The Art of the Shmooze

Rating:
Summary: Surface-Level For Autograph & Photo Seekers & Wannabees
Review: Getting one's picture taken with a celebrity does not mean they spend more than the 4 seconds with them to stand, say "cheese," and snap the shot. Of course, maybe Stein and Saxon do spend some time with some celebs.

But this book is about fun. And it's fine in this context. You can learn some pool tricks and remember that most people like to talk about things they are interested in and things they like. So, If you know Robert Deniro is a sushi-lover, you can ask him what good sushi places are in town to eat at. Now, what would they ask Michael Jackson?

More in-depth concepts can be found in other books that may include such categories such as Carnegie, sales, social self-help books, and interpersonal communication guides. But it's about fun, and you can learn some card and magic tricks here. Good for people with time on their hands.

Rating:
Summary: Surface-Level For Autograph & Photo Seekers & Wannabees
Review: Getting one's picture taken with a celebrity does not mean they spend more than the 4 seconds with them to stand, say "cheese," and snap the shot. Of course, maybe Stein and Saxon do spend some time with some celebs.

But this book is about fun. And it's fine in this context. You can learn some pool tricks and remember that most people like to talk about things they are interested in and things they like. So, If you know Robert Deniro is a sushi-lover, you can ask him what good sushi places are in town to eat at. Now, what would they ask Michael Jackson?

More in-depth concepts can be found in other books that may include such categories such as Carnegie, sales, social self-help books, and interpersonal communication guides. But it's about fun, and you can learn some card and magic tricks here. Good for people with time on their hands.

Rating:
Summary: Useless tactics
Review: I heard about this book on Howard Stern. It's just oozing with cheesy techniques that get you nowhere. I tried pulling the airline trick by attempting to get upgraded to First Class. Today's airline employees are so overworked, they don't care who you are. There's no way for an upgrade unless you've been burned in some way.

I stopped reading this book when I got to the section on impressing women with fancy pool shots. I felt like Peter Brady. Pork chops and applesauce.

Rating:
Summary: There are better books on the subject.
Review: There really isn't much in this book you can't find in many other books on this subject, and many of them are better than this. Let's be honest: this book is about manipulation, and the "bible" of manipulation is HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE by Dale Carnegie. I would suggest that book over this one.

Also, this book, THE ART OF THE SHMOOZE, is a little sad. There are pictures on almost every other page of this book, and they are of the authors with various celebrities. See, the fact that these guys, with no "legitimate" connection to show business, have gotten to meet all these celebrities is supposed to be proof of how successful these techniques are. In each picture, however, the celebrity has something of a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on his/her face. You can almost hear the celebrity asking himself, "Who are these guys?" It just seems a little sad to me that grown men would devote so much energy to being around celebrities just for the sake of being with celebrities. It seems like a waste of energy. But who am I to judge? I guess they enjoyed it. But I'm not sure if it would work for other people, and I certainly have no interest in trying it.

I wish I could phrase it more kindly, but the only word that I can think of about this book is: sad.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Stuff
Review: This was a fun book with a lot of creative techniques.

Rating:
Summary: Great Celeb Stories
Review: Very fun book with tons of celeb stories. Great tips.