mutual convenience.

3.) More excerpts from her court would help. I know Judge Judy is sitting on great examples from her courtroom. She should have put more of those into her audiotapes (maybe they are in the books, but they sure aren't on the tapes).

4.) The topics hang together loosely, and the transitions from one topic to another are choppy, often jarring. Again, this may be a problem unique to the tapes, but it is quite irritating.

5.) Not always as tough as she should be. I was disappointed to hear her story about her daughter shacking up and how she acquiesced to letting her stay with her honey at her house. It was her house, she should have laid down the law. We know she is tough, she shouldn't have caved to her daughter.

Although Judge Judy had some positive statements about self-worth, respect, etc., that I would want my daughters to hear, the fact that these positive insights were surrounded by hours of less useful, often trite and obvious reflections make the effort to hear the valauble comments not worth the time it takes to find them.

There are better books and audio tapes with good messages for women, so, sadly, I can't recommend these tapes.

I would bet this is probably Judge Judy's funniest book (c'mon, the title!). I'm on my second read of it and am enjoying it even more than the first time. Although the book is squarely targeted at women, the principles Judge Judy discusses could apply to men of low self-esteem also (hey, women have been reading and internally switching the pronouns in male-centric books for years; why not turn the tables?). Besides, her dialogue, much like that of her hit TV series, is abrasive, colorful, and blunt. Her revealing asides of household interactions between her and her husband Jerry (also in the legal profession) are HILARIOUS, well worth the price of the book. I am so hoping Judith Sheidlin will continue to write; I can't wait for her next book, whenever it emerges! Hysterical!

Judge Judy tells it like it is. Some people may not agree with her opinions, but she holds her ground firmly. She's seen it all from her days in family court, to her own divorce. In this book she tells women not to be so reliant upon men. Don't bend over backwards to please everyone.. because who's going to be there for you? Judge Judy tries to instill in women the urgency of building a solid foundation from within. Her straight talk tells women to get on with it and never forget that smart is forever.

Though I didn't agree with Judge Judy on everything, I did agree with her on this topic: the importance of women being financially independent. I agree with her that women should be able to take care of themselves financially. I read the part about the woman who threw her unfaithful husband out of the house and how, a few days later, found out that her credit cards had been cancelled and her bank accounts closed by her husband. She didn't have the money to support herself and the kids. I also read about a friend of Judy's who has been married all these years and still gets an allowance from her husband. An allowance? That sounds like something right out of those 1950s sitcoms like "I Love Lucy" where the wife begged for money from her husband. Getting an allowance or asking a husband for money is for little kids who can't take of themselves. It IS important for women to be able to take care of themselves, and that's the message that Judge Judy is trying to get across to us in her book.

Good book for life advice for women. Not quite as funny and entertaining as her "You're smarter than you look" which takes you on a life journey and has some very good rules for any stage in your life. Still it is a good book and she tells you a lot about her own life and her own mistakes in it. Worthwhile, for her fans a must-have anyway.