Rating: 
Summary: GENE DOES IT AGAIN!!!!
Review: Once again, the "God Of Thunder" has written a thoroughly entertaining and insightful book filled with his patented wit and wisdom.
Gene Simmons is brilliant. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Gene, I love your fire breathing work.....however !!
Review: Once again, the larger than life. co-founder of supergroup KISS has delivered another "straight between the eyes" literary blow that will tickle some people's funny bone, anger some others, and most likely be viewed as an "Anthony Robbins" type manual on getting rich for rock 'n' roll devotees ! Late last year, I actually attended Gene's "Speaking in Tongues" tour at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Australia (at which time he covered a lot of the themes mentioned in SEX, MONEY, KISS )...and it was rather an unusual evening. In retrospect, Gene came across somewhere between showman P.T. Barnum & tycoon John Jacobs Astor. Having said that, it was a huge thrill to meet Gene, swap a few words, get a photo & an autograph too !And whilst Gene excels in the marketing of rock and roll supergroups....I don't think he is quite destined for a career as a financial planner ! In "SEX, MONEY, KISS" take for instance that Gene advises to buy your home (and most everything else in your life) with cold, hard cash. Which is a nice option for some of us ! However, here's a little reality check for the Demon. Where I live ( Melbourne, Australia ) the average house price is around $350k, so lets do some simple math....... If I was a fresh faced 21 year old earning $60k a year, and took home $38k after tax (which is a VERY big wage for the average 21 year old ), that gives me $3166 a month to spend ! So, each month this young guy's rent bill, food, clothing, various insurance premiums, phone/gas/electricity bills, car running costs, entertainment, chasing the fairer sex, buying KISS books, CD's (of course) etc is around $1500....that leaves him with $1666 in the bank ! Now $350,000 divided by $1,666 = 210 months or 17.5 years ! That means as a 21 year old KISS fan following Gene's advice, he can buy his first home at nearly 39 years old ! And lets not forget, that we can count on an average 1.5% increase MINIMUM in house prices...so that age vs income issue just blew out, so it now looks like he'll be nearly 50 years old before he get's his own place ! Gene....stick to music, women & pyrotechnics, and leave the financial advice to Wall Street !
Rating:
Summary: FANTABULOUS!!
Review: Once again...Gene hits the jackpot. Now granted I am not a die-hard KISS fan, but the second I picked this book up (at fist to admire the unique cover design) and I couldn't put it down. From the first to last page I was laughing, rocking out, frustrated, shocked, and at times teary eyed. Gene is so brutally honest, offensive honest, but nonetheless it's a great book and I learned a lot...Gene is a money master mind. And his advice on one's financial situations is true and worth while. I reccomend this book to EVERYONE!!! You don't even have to be a FAN to enjoy this wonderfully written book!!! rock on!
Rating:
Summary: THREE THINGS I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT
Review: SEX MONEY KISS
And now Gene's put them all together. AWESOME.
I predict this will be a KISS summer and this is a great way to start it off. I've bought the book so I could see all the cool pictures and the book on tape too so I could hear Gene's voice. I LOVE HIS SEXY VOICE! I may not agree with all you say...but I must admit that on many counts you're right on.
Thank-you Gene!
Rating:
Summary: Hillarious!A GREAT autobiography!
Review: The book "Sex,Money,KISS"is hillarious&a GREAT autobiogaphy! This is the second autobiography written by KISS bassist Gene Simmons.I like autobiographies,&the autobiographies I own are this,the George W. Bush autobiography"A Charge To Keep",& the George H.W. Bush autobiography"All The Best:My Life In Pictures And Writings".In this autobiography,Gene talks about growing up,being with KISS,the bands he produced,&the movies he acted in.All of this book is great,but my favorite part is where Gene makes fun of married couples.He gives advice to the men&makes fun of the females.I'm a guy,&all guys should buy a copy of this book so they can learn what their future wives&girlfriends might be like.They should also not show it to the person they will date in the future or are dating now. One of the funny things in this book are some of the famous people who are in here,such as Mel Gibson,John Lennon,Tiger Woods,Dr. Phil,Oprah Winfrey,etc.You won't find Dr. Phil in the index,because he was not famous when this book came out.But you will find Oprah in the index.Out of all the people Oprah has helped,out of all the charity work she has done,she can quit it all,because her name ended up in a Gene Simmons book. Here are some quotes by famous people Gene put in this book: "What luck for rulers that men do not think"-Adolf Hitler "Pennies do not come from heaven.They have to be earned right here on earth"-Margaret Thatcher "If A equals success,then the formula is A equals X plus Y plus Z.X is work.Y is play.Z is keep you mouth shut"-Albert Einstein I cracked up when I saw those quotes.I will never understand why Gene put Hitler in this book because Gene is Jewish&his mother
was in concentration camps.Everyday I wonder "Why would a Jewish man, whose mother was in concentration camps,put Hitler in his book"? A very well-written book.
Rating: 
Summary: A book about stereotypical male double standards.
Review: The most important things in life are money, sex and more money? I just don't completely agree. What about sex with love?
Why should Gene have all the multi-partner fun? What about preaching swinging sex with the one you love to your adoring masses, Gene? Too much for you?
Rating:
Summary: My New Financial Advisor
Review: There's something almost heroic about Gene's single-minded ability to gouge as much money from his fans as possible. But the results don't lie. Gene gives solid advice and tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to. I can't wait for his lectures to be put on dvd. Man, he's got me buying more Kiss Krap!
