The Smoking Gun: A Dossier of Secret, Surprising, and Salacious Documents

Rating:
Summary: Can you handle the truth?
Review: Bastone, Green & Glauber's book enters the leagues of Ripley's Believe It or Not, Ricky Jay's examination of con artists and circus folks, and Woodword & Bernstein's investigation into Watergate. In other words, it's fun, outrageous and incredibly revealing. Meticulously researched and entertainingly presented, the team paints a decidedly different picture of what we know and what we think we know. Fans of the web site will not be disappointed with what they find here; a must for muckrakers, malcontents and truth seekers.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny/ineresting...but should be taken in small doses
Review: Do you remember a while back when FOX ran "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" And do you remember that a week or so later, it was revealed that Rick Rockwell had a restraining order put on him? Well, the people at The Smoking Gun found it out, and told the country about it.

On their popular website, ..., court documents, letters written to government officials, FBI files, government studies, and many other official papers can be found. Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, they range from people complaining about 'obscene' license plates to Martha Stewart's alleged assault, to what happens when you explode a nuclear weapon in the vicinity of aluminum cans.

This book, their first, is filled with things in the archives of their website, and is a very interesting read. If you've ever been curious about what our government or celebreties are up to, you will love this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Gallery of the Weird
Review: If there's that one person on your Christmas list for whom it's impossible to buy a gift - say, your conspiracy-theorist, rubber-necking, fascinated-by-the-strange kind of friend - the search for the perfect present may be over. The Smoking Gun, a website dedicated to bringing people actual copies of government documents about celebrities and normal people involved in a variety of strange situations, released a "best-of" book, The Smoking Gun: A Dossier of Secret, Surprising, and Salacious Documents from the Files of the Smoking Gun. Chock-full of all kinds of dirt, human stupidity, and general hilariousness, this is exactly the book for the person who has "everything."

Want to know the details of Marilyn Monroe's autopsy? What about Martha Stewart's attempt to run down a gardener who refused to take her advice? The police report of the first officer on the scene of Kurt Cobain's suicide? President Nixon's background check from when he was thinking of joining the FBI? Tim Allen's sobriety test from 1997? The details of every attempt Dennis Rodman made to force himself on a woman? It's all here, in its original black-and-white glory, ready for your perusal.

Like a train wreck, you just can't tear your eyes away from The Smoking Gun's insane offering of all that makes our species better than the monkeys - or so we think, anyway. It's amazing, sick, and fascinating all at the same time. And, you've got the stocking stuffer for the person who has it all - because, chances are, they don't have Mike Tyson's arrest report. Just don't stay up all night reading it yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Tedium and Boredom: Now Available in Handy Book Form!
Review: In case [URL} is not sufficient, you can now get an additional dose in convenient paperback! The premise is enticing enough: secret, surprising and salacious documents - a veritable treasure chest of dirt, sleaze, and slime! Who could resist the temptation? But, if the reviews of other readers are the basis, I may be alone in finding "The Smoking Gun" boring and tedious. About as compelling, I guess, as reading unedited police reports and law suits - which is exactly what it is. I guess when it comes right down to it, I really don't find a letter from Sean "Puffy" Combs' doctor - as an excuse for a canceled tour - all that interesting. The contract Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman require their household help sign? Wow - how have I managed to live without knowing the extent of liabilities associated with release of Cruise/Kidman personal information, in detail by the type of media deployed! And the details of loser Parker Stevenson's alimony from estranged wife Kirstie Alley, insuring Stevenson continuance of their lavish life style? ("FAO Schwartz would keep a staff and the store open for two hours exclusively for Kirstie and me. We spared no expense, as we enjoyed our "private" shopping spree. Our FAO Schwartz jaunts would cost us approximately $15,000.") Um, fascinating, I guess?

I'll concede - the book has it moments. The last chapter, "Patently Absurd" includes some gems like the "human gas filter pad for wearing in the underwear" and a method for bar coding humans. And the "strap secured condom". Glad to see the US patent attorneys hard at work.

On balance, I should have realized that we're already overexposed to the excesses and absurdities of life in America - especially where celebrities are involved. The additional manifestation in raw legal documents, police reports, and court transcripts is simply more than I care about knowing, and frankly is not all that revealing, anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Tedium and Boredom: Now Available in Handy Book Form!
Review: In case [URL} is not sufficient, you can now get an additional dose in convenient paperback! The premise is enticing enough: secret, surprising and salacious documents - a veritable treasure chest of dirt, sleaze, and slime! Who could resist the temptation? But, if the reviews of other readers are the basis, I may be alone in finding "The Smoking Gun" boring and tedious. About as compelling, I guess, as reading unedited police reports and law suits - which is exactly what it is. I guess when it comes right down to it, I really don't find a letter from Sean "Puffy" Combs' doctor - as an excuse for a canceled tour - all that interesting. The contract Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman require their household help sign? Wow - how have I managed to live without knowing the extent of liabilities associated with release of Cruise/Kidman personal information, in detail by the type of media deployed! And the details of loser Parker Stevenson's alimony from estranged wife Kirstie Alley, insuring Stevenson continuance of their lavish life style? ("FAO Schwartz would keep a staff and the store open for two hours exclusively for Kirstie and me. We spared no expense, as we enjoyed our "private" shopping spree. Our FAO Schwartz jaunts would cost us approximately $15,000.") Um, fascinating, I guess?

I'll concede - the book has it moments. The last chapter, "Patently Absurd" includes some gems like the "human gas filter pad for wearing in the underwear" and a method for bar coding humans. And the "strap secured condom". Glad to see the US patent attorneys hard at work.

On balance, I should have realized that we're already overexposed to the excesses and absurdities of life in America - especially where celebrities are involved. The additional manifestation in raw legal documents, police reports, and court transcripts is simply more than I care about knowing, and frankly is not all that revealing, anyway.

Rating:
Summary: outrageous!
Review: Sorry to gush but I absolutely loved this book. The smoking gun gives you the inside skinny on all sorts of things you didn't even know you wanted to know about. It's a book that is made up of documents: arrest reports on the famous, infamous and simply bizarre, contracts, memos, all sorts of stuff. I laughed out loud and my jaw dropped several times. A very fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Funny as all hell!
Review: This book is pretty dam slick. I liked it mostly because I have been a fan of the website for a few years and its pretty good to have the material right in front of you.

Rating:
Summary: Fun but could be longer
Review: Very fun to read, but many of the legal details in the documents aren't worth getting into, so each page only occupies your thoughts for a few seconds as you glace over it and notice a detail or two about it. Although this is a perfect coffee table flip-through-when-you're-killing-time book, it's all over a bit too soon.