General Books - Page 2

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead

Max Brooks

Amazon Price: $11.16 List Price: $13.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Three Rivers Press Amazon Marketplace: 94 new & used starting at $7.00

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Total reviews: 372 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Max Brooks

List Price: $29.95 By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $8.75

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 459 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“The end was near.” –Voices from the Zombie War

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the audiobook captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the listener, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

I Hate Your Guts

Jim Norton

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon Spotlight Entertainment Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $14.83

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When New York Times bestselling author and comedian Jim Norton isn't paying for massages with happy endings, or pretending to be fooled by transsexuals he picks up, he spends his time wondering what certain people would look like on fire...

What do Heather Mills, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and Dr. Phil have in common? Jim Norton hates their guts. And he probably hates yours, too, especially if you're a New York Yankee, Starbucks employee, or Steve Martin.

In thirty-five hilarious essays, New York Times bestselling author and comedian Jim Norton spews bile on the people he loathes. Enjoy his blistering attacks on Derek Jeter, Hillary Clinton, fatso Al Roker, and mush-mouthed Jesse Jackson. It's utterly hilarious -- and utterly relatable if you've ever bitten a stranger's face or thrown a bottle through the TV screen while watching the news.

But don't think Jim just dishes loads of shit on his self-proclaimed enemies; he is equally atrocious to himself. He savages himself for his humiliating days as a white homeboy, his balletlike spins in the outfield during a little league game, and his embarrassingly botched attempt at a celebrity shout-out while taping his new HBO stand-up series.

Uncomfortably honest, I Hate Your Guts is probably the best example of emotional vomiting you'll ever read. But there is hope; at the end of each essay, Jim generously offers helpful suggestions as to how the offender can make things right again: Eliot Spitzer: If you run for re-election, instead of shaking hands with voters, let them smell your fingers.

Reverend Al Sharpton: The next time you feel the need to protest, do so dressed as an elk in Ted Nugent's backyard.

Hillary Clinton: When you absolutely must make a point of laughing publicly, don't fake it. Just think of something that genuinely makes you laugh, like lowering taxes or any random male having his penis cut off.

For the legions of devoted fans who know Jim Norton for his raw, sometimes brutal comedy, I Hate Your Guts is what you've been waiting for. But even more important -- it's a great book to read while taking a shit.

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

Tucker Max

Amazon Price: $10.85 List Price: $15.95 Not yet published By: Citadel

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 290 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world. —from the Introduction Actual reader feedback:

"I am completely baffled as to how you can congratulate yourself for being a womanizer and a raging drunk, or think anyone cares about an idiot like you. Do you really think that exploiting the insecurities of others while getting wasted is a legitimate thing to offer?"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you—for sharing with us your wonderful tales of drunken revelry, for teaching me what it means to be a man, for just existing so I know that there is another option; I too can say ‘screw the system’ and be myself and have fun. My life truly began when I finished reading your stories. Now, when faced with a quandary about what course of action I should take, I just ask myself, ‘What Would Tucker Do?’—and I do it, and I am a better man for it."

"I find it truly appalling that there are people in the world like you. You are a disgusting, vile, repulsive, repugnant, foul creature. Because of you, I don’t believe in God anymore. No just God would allow someone like you to exist."

"I’ll stay with God as my lord, but you are my savior. I just finished reading your brilliant stories, and I laughed so hard I almost vomited. I want to bring that kind of joy to people. You’re an artist of the highest order and a true humanitarian to boot. I'm in both shock and awe at how much I want to be you."

"You are the coolest person I can even imagine existing. If you slept with my girlfriend, it'd make me love her more."

Dilbert: 2009 Day-to-Day Calendar (Dilbert)

Scott Adams

Amazon Price: $10.39 List Price: $12.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $8.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Brilliant for anyone who's ever worked in an office! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

If you're new to Dilbert, he's a small guy who works in a highly bureaucratic white collar office. The comics satirize office politics beautifully. The humor is similar to the TV series The Office, but Dilbert was the original.

