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Rating: 
Summary: Good Days and MAD is the BEST historical book ever existed!
Review: I actually don't understand why people only rated 3 stars for this book. It's awesome once you actually READ IT! I think one of you voted 3 stars because you just wanna look at the pictures. I voted 5 stars because I actually READ it. (I'm sorry if you guys HAVE read it and rate it 3 stars) The cover of the book dosen't lie! It IS a hysterical tour behind the scenes. I'll let you in a little bit of detail, since I own the book. The WHOLE staff of MAD always abuse each other. Example: Dick DeBartolo wanted to speak to the founder "William M. Gaines" Then DeBartolo heard over the phone Gaines said "He's a pain in the ass!" There's alot more abusing before Gaines said "He's a pain in the ass!" I don't remember what else he said, but it's FUNNY!So enclosing, THIS BOOK ROCKS!- The MADDEST fan of MAD magazine
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: If you approach this book with no real preconceptions, this is an incredible book. It is not an objective portral of MAD Magazine or its founder; it's more like a personal homage from the author to Bill Gaines and the history of MAD. Reading Gaines and reading about how MAD was a lesson in inspiration. Contrasted with the dull banality of everyday life, this book shines out like a technicolor monkey.
Rating: 
Summary: For fanatics only.
Review: Reading MAD magazine as a youngster in the 1960s and '70s, and checking in with it occasionally as an adult, I always assumed that the "usual gang of idiots" credit line and the other self-deprecating references within the magazine were the sly, tongue-in-cheek creations of a group of witty intellectuals who understood their audience well. After reading this bumpy, poorly written and -edited puff piece, though, I now believe the MAD crew is truly a group of low-life, low-brow yahoos. My opinion of author Dick DeBartolo, the late Bill Gaines and group hit a nadir from which it's not going to recover when I read, with growing incredulity, DeBartolo's account of part of a MAD staff trip to Thailand. He guilelessly tells, in his amateurish "gee-whiz" prose, of the group's nightly patronage of a Thai brothel, and would have us chuckle at the fact that he and Gaines had sex with the same prostitute on consecutive nights. That such a thing would happen is not particularly shocking -- but that DeBartolo would put it in his book, guilelessly and without any seeming awareness of its offensive potential, among cute anecdotes about hijinx with African animals and Roman ruins is a stroke of naivete so stunning as to make one wonder if the book was read by ANYONE other than the author before it went to print. I said this book was for fanatics only, but on second thought, if you want to remain a MAD devotee, perhaps you ought to pass. It's not even funny.
Rating: 
Summary: real junk
Review: This book is boring, poorly written and disgusting. All Debartolo
does is make Mad look like a has-been long lost and sold-out business. On top of this, there is a rather disturbing homoerotic S&M photograph midway through the book, which I still can't understand why its there, as it has no place in the context of the book, and it's inclusion is not explained at all.
I really get the idea that this book was not even welcomed by the Mad staff, and that Debartolo made a mistake that he knew he had to finish once it was begun. Save your money and buy the other book about Mad called Completely Mad - its much better.
Rating:
Summary: real junk
Review: This book is boring, poorly written and disgusting. All Debartolo
does is make Mad look like a has-been long lost and sold-out business. On top of this, there is a rather disturbing homoerotic S&M photograph midway through the book, which I still can't understand why its there, as it has no place in the context of the book, and it's inclusion is not explained at all.
I really get the idea that this book was not even welcomed by the Mad staff, and that Debartolo made a mistake that he knew he had to finish once it was begun. Save your money and buy the other book about Mad called Completely Mad - its much better.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't even finish it
Review: This book was awful. Awful, awful, awful. Mr. Debartolo must have a sticky key on his keyboard for the exclamation mark!!!! Practically every sentence is punctuated with five of them!!! Is life this exciting for this hack writer?!?!?! Besides that, the book wanders from topic to unrelated (and uninteresting) topic endlessly. It mystifies me how this man has actually made a career in the publishing industry. Wonders never cease. This book should be shown to grammer school children to prove to them that you can be ANYTHING you want (even with a total lack of talent). Also, if you want your girlfriend to think you're an idiot and break up with you, give her this book for Christmas. That's what my ex did. Clever maneuvering on his part.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't even finish it
Review: This book was awful. Awful, awful, awful. Mr. Debartolo must have a sticky key on his keyboard for the exclamation mark!!!! Practically every sentence is punctuated with five of them!!! Is life this exciting for this hack writer?!?!?! Besides that, the book wanders from topic to unrelated (and uninteresting) topic endlessly. It mystifies me how this man has actually made a career in the publishing industry. Wonders never cease. This book should be shown to grammer school children to prove to them that you can be ANYTHING you want (even with a total lack of talent). Also, if you want your girlfriend to think you're an idiot and break up with you, give her this book for Christmas. That's what my ex did. Clever maneuvering on his part.
Rating:
Summary: Take it from one who knows: This is the REAL DEAL
Review: When I received this book as a gift, I wasn't sure whether or not to return it. Since then, I've read it 3 times or so. It's an addictive, funny memoir, told by a man who deservedly owns the title of "Mad's MADdest Writer". I have spoken with DeBartolo on several occaissions, and he put his heart and soul into this book, unlike what the first reviewer seems to think. This book is a fine choice for MAD fans and normal people alike.
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