The Playmate Book: Five Decades of Centerfolds

Rating:
Summary: Once a Playmate, Always a Playmate
Review: THE PLAYMATE BOOK is a tastefully presented heavyweight coffee-table edition book which showcases every woman who appeared in PLAYBOY between 1954 (Marilyn Monroe) and 1996 (Victoria Silvstedt). The photographic quality is superb. The history of the magazine is well-documented. The book does skimp on many of the capsule biographies of the 512 beautiful women who grace these pages. The Playmates of the Year, perennial favorites such as Bettie Page and Pamela Anderson, famous Playmates such as Stella Stevens, and Playmates who met infamous ends (Jayne Mansfield, Claudia Jennings and Dorothy Stratten come to mind), are given far more coverage than the average, perhaps fairly so.

THE PLAYMATE BOOK brings humanity to these otherwise often anonymous pin-up girls, many of whom suffered social ostracism (particularly in the early days of the magazine) for daring to bare all, and shows the Playboy Playmates to be an eclectic and interesting group of women with widely divergent lifestyles. Some of their stories are wonderful, some are tragic, some involve jets, yachts and 'beautiful people' while others involve kids and picket fences. There is no one 'definitive' Playmate.

The book's greatest failing is its inability to bring it all together. More than just a "family album" THE PLAYMATE BOOK should be a social history of women over four decades, but sadly does not editorialize even briefly on "what it all means." It's a bad oversight on the part of the editors, and takes away from the finished product.

It's fun to see the evolution of the Centerfold over time, the changing styles, the increasing daring. It's also fun to find your favorite Playmate(s) and discover what she is/was doing (circa 1997). Hopefully, PLAYBOY will update this book periodically, and add new Playmates as they appear.

Rating:
Summary: a guy
Review: This book is a must have! It gave me good hard wood the second i saw it

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection of Five Decades of Beautiful Women
Review: This is an excellent pictorial history of the Playmates from the early days through 1996. It's fun to read up-to-date information and find out where some of your favorite Playmates are doing today and what they look like now. Not every Playmate is updated like that, however (some them are still "missing in action"). The Playmate Book also tells us of the different paths Playmates have taken since their appearance. Some have storybook endings, others not (a reminder they are more than the photos we see of them). Overall, a fine book. If there was one nitpick, it's too bad they chose to reprint a lot of the same photos from the issues the Playmates appeared in, instead of choosing outtakes. However, the photographic quality of the book is far better than the magazine, owing to a better paper stock.

Rating:
Summary: A great book if you're a Playmate fan
Review: This is an excellent pictorial history of the Playmates from the early days through 1996. It's fun to read up-to-date information and find out where some of your favorite Playmates are doing today and what they look like now. Not every Playmate is updated like that, however (some them are still "missing in action"). The Playmate Book also tells us of the different paths Playmates have taken since their appearance. Some have storybook endings, others not (a reminder they are more than the photos we see of them). Overall, a fine book. If there was one nitpick, it's too bad they chose to reprint a lot of the same photos from the issues the Playmates appeared in, instead of choosing outtakes. However, the photographic quality of the book is far better than the magazine, owing to a better paper stock.