Customer Reviews

The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich, and Powerful Really Died

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Plenty of books obsessed with scandal and buzz words in the vein of Weekly World News have been written on the subject of celebrity death. The idea of a book that approaches this suggest with respect, intelligence, and a little book of good old-fashioned dark humor is a rare thing indeed. Which makes The Portable Obituary all the better. This is an enormously entertaining, insightful, and fascinating read. Essential for anyone who wants a book that actually knows what it's talking about.

The "Portable Orbituary" is well written and easy to read. The book feeds our insatiable appetite for information on the famous, rich and powerful. Just as "Final Exits", Largo's previous book, is difficult to put down, his latest effort, "The Portable Obituary" will keep you page turning from start to finish.
Largo's latest book would make a great Christmas present for the celebrity junkies on your list.

This book has an interesting and varied collection of obituaries that read more like mini-biographies, but always include the answer to the most important question--to me anyway--how did they die. The odd and the common ways numerous rich and famous people, from movie stars to inventors, to historic legends met their end were fascinating, and even though I planned to read one, I kept flipping to the next. I appreciated how nothing was sensationalized, and rather serious though entertaining with a sometimes ironic touch of absurdity to many entries. I read a lot of books like this--but this one is refreshingly original.

An entertaining and interesting read but the "famous" people chosen for inclusion in this book seem kind of arbitrary. There are many glaring omissions although, to be fair, how one could cover the deaths of all famous people throughout history in one volume is beyond me. Moreover, this isn't a very good book if you're keen to read some sensationalist accounts of lurid celebrity demises. In all honesty, most entries in this book are of people who died pretty typical deaths. However, this is full of enough biographical information and interesting facts to make it an enjoyable and irreverently morbid read.

Apparently death fascinates Michael Largo because in addition to "The Portable Obituary" he's written "Final Exits".
Using his extensive collection of obituaries, reports, certificates, and documents the author hoped to write a definitive source of how famous people died. His is an entertaining and informative book, one that can be read in short spurts or hours because it's easy to find a stopping point.

For me though it's not a destination for one seeking the outrageous, the sensational, or the morbid. Most of the deaths are ordinary, and I was struck by the fact that so many of the deceased were my age or younger at the time of death. The short biographical sketches can be fascinating though and might motivate the reader to pursue longer works. For example, I am now motivated to learn more about the inventor, Nikola Tesla.

Want some good conversation starters? This could be your book then. The author's take on the Elvis' death is one I'd never heard, and the tidbit about Milton Berle's sexual prowess is an eye raiser.

The Portable Obituary (Michael Largo, 2007). The jacket of this book reads, "A luridly compelling and hilariously macabre look at how the famous took their final bows--from Socrates to Anna Nicole." That statement is misleading, probably intentionally, to entice people to buy the book. Actually, the reports are straightforward and respectful, and each includes an interesting mini-biography. My only objection--and it's a big one--is that there is no index! True, the sections are labeled alphabetically; however, many entries are grouped in sections where they don't belong. For example, Don Knotts appears in the "G" section as part of the report on Eva Gabor; Mussolini is filed under "H" in a little group titled "Dead Dictators." And, how could I ever have found Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline under "N" unless I just happened to stumble over them? I did see Karen Carpenter as I was reading, but when I finished the book and tried to find her again, I could not. The book needs an index!

This is a really great book to read if you're looking for a morbidly good time. It answers a lot of the questions about how our favorite celebrities of the past bit the dust. It has a lot of little facts that I never knew.
I really liked it, was easy to read, and was entertaining.
If you're wanting a book on Celebrity death then this is a good one for you. But if you're wanting a book on bizarre deaths of just normal people around the world,
I suggest Final Exits over this one though.

I heard of this book on a radio talk show. Couldn't wait to get home to order it. As usual, Amazon came right through by having it available.
A fun book and the same author has written several others which I intend to purchase as well.

Michael Largo's "The Portable Obituary" is yet another list of causes of death of celebrities, like Norman Donaldson's How Did They Die? and Todd Benoit's Where Are They Buried?. Like all these books, it satisfies the reader's interest about celebrity deaths.

I can't recommend it, though, because it is so full of medical errors that the veracity of the rest of the information comes into question. Without exaggeration, there's a mistake on almost every page. Take for instance his claims found in Marie Curie's obituary. He claims that cancer immediately forms when the body's total radiation exposure reaches 10,000 rems, and that the annual dose is 360 rems. Not only is he out by a factor of one thousand on the first number (it's 360 millirems, not 360 rems), not only does cancer not form the instant the subject reaches that magical 10,000 rem level, but he uses these mistaken numbers in a discussion of Marie Curie's death. Marie Curie didn't die of cancer.

Another example is on page 13, or the first page of the body of the book. He claims (and in bold small caps, for added truthiness) that ulcers are caused by stress and overwork. No, they aren't! For over twenty years it's been known that ulcers are caused either by a bacterial infection or by taking too many painkillers. Yet he trots out the old "stress and overwork" lie that caused half our parents and grandparents to become hooked on tranquilizers after being told their problems were all psychological.

And it continues: Kurt Cobain, Ricky Nelson, Lou Gehrig (where he trots out this quackalicious and totally idiotic idea about eels to explain Gehrig's ALS) - it just goes on and on. The mistakes and twistic illogic - look into "correlation error", Mr. Largo - and outright falsehoods are enough to make your blood boil.

Cripes. What a waste.

Edit: Oh, and thank you, Amazon, for editing my review to the point that it didn't make sense.