A quick and funny companion to He’s Just Not That into You.
If men truly are from Mars and women are from Venus, this field guide provides a simple way to demystify the cosmic differences between the sexes.
Written and illustrated by friends of over 30 years, this funny guide portrays the many types of men, affectionately referred to as Nimroddes, whom young women may encounter. The authors claim that Nimrodde is the “all-encompassing category for what is currently referred to as the human male,” and they provide a tongue-in-cheek evolutionary perspective on the development of man. DeBraak takes a scientific approach to classifying and categorizing the men, lending this book an air of authority. The author provides a witty chapter entitled “How to Use This Guide” that identifies the qualities of each Nimrodde that she discusses: ecology and behavior, similar types, habitat, range, breeding peculiarities and learning opportunities. DeBraak offers intriguing profiles, but there are a few highlights. One, for instance, is the Pinhead. While Pearson’s drawing depicts a typical businessman on a cellphone, smiling cockily, DeBraak explains that this type is called a Pinhead because of its “pin-striped suits or ties” and because it considers itself a “head honcho.” DeBraak says of its breeding peculiarities that “because this type thinks so much of itself, females are considered conquests.” She says that Pinheads are “obsessed with causing others to sweat.” The authors’ comical depiction and classification of the Pinhead reveals the type of self-absorbed businessman commonly found in television and other media. Another type is the Jock. Pearson’s drawing for the Jock is dead-on: a large-jawed man wearing a baseball cap. DeBraak describes the Jock as “carrying around various types of balls” to “display physical superiority and convince females of its desirability.” She notes that one can learn from the Jock that “getting hit in the head or dropped on the head causes brain damage.” Guys reading this book may be slightly surprised by the harsh characterizations and sometimes clichéd descriptions of their gender. When examining Pearson’s appealing illustrations, however, readers will recognize that although the book contains some truth, it also satirizes society’s expectations for men.
A quick and funny companion to He’s Just Not That into You.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2012
ISBN: 978-1478267409
Page Count: 112
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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