Rating: 
Summary: The lifeguard is off
Review: "No Lifeguard on Duty" seems to be aiming pretty low, but it hits even lower. Janice Dickinson tries to create a can't-put-it-down tale of drugs, sex, and model madness, but can't manage to elevate it high enough to make it a guilty pleasure. In the end, her don't-blame-me attitude and complaints make it a rather dull read.Janice escaped from a pill-popping mother and sexually abusive father and a childhood teeming over with misery. Her way? Becoming a model. Though thought unsuitable for modelling, because she was dark-haired, olive-skinned, and ethnic-looking, she broke into the modelling world and became a sensation, in a whirlwind of men, drugs, booze and more modelling. Memoirs from the sixties and seventies tend to leave a bad taste in the mouth, and unfortunately "Lifeguard" is no exception. It wants to be a stunning revelation about the modelling industry, but it simply can't manage to be that much -- partly because the author isn't that interesting. The writing style is all wrong. Janice often skims over incidents and anecdotes that readers might consider interesting, such as the behind-the-scenes stuff on modelling, and focuses almost obsessively on sexual abuse and other such details. While it's understandable that a person who had suffered that way would tend to fixate on it, the editor should have dealt with it. She tends to focus more on the sleazy and distasteful (her or other people getting drunk, high and laid, or a combo of the above) and the writing splays all over in a rather rambly manner (like when she locks herself in her closet and gets drunk). None of the people that she refers to, aside from herself, really come alive as individuals; they seem more like cardboard standups for her to pose with and name-drop. What's more, it isn't even titillating. It's a bit boring, in fact. Janice's march of hedonistic misery has a repetitive quality, and about fifty pages after she left home I was very tired of the book. Dickinson is often compared to fellow ex-model Bebe Buell, but unlike the kindly and likable Buell, Dickinson comes across as very bitter and more than a little hostile. Even the good events in her life are seen through a dark, twisted lens. While it is a good thing that she has broken through the stupid model stereotypes, and her childhood was horrible, there really isn't much more to her than that. Janice is undoubtedly a beautiful woman, but if her own words are to be believed, that's her only achievement in her life. "No Lifeguard on Duty" is a good read for those who enjoy their guilty pleasures without any substance. Otherwise, just don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: A LITERARY INSPIRATION
Review: In "No LIfeguard on Duty" supermodel Janice Dickinson revealed all about her high flying life. She is candid, sassy and above all hilarious with her views on everything that has made her a star. My compliments to Ms. Dickinson on being herself which we all know is not always easy to do. Thank goodness ther was no lifguard on duty when janice dickinosn was born because otherwise this fantastic life would never have happened.
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT AN EGO!
Review: I guess that to be in the modeling business, you have to have a certain amount of self-assurance. But, for someone who says she has a fear of not being able to succeed, or to please people, she seems to very "popular" with just about every man she meets. Also, Dickinson thinks that every man in a room, or in a bar, is looking at her with "lust" and total desire.
Dickenson is beautiful, but her book makes her seem to be a trailblazer for other models she refers to as "mutts". I won't be finishing this book with any delusions that hard work and persistance don't pay off, but "No Lifeguard on Duty" reads too much like fiction than fact.
Rating:
Summary: Well...it was an ok book
Review: Here is my review of the book. I just want to clarify some of the mistakes Janice Dickinson wrote in her book. She said she saw The Doors at that infamous Miami concert where Jim Morrison supposely exposed himself. First of all Janice has written in her book that she saw that Concert February 28th, 1969. Impossible because Jim Morrison was in LA recording some demos for the Morrison Hotel album. The real Miami incident occured March 1, 1969. Number two, Janice said that Jim Morrison exposed himself, and he was arrested on stage. False Janice. Police officer's never jumped to the stage, and never arrested Jim Morrison for exposing himself. The police that day were actually having a great laugh at Jim and even kidded around with Jim in the halls on the concert. Jim Morrison was arrested three days later when he was given a warrant for his arrest. Jim was vacationing in Jamiaca. Another mistake Janice Dickinson made in her book is that she kept repeating that Gia Carangi STEPFATHER owned a Hoagie in Philly. False. It wasn't Gia's stepfather, but her FATHER himself. There are mistakes like these throughout Janice's book. You have to take this book with a grain of salt because I personally believe about 70% of this book is pure fiction. This book is a good read, don't get me wrong, but there are times when Janice Dickinson annoys me with how many times she has to tell the reader how beautiful and famous she was. Personally I never heard of her, so she must have never been THAT famous in the 70's. Sure she modeled, but she was not as famous as she wants the world to believe. The only reason why I bought this book was because I heard Gia Carangi was mentioned in it. To me, Gia Carangi was the woman who opened more doors for Brunette models then what Janice did. On top of that, Gia did not have an ego of the size of Texas. So I believe Gia should get the "First exotic, brunette model" credit, who broke the mold. Not Janice. Janice Dickinson just seems so impressed with herself and tries to stretch the truth so much to make heself look more important. I mean to be totally honest I really don't even remember her that much for her modeling, when I think of 70's "Fashion Modeling" I definatley think of Gia, Lauren Hutton, Patti Hansen, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Christie Brinkley, Cheryl Teigs. Now those were "Fashion Models". I don't know, its just when a person so OBVIOUSLY talks about THEMSELVES in that manner it seems like they aren't really happy with themselves which makes them seem unattractive in personality which in turn makes them just uninteresting. I mean, Janice even has the audacity to say she invented the word "SUPERMODEL". Read instead THING OF BEAUTY by Stephen Fried, Model : The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women by Michael Gross and Bad and Beautiful: Inside the Dazzling and Deadly World of Supermodels by Ian Halperin. Hope this helps.