I give the Dilbert day-to-day calendar to my father every year for Christmas. He works in senior management and very much enjoys having a new Dilbert strip to read everyday and to share with his staff. When he goes away, he actually takes the pages that he is going to miss with him so that he doesn't miss reading any. He often saves hilarious and appropriate cartoons to give to my husband (who works in IT) or to me (I work in Marketing). If you work in an office environment - or have escaped from one! - this is a wonderful calendar.

While the day-to-day calendar has been around for a few years now, I was pleasantly surprised to see one change in this year's format: all the cartoon strips are now in color! Otherwise the layout and format is as per previous years. The inside pages are shrinkwrapped so they are well protected in transit to you.

The other thing I appreciate about the Dilbert calendars is that there is enough material to keep them fresh. Before Dilbert, I used to give my father a Farside day-to-day calendar, but after 3-4 years he noticed that some cartoons were repeating from previous years. So far this has not occurred with the Dilbert calendar. (The cartoons are also different from the ones that appear on the daily Dilbert on Dilbert.com) I highly recommend it.

Editorial Review:

Wally practices work avoidance as if it's some New Age religion, Alice resorts to violent measures to relieve stress, and Dilbert remains cluelessly above it all. Throw in a boss who manages via buzzwords, and you have the main players in the favorite strip among office dwellers everywhere: Dilbert. It's a cast of characters all too familiar to most, which accounts for no small part of its amazing success. It seems that everyone knows, has worked with, or unknowingly is a Dilbert type.

This Dilbert day-to-day takes on a new look for 2009 with every one of the strips in full color.

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

A. J. Jacobs

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 97 new & used starting at $4.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 404 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.

The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for The Know-It-All. His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations - much to his wife's chagrin.

Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.

Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part Cliff Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down.

I Like You

Amy Sedaris

By: Sceptre Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $19.54

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 213 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Funny, but falls flat 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is a general warning before reading the review: This book is VERY odd, so if you don't like oddball humor, go find another book.

The book's flap shows you how funny it is, as she gets angry with you for not purchasing the book. And there it begins.
The layout is very old-fashioned. The chapters are spread out with many photos and crudely drawn images. Usually these images make you chuckle. The whole book is in full-color, so no guessing as to what color such-and-such is.

The content is hit-and-miss, but generally a hit. It'll make you chuckle, and you'll definately think "what was she on?" during some chapters, and that's the point. But that's not all; you also get a giant reference manual to easy-to-make recipes! Rachael Ray, move out of the way! This book also shows you how to entertain and be a guest, as these are also part of the hospitality boat. You'll eithe laugh or end up scratching your heads at the comedy.

------------over-all grade-------

Writing: B+ - It's funny, but it drags on for much longer than necessary.
Layout: C+ - It's very old fashioned, which is a big turn-off. Full of yellow and greens.
Overall: B - It's a generally fun guide to entertaining, but beware if you don't find it funny or you'll be returning to Borders right quick.

Batman: The Killing Joke

Alan Moore, Brian Bolland

Amazon Price: $12.23 List Price: $17.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: DC Comics Amazon Marketplace: 58 new & used starting at $9.53

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Total reviews: 181 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Alan Moore Does it Right, and Bolland Art Revision is Amazing 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Killing Joke was a comic spawned shortly after the work of Frank Miller, and is probably the comic that established The Joker as one of the most important fictional villains of the 20th century. Batman had become a well thought out, complex character in recent years, primarily due to the work of skilled writer Frank Miller. Batman had been brought into a gritty, modern world of comic books, but I always felt that Miller's The Dark Knight Returns failed to bring the antagonistic Joker into a new light...well it did, but not in the way the character was meant to be. Alan Moore, with the help of Brian Bolland's stunning artwork helped bring to life what is widely accepted as today's standard for the famous Harlequin of Hate.

