64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Book, Big Penises, Big Fun, January 4, 2009
This review is from: The Big Penis Book (Hardcover)
You don't have to worry about what the adjective modifies in the title of the book _The Big Penis Book_ (Taschen). The book is big. It is twelve inches square, and weighs over seven pounds, with almost four hundred heavy, glossy pages. It is just the sort of book that can go on your coffee table, if you have such a table to support it, and if you like penises. Big penises. For the penises are big, too. Page after page here, hundreds of photographs, show men who, relaxed or erect, have penises ranging from remarkably large, to gargantuan, to (literally) fantastically huge. Dian Hanson, who previously brought out the less-ambiguously-titled but still similarly-themed _The Big Book of Breasts_, has edited what is mostly a book of photographs, with text that is generally reminiscences of photographers who were shooting models during the 1960- 1990 period, pictures that would go into small distribution magazines or private collections. The pictures, however, are the show, and they are a treat to look at.
As Hanson points out in her introduction, there is no denying the allure of a large penis. "Flaccid or erect, it is aesthetically stunning - commanding every onlooker to consider capacity and consequence." She points out how evolution has formed penises to be big in our species but also to be the objects of our candid regard. So how big is a big penis? The "most prolific penis measurer in history" was probably Professor Alfred Kinsey, who collected statistics from 3,500 men by giving them a blank card they were supposed to put along the top of their erections, mark, and send in. Kinsey didn't find anyone with a penis longer than nine inches, but there are plenty bigger on display here. The interviews are with the photographers rather than the models because many of the models aren't around any more, dead like John Holmes from AIDS, or running businesses or heading families that preclude participating in or reminiscing about their photogenic days. The photographers themselves have moved on, to advertising shots, art production, or launching a quarterly magazine on ancient Egypt. They talk about their models from long ago with fondness (some were lovers); one says, "I'm a frustrated father and I take an interest in a number of these young men - not because I fancy them, but because they've had nightmare childhoods." Some of the photographers remember the models complaining about having too much of a good thing, yearning for penis-reduction surgery because either they attracted only lovers who just wanted a big penis, or because a big penis restricted some of the activities that normal penises routinely enjoy. This is a good message for those of us who know they'll never measure up to the examples in the photos here, or will never have a lover of these dimensions. Hanson writes that fretting over size is silly: "Why should we invest all this anxiety in a couple of inches when we can simply sit back, pop a beer, and let the big boys entertain us like a good game of baseball?"
The photographs are certainly entertaining. There are bound to be those who like to see the possessor of a large penis wearing boots and a leather cap and belt; others are going to find the props pretty silly. Why does this one have a cowboy hat and cap pistol, for instance, and why does this other one think it is time to serenade us on his guitar? One of them gives an emphatic answer to the old question of what a Scotsman has under his kilt. The guys are handsome (often in styles that are already dated), usually with good physiques, and many of the photographs have been fussed over as would befit any studio production. The men who smile at the camera, as if they were playing a happy prank or as if they were sincerely enjoying themselves, look endearing (but maybe that's just my kink). The penises are not just big; flaccid they might do anything, but in erection they are straight, curved, even bent; they are circumcised or not; some look smooth and others look textured; some have a big glans, some small. The differences are remarkable, and probably all the more noticeable because we don't often look at lots of penises the way this book enables us to do. And while they are not just big, they are indeed big, and because they are big, they are cheerful and optimistic. This is a book of fun.
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103 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Overpriced but amusing, July 28, 2008
This review is from: The Big Penis Book (Hardcover)
As a gay man, yes, I have a penis fascination. And having come of age in the 70s-80s, I'm familiar with the studios that provided most of these pictures. But after having my porn-nostalgia moment and looking and page-after-page of phalluses - most attached to unattractive men - I came to find this book more funny than erotic. The poses and the photographic settings of these pictures are really quaint by today's standards, or just downright scary and creepy, if you think about it. It's an amusing archive of gay porn from the 30s to the 80s.
The book itself is way overpriced for what it is. The editorial content is superfluous, and sometimes inaccurate. And the mylar cover was damaged in shipping as well. Wait for this book to go on discount.
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819 of 935 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!, July 12, 2008
This review is from: The Big Penis Book (Hardcover)
Oh dear. I am a 70 year old woman and I just happened across this big penis book in my son's room. My son is 45 years old and still single. I think he might be gay. That said, his big penis book is now in my room under my bed. So now my 45 year old single son is probably gay and angry. Well, he should get a job anyway or at least go find some real penis and stop reading about them in books like this. Good Lord this is a big penis book. And I love a big penis. And so does my son, apparently. I give this book ten thumbs up. I can't believe I never knew he was gay. He should get a job. Maybe as a dancer. Anyway, if you like a big penis, you will like this big penis book. Lord there are big penis's in this book. I mean big. Oh dear.
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