Years of Minutes: The Best of Rooney from 60 Minutes [Paperback]

Andy Rooney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2004

Andy Rooney has been at it for twenty-five years. It's time to celebrate. So here's the ultimate gift for every Rooney fan: an illustrated collection of Rooney's very best pieces from a quarter centur

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rooney fans aren't the only readers who will appreciate this massive collection of missives. Anyone who's ever rolled their eyes at the absurdities of modern society will find a soul mate in the legendary curmudgeon, whose on-camera commentaries translate surprisingly well to the printed page (if you can get past his personalized punctuation, which he takes pains to explain in the foreword, but which will likely irritate grammatical purists). Perhaps because Rooney's appearances at the tail end of 60 Minutes are so brief and often caustic, it's tempting to dismiss him as a small-minded whiner who gets paid big bucks to rant about whatever has just crossed his mind. What will surprise readers is how thoughtful and well-constructed his opinions are, and that he is capable of sentimentality and bewilderment, and has a big and generous heart. Of course, it's easy to overlook that when he's lobbing politically incorrect grenades-about door-to-door census takers in Afghanistan, he writes, "Some of them dont even have doors"-, while the late Kurt Cobain is dismissed thusly: if he "applied the same brain to his music that he applied to his drug-infested life, its reasonable to think that his music may not have made much sense either." That's mean-spirited, maybe; but even at his most outrageous, there's usually a grain of truth in Rooney's taut and well-constructed musings.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Here's another collection of essays from Rooney, the guy who appears at the end of 60 Minutes to talk about all things great and small. It's hard to imagine something he hasn't talked about: true-false tests, gloves (and the losing thereof), mail-order catalogs, magazine covers, pennies, minority groups, the war on Iraq, cloning, Abe Lincoln, the democratic process. Rooney cultivates his reputation as a curmudgeon--or, at least, as an entertaining whiner--but reading him, we realize that he has a sharp intellect, a knack for spotting life's little inconsistencies and annoyances, and a downright charming way of putting words together. There is one little quirk, though, that is certain to seem self-indulgent to many readers: contractions appear throughout the text without apostrophes (dont, doesnt, wasnt). That's the way he spells them when he writes his essays--which are meant, after all, to be read aloud--and that's the way he insisted his publisher spell them, too. Curmudgeons can get away with that kind of thing, especially if they have as many fans as Rooney does. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586482645
• ISBN-13: 978-1586482640
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #976,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why hasn't anyone reviewd this wonderful book yet?, November 30, 2003

By 

David Hayes (Issaquah, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Years of Minutes: The Best of Rooney from 60 Minutes (Hardcover)

Andy Rooney is a national treasure that much of our population obviously does not care enough about by the lack of readers posting a review on this book. Regardless of your politics, Rooney is an entertaining ol' coot. A little simplistic on his views of military and inteligence spending (regardless of who was in the White House). Whether he's taking a look at the mundane (the contents of his desk) or the emotional emptiness after the 9/11 attacks, Rooney always has something poinient (spelling?) to say. Even if you never watch 60 Minutes, this compellation is a wonderful look back at Andy's years on the news magazine show that started them all. A must read.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God Bless America...including Andy Rooney!, July 16, 2004

By 

J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Years of Minutes: The Best of Rooney from 60 Minutes (Hardcover)

I dont know about the rest of the readers,David,but I just finished it and heres is my two bits.
What we have here is a selection of the best of Andy's rants from 22 years on 60 Minutes.
If youve ever watched Andy,I dont need to tell you what theyre like;youll know.
I liked his intro to one in 1998 titled "Differences": "Tonight,in an effort to promote discord ,I propose to take a stand on a number of vital issues about which most Americans are always disagreeing."
"What tastes best ,chocolate or vanilla?
Ans.A Chocolate is a bold,strong taste.Vanilla is namby-pamby.
B Vanilla is more popular.
Andy: I like chocolate better and I like people who like chocolate better than I like people who like vanilla."

He did one in 2001 on the theme of "God Bless America"
He asked the question "Do people who ask God to bless America believe that a just and caring God who has the power to make things better or worse for a country,would really choose to make things better for America than for the people of say,Canada or Botswana?Why would God do that?" That same year he did one with the theme "I get Letters".Carol Deverick ,Fresno,California provided Andy with this answer.
God doesnt bless the whole world because he doesnt go where he's not wanted."

If youre wondering why so many apostrophes are missing in this review youll have to read Andy's Foreword.I think hes onto something.
A great collection of thoughts ;maybe we'd all be a bit better off if we thought about things the way Andy does.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, Funny, And Worth The $., July 17, 2006

By 

Honesty (NY STATE, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Years Of Minutes (Paperback)

Few people on TV have the courage of their convictions to tell the truth. His writings go from 1982-2003. Mr.Rooney does not suffer from "the political correctness disease." His opinions are logical, thoughtful, and sarcastic. This reader found herself usually in agreement with him. All in all I would say this should be required reading for our high school students. They could use some old fashioned "common sense and decency."