Rating:
Summary: Pure Gene
Review: This book is 100% about Gene...about his philosophy, his attitudes, his reasoning and thought processes, and (mostly) his money. A previous reviewer mentioned that Gene pooh-poohs credit cards in the book, but yet promotes a KISS credit card with a usurious interest rate. On the surface, this may seem like hypocrisy but not when viewed in the light of Gene's guiding philosophy: to get your money in his pocket. If you don't pay off your credit card balances on time, whose fault is that? Which leads to another Gene-ism: always pay cash up front for all your purchases. Granted, this is not entirely realistic for mere salaried mortals. However, it begs the questions: do you really need it and can you get it more cheaply? Gene's views on men and marriage are devastatingly spot-on. In a capsule: don't get married! Listen to Tom Leykis and read this book and you will NEVER see women the same way again. The financial repercussions for not having a pre-nuptial or cohabitation agreement are gruesome for a man. The courts undoubtedly favour the woman in the event of a divorce (a 50% likelihood). She'll most likely get 50% of your assets, 50% of your pre-tax income (spousal support), and custody of the kids (did I mention child support?). All this so she may live "in the style to which she was accustomed". The law says squat about a man's living standards after marriage. Does this sound like a good deal to you? Thought so.... In a nutshell, the book is this: 1. Work hard to get more money
2. Expand your business horizons to get more money. Don't re-invent the wheel. Be a copycat to make more money. See if your hobbies can be turned into a business venture. Figure out a way to get their money in your pocket.
3. Stay out of debt and live below your means.
4. Don't get married or live common-law. If you do, have a pre-nup or cohabitation agreement.
5. Keep your body clean (internally). No drugs. No alcohol. It's a fairly simple philosophy and an even simpler read, but nevertheless there is a lot of common sense in his ideas. The reason why this book only gets 4 stars is because there is a lot of filler in the form of enlarged quotations and doodles that I find superfluous and self-aggrandizing. Once the point has been made, it doesn't need to be made again in large type. Overall, I recommend this book because it contains simple truths that have worked very well for Mr. Simmons and that may very well work for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly disappointing
Review: This book, while somewhat of an entertaining read, doesn't have any real value to it's target market (people interested in KISS, self-improvement/business, or both). "Sex Money Kiss" fails as a book about KISS because there are many others out there that are much, much better. Simmon's recent "Kiss and Make-Up", for example, provides a more candid account of the band's tenure in a more detailed and entertaining way. "Sex Money Kiss" also fails as a book about business and personal philosophy because the logic is largely flawed. For example, while discussing career choice, Simmons argues that someone who goes to dental school may not be as well-off financially as compared to someone who chooses to turn their hobby into a professional career. For example, he states that to become a dentist, one must spend many years in school (educational cost), lose out on money that could be made while in school (opportunity cost), and later purchase equipment and everything needed to run a dental office (PP&E cost). He argues that if you choose to pursue a hobby as a career, particularly one with very low overhead, you can amass a larger fortune than someone who pursues dentistry. That logic is entirely flawed. Most businesses where the entry to market is easy are very difficult to succeed in due to cut throat competition. As a result, most ease of market entry businesses fail rather quickly. His point of doing what you love for a career makes sense, however, business isn't that simple. Just because you like to do something doesn't mean that you can turn it into a successful, profitable venture. It is unfortunate that some readers might take his argument to heart and lose a lot of money in the process. His argument about marriage and it's relation to financial wealth is also flawed. For example, he argues that he, Oprah Winfrey, and Martha Stewart (pre-scandal) are all rich and are also unmarried- and that's not a coincidence. Therefore, because the three of them are rich and not married you shouldn't get married either. That argument is also completely flawed. If you examine the literature on the wealthy in the United States (net worth of at least one-million dollars), you will find that not only are most of them indeed married, but have been married to the same person for many, many years. Also, for every wealthy person who isn't married (Oprah, Martha, Gene, etc.) you can find countless others who are married, have been for a long time, and still remain wealthy. Although I understand Simmon's criticisms of the institution of marriage itself, his logic in persuading others to avoid getting married is totally illogical. In short (too late), if you're looking for a book about personal finance and how to live below your means, there are many other alternatives out there that are much better. If you're looking for a book about the history/story of KISS, get "Kiss and Make-up" instead.
Rating:
Summary: Some good advice, but...
Review: While he gives smart, solid, conservative advice about personal fiance, there's a major flaw in Gene's thinking about the business side of marriage, which doesn't surprise me because he's rich, or actually super-rich, and has been so for almost thirty years. So how much can he relate to the 'common man' (read- avg. Kiss fan), who makes less than 40k a year? The answer is probably not very much. My argument is that he fails to see the FINANCIAL BENEFIT that a marriage between two hardworking people can bring! It's called 'combined income'. If marriage is supposed to destroy me financially, then why is my (our) net worth about twice what it was before getting hitched? That fact alone opens the door to savings and also spending opportunities I'd have considered way out of bounds while single! The simple answer to personal wealth is to be smart about it. If you're really that worried about getting screwed financially by marriage, then a pre-nuptual agreement solves this problem. There's also no reason to immediately combine finances after the wedding, or at all. I maintain a savings account with my wife, where our combined input maximizes the interest return, but we have seperate checking accounts to avoid any arguments of the 'you wrote that check and didn't log it so now we bounced the next one' type. It's not lack of trust for the one you love, just good practical sense. As a super-rich individual, Gene SHOULD be concerned about who has access to his money, but not at the expense of the true happiness marriage can provide. As an Athiest, unclouded by certain moral dogma, I understand his argument about man's primal nature making marriage a bad idea, but the biggest financial burden that marriage brings is CHILDREN, not the wife, especially if she makes her own living. You don't have to be married to make babies! As a father, you have an absolute obligation to your kids in all aspects, including financially, so get used to handing out that hard earned jack, Gene! As for the financial benefits of marriage, it doesn't matter to Gene, he's already loaded, but it probably would make a big difference to just about everyone else out there, and their kids!
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