He's crazy, he kills people simply for his own twisted sense of humor, but always has a very zany, cartoonish attitude, which I felt was lacking in Miller's interpretation, where Joker seemed much too serious in appearance, dialogue, and action. The Joker presented in this graphic novel truly is a fiendish jester of fate, who for the most part is truly frightening, but never really acts like anything more than a loon. Bolland's art is very helpful in this aspect, not only bringing the Joker's exaggerated, skeletal body to life, but making it perhaps the most anatomically correct Joker ever seen, while still following the style of the 1970s Joker appearances.

The story revolves around the long struggle between Batman and his foe, and their never ending conflict. Joker, having escaped from Arkham Asylum (again), has decided to prove that one bad day can transform any sane man into a monster, such as himself. Taking possession of an old carnival he's ready to do whatever it takes to prove his point, with the assistance of a circus freak show. Meanwhile The Dark Knight questions himself on how this fight will end; coming to the realization that sooner or later one of them would kill the other, unless they tried to reason it out. A hopeless plan by our hero, but he has to at least try a single time to reason with his arch-nemesis, just so he can say he tried.

While Batman leads the hunt for the psychotic clown, Joker decides to prove his theory, kidnapping Commissioner Gordon, and shooting Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) through the spine (she never walks again). This is one of the most villainous acts in the history of comics; simply because of how pointless the shooting was, considering Barbara wasn't even in the character of Batgirl. She was just a bystander who Joker decided to use as a tool for his plot. Everyone is a puppet, or tool in his mind.

He does this act all of this while wearing a stereotypical beach-going tourist's attire, complete with a large camera, the only exception being his wide-brimmed, purple hat, which conceal his eyes. These are the eyes of a madman, and in one of the comic's final pages his eyes are concealed in shadow once again, before they come out and you see him for the hopeless case he truly is.

The story sets the stage for the most widely accepted Joker back-story through a series of flashbacks, showing him as a failed comedian with a pregnant wife, and soon winds up assisting criminals, and falling victim to tragedy. The character is shown to have had one bad day and that is how he ended up as the smiling super villain who has plagued Gotham City for decades. Of course this back-story isn't necessarily true, being that it comes from flashbacks spawned from Joker's mind, and as he famously states in his confrontation with Batman "If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!"

Gordon's capture and torture leads to a fight between these two iconic characters, where Batman tries to see if it is possible to reason with Joker logically, but the villain doesn't even try to lie about what is obviously in store for them. He can never be reasoned with, and won't stop until he's dead, and Batman refuses to kill him so it's a sick cycle that goes round and round. In the end of The Killing Joke the roller coaster has only been reset and it will only be a matter of time before Joker is back on the streets, killing again with some new, random scheme which will only make sense to him alone, depending on the mood he's in at the time, or which version of his past he remembers.

Alan Moore's story is sick, it's disturbing, and doesn't fail to leave the reader in a state of awe. The only problem is that by the end you crave for more! The story practically brings you to the point of begging for a sequel, or expansion which will probably never come. This is a one-shot story, and should remain that way, or else the original's impact may be lost. I don't have a single friend who doesn't think The Killing Joke is one of the most twisted, sick, most perfect stories of the comic medium. It's short, but it delivers a powerful punch!

Brian Bolland's art makes this short graphic novel a masterpiece, providing some of the best art ever seen in the characters' long history, only rivaled (in my opinion) by the art of Alex Ross. Joker really is frightening to look at here, because he doesn't look like a real person in most aspects, but Bolland manages to make this character incredibly believable in appearance, without taking any liberties of changing the body type into something more universal. The tall, skeletal body of the 1970s comics is preserved for the most part, except for the narrowing of the chin, which improves the look even further (hence why it's universally used in today's comics).

Recently I got the hardcover anniversary edition of The Killing Joke, with the artwork being edited by Brian Bolland, and re-colored by Bolland personally the way he intended it to be seen. I must say that I love the changes to the colors, more so than the cheery, bright colors of the original, which I felt distracted from Bolland's line-art, because the colors were way too traditional comic book, not fitting the intensity of the art. These colors are dark, gritty, and really captures to mood of the story more effectively than the bright colors of the original release. I especially love the flashbacks being in black and white, except for concentrating on objects that reflect the color red, which leads up to him taking on the garb of The Red Hood, before his first confrontation, leading to his ultimate disfigurement and insanity. This is a seriously talented artist and I only wish he was presented with more opportunities to draw these characters. Batman and Joker look their very best in these images, and I'd be hard pressed to find a comic with better consistency of art quality.