Rating:
Summary: I Really Want to Rate it
Review: I decided to read up on this Ms. Dickinson after catching her on a episode of "America's Next Top Supermodel" where she is a judge. I found her to be somewhat abrasive and now I know why. She should not be allowed to advise anyone on anythng. Her life as a sex addict and alcoholic as well as her unwillingness to accept people as they are is annoying not only on TV, but in her book. She comes across extremely shallow and is likely one of the reasons that young girls purge themselves given the fact that Ms. Dickinson constantly refers to the average woman as "huge". My advice to anyone seeking the advice of a mentor in a supermodel should stay clear away from this one. She likely spends much of her past earnings on a psychiatrist couch crying about her new and many wrinkles.
Rating:
Summary: Dreadful!
Review: Ugh!!! If I had to sum up what this book is all about, I'd say it's the demented rantings of a spent party-girl looking to cash in on what tiny fame she may have had at one time. "Super" model? Super annoying is much more like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Reading
Review: The author, Janice Dickinson puts an interesting spin on being one of "the beautiful people". She has a horrible upbringing and came out of it better than most. The parts of the book that I most enjoyed of course were her contributions to pop culture. Janice tells of coining the phrase "supermodel" and when she told Calvin Klein he shoud design underwear and put his name on it...I read this book in two days and on the book jacket Lauren Hutton (one of Janice's idols) says she read it in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: LOVED IT!
Review: Wow!!! What a real insiders look at modeling, celebrities and how hard it is to make it in this world, famous or not! Definite must read!
Rating:
Summary: Brava!
Review: The picture of the young woman setting the Leica timer says it all.
Rating:
Summary: Janice Dickinson, a True and Truthful Beauty....whatta book!
Review: Oh, the life of a model....yes, yes, we all know it really is hard work. But in No Lifeguard On Duty, we are allowed to see the good, the bad and the ugly.....and the way ugly. If your number one wish in life were to be at the center of the most glamorous, fashion-mad, sex-drenched tornado, Janice got your wish. There was no other model like her; there are many who try to convey the pure talent that Dickinson had (and has) for presiding and just jumping off the page, but any major model of the 70's and 80's will tell you that Janice was a force of nature. Okay, fine. But let's forget all that......because the thing that makes this book riveting is not the famous names and notorious games of the Studio 54 crowd; it is a movingly vulnerable story about a woman's journey to find and define herself following a harrowing childhood and a 110 m.p.h. career that blew open the doors for models who were not blonde haired, blue eyed, "All Americans". It is also a very funny book; Janice knows herself well and conveys even the most heinous anecdotes with a fresh, true voice.
This is not the book Cheryl Tiegs could have written; in fact, probably no one else but the (incredible) Lisa Taylor could pull it off. Go, Janice, Go! I f you have seen any of her appearances on Bill O'Reilly, etc., it is helpful because you see that this woman is not afraid of the truth, and is brash, a genuine human being and her own girl, no matter who you want her to be. The book is many things: swirling, klieg light glamour, a cautionary tale, and a heroine who ends up just fine. I hope Ms. Dickinson lands on TV as a result of this book.....I dare you to pick it up and then try to put it down. In an age of bland, PR-controlled voices, Janice does what she's always done best: breaks the mold .....and maybe your heart.
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