Dave Barry Turns 50 (Hardcover)

by Dave Barry (Author) "I am NOT going to whine..." (more)
Key Phrases: Buffalo Bob, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"Many bad things happen when you turn 50. You can't see; you can't hear; you can read the entire Oxford English Dictionary in the time it takes you to go to the bathroom; and you keep meeting people your own age who look like Grandpa Walton (and those are the women)." Yep, Dave Barry is getting old, and the King of Humor may soon become the King Lear of Humor, but fear not, because Dave is not going quietly. Dave Barry Turns 50 is Barry at his best, mainly because it succeeds in being more than simply a collection of his newspaper columns. He examines the development of the baby boomer, from youth in the '50s ("an age so innocent that there could be a TV show featuring a main character called 'The Beaver'") to maturity in the '70s ("We ... basked in the reflected glory of Woodward and Bernstein: we were inspired by them; we kept a sharp eye out for any hint of corruption in the way our local school board purchased clarinets for the marching band"), before providing a self-help guide for those entering their second half century.

Barry could squeeze laughs out of a prostate exam (eventually he may have to, although the cover of this book proudly states that he refuses to even mention the word prostate), and Dave Barry Turns 50 provides him with ample opportunities to demonstrate the agile wit that has endeared him to millions of fans. Even in the final chapters, when he faces the inevitability of death, he manages to keep chuckling--after all, he is only 50, and this, he points out, "...is our glory time, this last decade or so before our powers decline and we start showing up for work with our pants on backwards." Let's hope that we'll be around for Dave Barry Turns 90. --Simon Leake

From Publishers Weekly
Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Barry claims, "Many bad things happen when you turn 50. You can't see; you can't hear; you can read the entire Oxford English Dictionary in the time it takes you to go to the bathroom; and you keep meeting people your own age who look like Grandpa Walton." Even so, in this follow-up to his bestselling Dave Barry Turns 40, he decided not to dwell "on the negative aspects of turning 50" and instead offers a "celebration of the aging process" by examining significant baby-boomer accomplishments ("The New Age movement! Call waiting!"). Barry begins with boomer origins in the late 1940s, a time when record players "were closer in design and sound quality to washing machines." Each subsequent decade gets a full chapter as Barry waxes nostalgic while shuffling down pathways of the past to examine an assortment of arcane artifacts and "actual facts," largely gleaned from Rita Lang Kleinfelder's 750-page When We Were Young: A Baby-Boomer Yearbook. Barry ends each chapter with "Discussion Questions" ("Did you inhale? Explain."), and maintains mirth right to the closing pages (retirement plans, death options). However, it's the look back at TV commercials, politics, inventions and attitudes that really makes those who have seen it all (much of "it" through trifocals) chortle out loud. It's not unlike an archeological dig through an attic, choking from laughter rather than dust, as familiar and forgotten memories are refreshed and taken for a satirical synaptic spin by a master humorist. 13-city birthday tour. (Oct.) FYI: Appropriately enough, this title is also available as a Random House audio ($18 ISBN 0-375-40428-7) and in a large-print edition ($22
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 219 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (September 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609603272
• ISBN-13: 978-0609603277
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,125,541 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Smiles, not laughs, February 28, 2000

By	New Jersey Mom (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dave Barry Turns 50 (Paperback)

This book consisted of three different parts, stapled together. First we have Dave's reflections on turning 50, which are, frankly, a little morbid and not that funny. (Some of these appear at the beginning and some at the end of the book). Then we have the "year-by-year" review of his life and the world around him starting from his birth (1947) to 1974 when he more or less lost interest. Problem here is that some fairly awful things happened in those years and he knows he can't make jokes about them, so he mixes his humor with moral righteousness so that you know the HE was against the war (although he doesn't seem to have done much about it except get CO status for which it's fairly clear he didn't really qualify). The juxtaposition of jokes with the tone of moral outrage doesn't go that well. And finally he has a few very funny, typically Barry, obviously stand-alone type pieces on things like how to get your kid into college. But here's what I really want to know --- I only have a few Barry books but they all mention his wife, Beth. Now his wife, as per the dedication, appears to be "Michelle" and seems to be a lot younger than he is. Did Dave make a mid-life switch? And how can he poke fun at all the other late-middle-aged peccadillos and not mention this most-stereotyped one of his own?

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typical Dave Barry - gut-bustingly funny - but not his best, August 12, 2002

By	Ramon Kranzkuper (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dave Barry Turns 50 (Paperback)

OK - are you a Dave Barry fan, or is this going to be your first Dave Barry book? If you like Dave, this is another of his never-ending series of incredibly funny books. You'll get a copy, of course, and it will be one of the funniest books you've ever read, of course, since no one else (except James Lileks) is even remotely as funny as Dave Barry is. Like someone else said here, even if this one isn't his funniest, it's funnier than almost any other 'funny book' you'll read.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that I stopped carrying Dave Barry books to read on flights. It's not possible to laugh under your breath three times a minute, and I've noticed that people tend to stare if you laugh out loud three times a minute, for an hour or more.

If you're not a Dave Barry fan already - this one won't be the best place to start if you want to decide whether to join the Dave Barry club or not. Read "Dave Barry's greatest hits", or the travel one (can't remember the name).

After having read all of Dave's books, I must conclude that there is something fundamentally wrong with people who don't find him funny ... just kidding! But honestly, Dave's is a brand of humor that appeals to a surprisingly large variety of people; and this one (DB turns 50) is typical Dave.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Is it just me?, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

Is it just me or was Dave Barry much funnier 10 or 12 years ago? It seems like it used to be when I picked up a column or book written by Dave Barry I was guaranteed to laugh out loud. Now, it just seems that I smirk a little and find myself reading lines that I swear he's written somewhere else before. Is it just me or has Barry really lost his edge? He was never a biting, witty type--always a good-natured, fun type of guy. But somehow he just doesn't seem that funny anymore. If you want a real laugh, get "Dave Barry Slept Here" or "Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need." They're much better than this one.