The Killing Joke is one, if not THE best story in the history of Batman comics, and rightfully earns my rating of 10/10 stars.

Editorial Review:

One of the most famous Batman stories of all time is offered for the first time in hardcover in this special twentieth-anniversary edition.

This is the unforgettable that forever changed Batman's world, adding a new element of darkness with its unflinching portrayal of The Joker's twisted psyche.

Writer Alan Moore, acclaimed author of WATCHMEN and V FOR VENDETTA, offers his take on the disturbing relationship between The Dark Knight and his greatest foe. The Clown Prince of Crime has never been more ruthless than in this brutal tale.

This special new edition also includes a story written and exquisitely illustrated by Brian Bolland.

Kitchen Confidential : Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Anthony Bourdain

By: Bloomsbury Publishing, Limited Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $6.18

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 576 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A great read! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It's amazing where writing talent is found. I originally discovered Bourdain via his "Les Halles Cookbook" -- one of the funniest cookbooks I have ever read. And then slowly, I began to remember -- hadn't this same guy written an earlier book, much more scandalous?

Well, this is that earlier book. You may not care for the tales it tells, or think very highly of the author, but the man writes like a god! Most of his best jokes are on himself, and all of the wimped-out sissy mistakes he made on the way to becoming a member of The Brotherhood, and its storyteller.

One of his bottom lines: "This stuff is EASY. My cooks are all recent immigrants from Latin America who had never tasted anything better than a taco in their lives. If they can learn, so can you."

It is also, for me, quite amazing to really sit back and think about a gang of five or six guys who actually manage to serve dinner to 600 people! Not once, but day in and day out! For this, you don't want no inspiration, you are not in the market for genius, man, you are a member of the freeping army/ballet corps, and everything depends on precise execution of tasks you have done a kazillion times before. (Oops, I slipped into quasi-Bourdain mode there.)

This book is really a lot better than Orwell's pretentious "Down and Out in Paris in London," especially when you learn that Orwell was basically a middle-class guy who volunteered to go slumming, and left when he got tired of it. This is not the case with Bourdain. This is HIS LIFE, and I for one really appreciate his gusto, his zest, and his willingness to work hard for what he wants.

Enjoy, enjoy (and don't order fish from a restaurant on Monday!)

Goodnight Bush: A Parody

Gan Golan, Erich Origen

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 7 to 12 days By: Little, Brown and Company Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $8.15

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Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Goodnight Bush 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This was funny, sad and true. I'm glad I got it when I did as I doubt these will be around much longer. The seller provided it as promised and well within the shipment window promised.

GOODNIGHT BUSH & CO. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Clever, funny and terrifying. Wonderful illustrations deserve long hard look to catch additional insights.

Brutally funny take on the Bush years 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A dark comedic masterpiece to anyone intimately familiar with the original "Goodnight Moon" and deeply disturbed by the Bush legacy. Having read "Goodnight moon" literally hundreds of times to my children when they were young, every page hit a familiar, yet oddly discordant note. The same kind of surreal visual progression yet lulling cadence is used as in the original to great effect. Lots of small details to notice on subsequent readings. A sad story, but one that carries a positive message that the end of this long trying "day" in American history is nearly over. A book you'll likely either love or hate.

Editorial Review:

A brilliant parody of the children's classic Goodnight Moon, built around the coming end of the worst presidency ever.

Goodnight Bush: An Unauthorized Parody is a hilarious and poignant visual requiem for the Bush administration. In it we see a childlike George W. Bush tucked safely away in the confines of his own room with all of the toys he's willfully destroyed, abused, or defaced. Complete with a quiet Dick Cheney whispering "hush," this bedtime story lets us finally say goodnight to the disaster that was the last eight years.