Rating: Summary: Guide to Guys Review: Absolutely hysterical!! And not just for women, I think men would find this quite funny too. I enjoyed it from cover to cover, and have passed the book around to all my friends.
Rating: Summary: Confirms all my suspicions Review: As a woman who has devoted her life to loving guys, I loved this book. Barry articulates my every observation about every idiosyncracy about the objects of my affections, but am no where near literate enough myself to express. This book is a witty, affectionate, hilarious and at times even insightful delight. A must read for every woman who loves guys (NOT men), or at least loves to laugh!
Rating: Summary: Like Bringing a Doctor's Note to Your Boss Review: As has been noted in many reviews, this book is stuffed full of incredibly funny stories, and even if you rarely laugh out loud (like me), you probably will a few times during this book. There are also some passages that are so eerily realistic, and so intimate, in their depiction of the guy psyche, that they read more like a documentary than a humorous editorial. You can almost imagine David Attenborough crouching down in the corner of the men's room, whispering, "Here we see the males of the species gathering to dispense of liquid waste at a row of urinals, but if you think their choice of urinal location is careless, you'd be wrong...." There really is a detailed explanation of urinal etiquette that is dead on the mark for accuracy, and part of the humor was sharing it with my incredulous wife, who had no concept of this hidden facet of male society. There are also parts of the book that I cannot empathize with at all, such as the sections talking about sports fanaticism. Nonetheless, just as my wife laughed at the inanity of urinal etiquette that she had no experience with, I found the unfamiliar topics just as funny as the anecdotes I could directly relate to. Dave's story of his rivalry with opposing fans at a Celtics game is one of my favorites in all his writing. As always, the foibles are presented in a good-natured way which both the guilty and innocent should equally enjoy. This book can also be a good ego booster, since every man should be able to find at least one passage where he can say "At least I never did that!"
Rating: Summary: Excellent Barry book... Review: Barry is not an American Literary Classic, but he is funny as a wet weasle. Everyone I have recommended it agrees. The book is so good my friends and I would take turns reading random passages aloud to each other. This is his one of his best works. If you like Dave Barry, or silly humor you may like this light read.
Rating: Summary: don't drink anything while reading this Review: Dave Barry begins with the difference between men and guys. Men are mature; guys are - well, the very opposite. A few parts of this book are weak and could have used some sharpening up, but mostly the "Guide' is hilarious. Particularly amusing is the quiz to determine whether or not you are a guy, as well as the dead-on sections on sports - "Hitler was a bad person, but he did not miss important free throws in the middle of the playoffs." Also amusing is the dialogue between Elaine and Roger. With just a few lines, Barry shows the vast gulf between men and women communication-wise and makes the reader pessimistic about ever being able to cross it. Men, Barry explains, have not evolved much since their cavemen days, and when it comes to commnicating with their mate, bumble around much like a dog trying to remember if its human gave it permission to pee inside. While much of this is obviously exaggerated, much rings eerily true. Forget the relationship gurus with their own talk-shows, and read this book instead.
Rating: Summary: First-tier Dave Barry book! Review: Dave Barry is almost always extremely funny; even his less-impressive efforts are generally at least moderately amusing. But this is one of his best, up there with "Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up" and "Dave Barry Turns 40". Even those guys who, like myself, sometimes wonder if we're from this planet (given how little our mindset seems to have in common with the majority) and if we ARE from this planet, what species we're members of, can still find things in this book that we empathize with; in my case, it's the inability to see dirt. (Dave explains that this is why guys are so bad at housecleaning; they have a genetic visual impairment that renders them unable to see dirt.) If you love subtle, elaborate, intellectual humor... you won't want to read this book. But if you can find amusement in seriously irreverent humor, even if it has the subtlety of a blowout at highway speed, then you should enjoy this book.
Rating: Summary: First-tier Dave Barry book! Review: Dave Barry is almost always extremely funny; even his less-impressive efforts are generally at least moderately amusing. But this is one of his best, up there with "Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up" and "Dave Barry Turns 40". Even those guys who, like myself, sometimes wonder if we're from this planet (given how little our mindset seems to have in common with the majority) and if we ARE from this planet, what species we're members of, can still find things in this book that we empathize with; in my case, it's the inability to see dirt. (Dave explains that this is why guys are so bad at housecleaning; they have a genetic visual impairment that renders them unable to see dirt.) If you love subtle, elaborate, intellectual humor... you won't want to read this book. But if you can find amusement in seriously irreverent humor, even if it has the subtlety of a blowout at highway speed, then you should enjoy this book.
Rating: Summary: Perhaps The Funniest Book I've Ever Read Review: Dave Barry's Complete Guide To Guys is, quite possibly, the most hilarious book I have ever read. Basically, Barry sums up all the stereotypes involving guys, not men, guys. Every page made me laugh out loud. I never got tired of it. I found myself nodding in recognition at almost everything written while I laughed until I cried. One of my personal favorite things that Dave Barry does in this book is his spectacular use of footnotes. He will have a sentence followed by a number corresponding to a footnote at the bottom of the page. It is always something hilariously random with very funny shock value. Dave Barry also includes many wonderful anecdotes on actual experiences with guy behavior, such as a bizarrely idiotic club initiation and an organization known as the Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiasts just to list a few. Anybody who is a fan of gender-related humor, either a guy or a gal, is sure to get a kick out of this fantastically entertaining work of literature.
Rating: Summary: Hilarious! Review: Dave Barry's Guide to Guys is, in my opinion, Dave Barry's funniest book and that is saying a lot because all of his books are hilarious. I especially love his observations concerning the differences between men and women in relationships.
Rating: Summary: Of urinal etiquette and blowing stuff up Review: DBCGG is vintage Dave Barry, which means that a) it's pretty funny and insightful and b) it feels as though you've read it before somewhere. While I didn't laugh several times per page as some have, I did manage a good dozen involuntary chortles and snickers. Barry, for all his predictability, does occassionally deliver unexpected images that take you off guard, from exploding vacuum cleaners to drunken William Tells. Compared to the massively unfunny books written by many comedians (Seinfeld and Cosby come to mind) Barry's oeuvre (French for "exploding weasels") is a sublime work of genius.
Barry has a way of identifying elements of male life that go unnoticed by most of us. How many of we married men think much about our wives' endless need to acquire and rearrange furniture? Dave's tale of the guy who made furniture from bags of old newspapers hit home. When I met my wife, I was less impressed by her looks and brains (which she had in spades) than by the fact that she owned a functioning kitchen table. DBCGG is a book for those of us who aspire to manhood (characterized by great thoughts and achievements) yet who manage only "guyhood," whose greatest achievements include knocking things down, irrational devotion to sports teams and occasionally remembering the names of our offspring.
I, an almost fifty-year-old person of the male gender, personally rated this book a three. But judging from the constant laughter, tittering and guffaws coming from my teenaged sons, they would rate it a five. I've split the difference and given it 4 stars.
Note: except for two very short sections on intimate male behavior, this book is OK for ages 12 and up.
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