Customer Reviews

A Man's Life: The Complete Instructions

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a woman, I picked up the book to give as a sort of gag gift to a guy friend. Heck, I figured after all the Cosmo hooey we women read, it's about time someone exploited the self-help market on the men's behalf. Imagine my irritation when I find out that the book written for the opposite sex is well-organized, hysterically funny and chock full of actually useful information. I may just hang onto this one myself...and I'm sure I'll be ordering several more for my other guy pals.

I have used this book more than any other book I own. I used it when I bought a car, I used it when I wanted to ask for a raise, my brother used it when he decided to take his family camping, and I've used it almost every other day in between. If you're a man and you don't own this book, you don't have the instructions. Period. It's even better than "The Modern Man's Guide to Life" (which is now out of print anyway). I just wish there was a hard cover version!

I have to admit that I am a woman. I bought this book for my husband for Father's Day. He read it. Then I read it. Now he has bought five more copies for his friends, and I have bought six for friends of mine, and the golf club we belong to now buys copies to give away for prizes! I just loved this book. I sat down and thumbed through it thinking "This won't be for me" and the next thing I knew I was reading it from cover to cover. Everything is in here! I loved "how to eat beer three meals a day" and all of the gardening things. My husband likes the men's fashion material and the entries on women (of course!). But all of it is very practical. And the writing is just the best.

I bought this for a fatherless 18-year-old kid I know. The book has a lot of great information that every man should know, if his father taught him well. Besides giving useful information, it's funny as hell! I looked up the author's name and wasn't surprised that he has written over a dozen books. The writing is sharp, and the author definitely has a way with words. There are sixteen chapters of wit and wisdom: Hardware & Machinery; Technology; Housework; Clothes; Fitness, Health, and Grooming; Food; Brians; Money; Work; Trouble; Women; Family Life; Manners and Morals; Agriculture and Livestock (no joke); Outdoors; and Miscellaneous Know-How.

Some of the most useful snippets I've found in the book are on how to patch a friendship damaged by neglect, how to give yourself a perfect shave if you can'at get to a barber, how to figure out how to achieve financial independence, how to land a 747 in case of emergency, how to breakup with a woman in a relationship.

This is just a great overall book about various aspects of life that every intelligent, well-educated man should know (but a lot of us don't).

IF YOU ARE A MAN THEN IT IS A SHEER NECESSITY TO BUY THIS BOOK. EVEN IF YOU SAY THAT "YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT BEING A MAN" AS YOU THINK YOU DO, YOU SHOULD STILL GET THIS IN ORDER TO ORGANIZE THOSE AL BUNDY THOUGHTS. THIS TEACHES YOU THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND DO AS A MAN...LIKE GO TO A BARBER SHOP INSTEAD OF A SALON AND HOW TO FIX YOUR THUMB IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU WHACK IT WITH A HAMMER. IT SHOWS YOU HOW TO LOSE THOSE LOVE HANDLES AND TO BED DOWN A BROAD. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

I have purchased a number of the men's guides, and found this the least useful. This book is rather verbose, without really saying anything. The author spends several pages instructing users to ignore instruction manuals (except for this book, which he admits is a manual on life). I suggest you take his advice, and skip this instruction manual as well.

Then again, I was filled with ennui and put down the book after the first chapter, it's possible that it improves, but by scanning through it, I somehow doubt it.