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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nonfiction Humor: when it is real, it is MUCH funnier....!!!, September 21, 2002
This review is from: Found on eBay: 100 Genuinely Bizarre Items from the World's Online Yard Sale (Paperback)
Wow, what a great book with no *real* substantive value except the pricelessness of being able to elicit the human emotion of uncontrollable laughter! If you've ever heard the saying about how real life can be so much more bizarre than the fantasy of fiction--this books drives that point home for the "real life" lived by a fantastical beast we call the Internet. More specifically, the beast known as eBay which is one of the most universally recognized icons of what means to be online. In this little book, Marc Hartzman and Liz Steger successfully illustrate the bizarreness of eBay's most obscure, but real, auctions. You will be amazed at what they found people trying to sell at (what truly is) "the biggest garage sale on earth." I shared this book with a few people I work with who regularly buy/sell items on eBay; however, I also shared it with probably three times as many people I work with who have never been to the eBay website *ever*, let alone become part of the madness. The reactions from eBayers and non-eBayers were substantially the same in everyone, somewhere between stifled chuckles and full-blown laughter. From the stuff dead frog posed at a tiny piano to the last pickle in the jar to the siamese m&m candies to bull scrotum bags (not to mention the auction for nothing to the one for a human soul of someone named Michael), each person who has flipped through my copy of this book has found something, or more accurately, several things, that shocked and amused them. I can't tell you how often I hear, "What the [*heck*] is. . . " and "Oh, now, THAT, that is too gross . . . " Even if you have never been on eBay, this book will leave you in stitches!! And, of course, when you go have the stitches removed, be sure to ask the doctor to save them--after all, they may be worth money, but you will never know for sure until you have given them a whirl in an auction on eBay!! (Ok, yes, I am just kidding....really!)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
That's NOT Aunt Mildred's colon, my friend!, August 4, 2002
This review is from: Found on eBay: 100 Genuinely Bizarre Items from the World's Online Yard Sale (Paperback)
Nope, that colon's mine. And thanks to the reviewer for noting that it's "squeaky clean". Some time ago, I pondered whether you could actually sell EVERYTHING on eBay. As a test, I listed a photo taken during a recent colonoscopy. Sadly, it didn't sell. But in "Found on eBay", you can take a gander at it, as well as a picture of me {right next to it}, if you're interested in the outside as well as the inside. Marc Hartzman's "Found on eBay" is the result of his dogged determination to find out whether anything and everything can be found on the famous, successful auction site. Not surprisingly, the answer is a resounding "YES!". Sometimes the "yes" is a pleasant one; sometimes it's strange, hilarious, gruesome and even icky. As a regular eBay buyer and seller, even I was amazed by some of the things Marc came across -- how did I miss them?? {Helpful hint: search around in the "Totally Bizarre" section of eBay for the truly unique "treasures".) In addition to the listings, in "Found" you'll see crystal clear photos to capture the glory that is each zany item, as well as bid info and emails to sellers. "Found on eBay" is great not just for its own humor, but it would make a wonderful gift for those people who are hard to buy for. If they grouse about their present, whip out the book and say, "Well, look what I COULD have gotten you!", while pointing out a treasure such as the bull scrotum purse. Knowing the success of eBay and the millions of items listed each day, no doubt there is enough fodder for Marc to produce an encyclopedic series of these books. I'll be looking forward to them.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stuff you never knew existed!!!, November 23, 2003
This review is from: Found on eBay: 100 Genuinely Bizarre Items from the World's Online Yard Sale (Paperback)
Have you been searching forever for necktie made from duct tape? How about a 1963 J.F. Kennedy Garden Gnome? Author Marc Hartzman discovered these and 99 other items -- all actual listings found on eBay -- and compiled them into this humorous short book. Some interesting, some disgusting, but all totally bizarre. The book includes a picture, item description from the auction, starting price, and the sale value (if the item sold). For a few items, Hartzman emailed a question or two and included the responses. And, almost anything you can imagine is listed here. One of my favorites is the last listing, for "Nothing! Absolutely Nothing!" which someone bought for $1.03. They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and this book does a fine job showing that and how much eBay is becoming part of the American culture. This is a must for anyone who has bought or sold on eBay or who simply has a hankering for the bizarre and unusual. A funny little gem of a book.
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