Customer Reviews

Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Al Franken...you really need to give all the proceeds of this book to your wife...and maybe that will begin to make up for all the fun we're having at her expense! Franken, author of one of my most favorite titled books of all time, "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot", scores another winner with this little book.

With his sharp wit and conversational style (you can almost hear him speaking these words while you read them), he leads us through the too-often-times hellacious rollercoaster ride of life. He starts with college graduation and goes forward, till the bitter end of life and beyond. It's quite a journey through most of life's misadventures.

The title, is done in Dr. Seussian style and that style is repeated throughout the contents. Examples include chapters titled: "Oh, you shouldn't skip the introduction"; "Oh, the drugs you will take"; "Oh, the orgasms you will fake".

In the drug chapter, he advises people to use drugs responsibly, and that he would be a hypocrite to say not to use them at all, as he is high on drugs right now "prescription drugs, but drugs nonetheless". I can believe that one, but I can't believe his statement in "Oh pick a religion, any religion", that "he has absolutely no idea what he will write next". Franken knows what he wants to say and how to say it.

There's a whole lot of practical advice -- ok, maybe not so practical. Some examples include: every marriage has a "stomach-turning" phase you need to get yourself through. Or, how about, "try to view your stay in a nursing home as merely temporary, because in one way or another, it is". There's some advice for men: resist the temptation to cheat on your wife, and try instead to make sex with her reasonably diverting, by thinking about a younger, more attractive woman.

Along with his suffering wife, he gets some jabs in at Bill Gates, Kenneth Lay, Ann Quindlen and Maria Shriver to name a few. He shamelessly dedicates his book to that inspiration to us all, (especially to wannabe book-of-the-month club authors such as himself), Oprah.

All in all a funny book, almost worthy of five stars. "AL" (see the drug chapter) would probably want me to conclude this review by saying something like, oh well, if you can't be successful, just be happy. "AL" Franken does makes us feel happy, despite all of our shortcomings, or perhaps, because of them.

The title should be "Oh, the things you will read, but shouldn't have."

This book is in the same league as Steve Martin's "Pure Drivel." There were a few passages that provided some insite into the workings of Al Franken's pysche, however they went away quickly and we were left with stories of his Enron investment's and subsequent need for fund raising activities, such as authoring books.

If you love Al, borrow the book. If not, don't bother.

Horrible. And I am a fan of Al Franken. This was nothing more than a stream of conciousness gone ary. Waste of paper, ink and my cash. Al come on, you have such amazing talents, this was not one of them

Some good advice: Always get the audio version of Al Franken's works - spoken/performed by Al himself. It's so much better. Franken is intelligent and hilarious. You might even learn something. Also: check out his show on air america radio (on the internet & radio).

P.S. I listened to this on a long road-trip. Not only did I laugh my *** off, I didn't want the drive to end for fear I might not finish the book.

"Oh, the Things I Know!", by Al Franken, bears the subtitle: "A Guide to Success, Or, Failing That, Happiness." This book is a hilarious parody of the genre of book that offers the reader advice for good living. In the course of the text Franken particularly singles out two contributors to the genre--Anna Quindlen and Maria Shriver--for mockery.

Franken covers a wide range of life experiences: sex, drugs, religion, marriage, parenthood, finances, volunteerism, etc. Along the way he pokes fun at many targets: commencement addresses, Oprah's Book Club, the Enron scandal, etc. Both brainy and playfully vulgar, he's not afraid to hit below the belt--or go for the jugular. His prose style is mischievous and engaging, yet drips with sarcasm.

The chapters have such amusing titles as "Oh, the Weight You Will Gain!" and "Oh, the People You'll Sue!" This book made me laugh out loud several times. In fact, at one point I laughed so hard I nearly fell down and injured myself. And that's probably the best praise one can give to a book like this.

Not worth the 2 hours it takes to read. It's about as important as an Al Franken spot on Letterman, an entertaining enough interview but well, that's free. This is far inferior to the Ben Stiller/Janeane Garafolo book of a similar vein. Methinks the dullest folks from Franken's generation who now also have kids and too-high budgets may like this drivel. Anyone could write this, it's water-cooler chit chat at it's worst.

If you really feel the need to read this rather bland work, I'd suggest just borrowing a copy from the library. While Al Franken's previous works are among my favorites in humor, I couldn't even bring myself to finish the second half of this book.

It takes a dedicated Al Franken fan to enjoy this book. For those of us who merely enjoy (or tolerate) Franken's humor, this book is basically just a slapdown of random, useless thoughts designed only to consume an hour of your reading time and a few of your hard earned $$. Twenty-nine five page chapters give the bookstore thumber ample opportunity to quickly find a snippet of apparent wisdom and interest, which upon reading is swiftly disposed of to make room for the next abbreviated chapter. Several chapters contain nothing but the kind of filler used by a grade-school journal writer to increase his word count (3 pages of areas codes - c'mon, that's 2% of the total book!). Franken can't even use his own jokes, and resurrects Buddy Hackett's. Does that alone tell you what you need to know?

For serious and substantial laughs, stick with PJ O'Rourke and Michael Moore.

This book is one of the funniest books I have ever read. Al Franken is hysterical...Every page had me laughing out loud! It is the best spoof on an advice book...as he calls it "A cradle to grave guide for the human existance". I just finished it this second, and want everyone I know to read it, because I want them to have that wonderful feeling of laughing their way through an entire book. Fabulous!!!!!

After reading Al's book on Rush I was ready to read anything Al Franken wrote. Wow, was that a mistake. Oh the things i know! makes me think Al wrote the book in his sleep. Not only is it not funny, it's not clever either. Al fills his book with bad advice and tries to pass it off as him being humorous. Sure, there's the occasional funny part- the politics chapter- the religion chapter- but overall this Al book is simply dumb and unhumorous. It is a shame Al used his big name to get away with publishing such crap.