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Mike Nelson's Mind over Matters

Mike Nelson's Mind over Matters

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $10.17
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly recommended, even if you're not a MSTie
Review: I loved the MST3K series, and greatly mourn its passing. However, this book shows that Mike Nelson is more than just a prisoner on the Satellite of Love. His observations on everyday life are spot on and laugh out loud funny.

As in any book of this type, there are a few essays that are less than funny, but they're greatly outnumbered by the ones that have you snorting milk out your nose while reading. (Assuming you're drinking milk, of course)

The essay format makes this a perfect book to read during off moments, as long as you don't mind odd looks from passersby as you snicker and chortle. Well worth reading and adding to your comedy library.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: WARNING! DANGER! DANGER!
Review: Most books on humor use observational humor about events that happened to the author or about facts that turn out to be funny when looked at thru the twisted lens of the author. Such authors, like Dave Barry, can make us laugh till people on the subway train decide to leave their seat next to us and move to another - true story!
Others, like the late and great, Douglas Adams could make us laugh with puns, funny scenes and fantasy settings because he was a master with the English language.

Mike Nelson is NOT that kind of author. Some of the chapters of his book made me laugh, but most had me recoiling in horrible and looking very confused. You know the look, the one you get when your chewing on something soft and something in your mouth makes a crunching noise?
Most of his chapters made me feel like somebody had volunteered me for a ten mile Boy Scout hike. You know, the one where they dump you in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, and you walk all day to another spot that looks the same and is also in the middle of nowhere. This book felt like a novel version of the Blair Witch Project. I started at point 'A', walked to point 'B', crawled to point 'C' and by point 'J' I wondered, "Will this ever end? Where are we? What's the point? Are we there yet?" But Nelson kept driving, refusing to stop even when I needed a restroom!
After reading it you will feel slightly upset, maybe even disgusted, and will wonder about the state of the world in which we live in where such a book can get published.

I'm sorry Mike, but this book is not Ha-Ha! funny, it is you-need-a-padded-cell funny. It made me want to go after you with a leaf blower! The 'Movie Megacheese' book he did was good - go buy that one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Booby Traps of Comedy
Review: I watched Mike Nelson's previous exploits on Mystery Science Theater 3000 for years; wonderful warm years, wonderful, warm snuggly years. Anyway, I was well primed for Mind Over Matters, not that one needs to be primed. Like the show, the book references obscure actors and movies few know, as well as cultural, philosphical and literary facts we should know. I, as with the show, did not know everything jested in this book. But this is not a liability. First of all, Nelson's self-deprication is very refreshing, and he loads his book with plenty of straight-forward humor that eschews references (See the one about his uncle.) Secondly, when you stumble across one of his obscurities a week, a month, years, later, you'll laugh out loud. And someone says, "Why are you laughing at Schopenhauer? I find him very sad." And you say, "You're right, he is, he is!" all the while crying with laughter at Nelson's onion dip joke had at Schopenhauer's expense. There, I've now employed a reference from Mike Nelson's book, and you won't understand what the heck I'm talking about unless you read the book. And yes, I think Mind Over Matters is literature (pop literature) worth knowing about.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Undiluted hilarity from the head writer of MST3K.
Review: In his second book (third if you count the MST3K episode guide), Mike Nelson proves that he can critique more than film. In a series of short essays, he mocks everything from leaf blowers to Los Angeles, and most of all, himself.

Although everything's funny, highlights include "Ungainly!: My Triumphs in the Musical Theater," "Tips on Getting Stung by Wasps," "Odd Job," and "Did He Say 'Meep?'"

For MST3K fans, and fans of intellectual humor in general, this is highly recommended. Want something stupid (and not even that funny)? Watch a Farrelly brothers film. Want intelligent laughter? Read this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Funny,sharp,witty
Review: As a MST3K fan, I have been enjoying Mike Nelson's sharp,acerbic wit for years. But even non-Msties will love MInd Over Matters. It pokes fun at the mundane,ridiculous, and sometimes absurd aspects of modern American life. I especially enjoyed the chapters in wich he describes following his wife around to discover her secrets to making so many friends, and reading to his young sons at bedtime.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: cute...but it's no "Movie Mega-Cheese"
Review: It's a cute book with a couple of clever pieces, but nothing near the laugh level found in "Movie Mega-Cheese"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Literally Laugh-Out Loud Hilarious
Review: I have to admit I was a huge Mike Nelson fan before I picked this book up. I read both at work and on a flight, and I had a hard time not laughing audibly. He's great at pointing out the humor in the ordinary, such as leaf blowers and Radio Shack (which he calls a "portal to hell"). You don't have to be a fan of Mystery Science Theater to enjoy this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Got it, love it
Review: I was suprised and happy to find Mike's book on the shelves, since I had been under the impression, for some reason, that it would be exclusively an ebook, but anyway, yeah, I love it. Mike's style is a lot like Douglass Adams's, another of my favorite writers. I've embarrassed myself on the bus several times by laughing while reading Mind Over Matters, that's always a good indicator.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great entertainment
Review: Great book and worth getting, even if you weren't a fan of MST3K.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very funny book.
Review: As a huge MST3K fan, I find both of Nelson's books to be must-buys. And I have not been disappointed with either purchase. Although I found this book to be a little less funny than his first book (Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese), it was still very enjoyable. i highly recommend it.


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