Rating: 
Summary: Oh, the laughs you'll have!
Review: Al Franken's latest offering takes the form of an advice book supposedly targetted at college graduates. But unlike his previous books, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Why Not Me?, which were filled with the humor of a true political junkie, there is relatively little political humor in this book. Instead, it is replete with joke after hilarious joke about the roller coaster ride of life.The book is relatively short (I read it from cover to cover in a couple of hours), but just about every page elicited a hearty belly laugh. Franken is a master of understatement and satire. More than any humor book I've read before, most paragraphs have been written as their own carefully crafted, self-contained jokes. But Franken ties them all together so as to weave a coherent whole. Be warned: like Franken's other books, some of the humor is a bit off-color and risque. But unless you're a complete prude, you'll love it. Also, although the book lampoons some current figures of popular culture, most all of the humor should stand the test of time relatively well. My only complaint with the book is that it's relatively expensive for its length. However, the laugh-to-dollar ratio is quite high...
Rating:
Summary: Oh the fun you'll have while feeling totally demoralized!
Review: Al Franken...you really need to give all the proceeds of this book to your wife...and maybe that will begin to make up for all the fun we're having at her expense! Franken, author of one of my most favorite titled books of all time, "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot", scores another winner with this little book. With his sharp wit and conversational style (you can almost hear him speaking these words while you read them), he leads us through the too-often-times hellacious rollercoaster ride of life. He starts with college graduation and goes forward, till the bitter end of life and beyond. It's quite a journey through most of life's misadventures. The title, is done in Dr. Seussian style and that style is repeated throughout the contents. Examples include chapters titled: "Oh, you shouldn't skip the introduction"; "Oh, the drugs you will take"; "Oh, the orgasms you will fake". In the drug chapter, he advises people to use drugs responsibly, and that he would be a hypocrite to say not to use them at all, as he is high on drugs right now "prescription drugs, but drugs nonetheless". I can believe that one, but I can't believe his statement in "Oh pick a religion, any religion", that "he has absolutely no idea what he will write next". Franken knows what he wants to say and how to say it. There's a whole lot of practical advice -- ok, maybe not so practical. Some examples include: every marriage has a "stomach-turning" phase you need to get yourself through. Or, how about, "try to view your stay in a nursing home as merely temporary, because in one way or another, it is". There's some advice for men: resist the temptation to cheat on your wife, and try instead to make sex with her reasonably diverting, by thinking about a younger, more attractive woman. Along with his suffering wife, he gets some jabs in at Bill Gates, Kenneth Lay, Ann Quindlen and Maria Shriver to name a few. He shamelessly dedicates his book to that inspiration to us all, (especially to wannabe book-of-the-month club authors such as himself), Oprah. All in all a funny book, almost worthy of five stars. "AL" (see the drug chapter) would probably want me to conclude this review by saying something like, oh well, if you can't be successful, just be happy. "AL" Franken does makes us feel happy, despite all of our shortcomings, or perhaps, because of them.
Rating: 
Summary: A clever satire but,
Review: It's a quick read, and you never know if Franken is being serious or not. I read it in about an hour, and there wasn't anything in there that would make me laugh out loud. Franken should stick to writing political satire, where he is much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, the review I've written!
Review: "Oh, the Things I Know!", by Al Franken, bears the subtitle: "A Guide to Success, Or, Failing That, Happiness." This book is a hilarious parody of the genre of book that offers the reader advice for good living. In the course of the text Franken particularly singles out two contributors to the genre--Anna Quindlen and Maria Shriver--for mockery. Franken covers a wide range of life experiences: sex, drugs, religion, marriage, parenthood, finances, volunteerism, etc. Along the way he pokes fun at many targets: commencement addresses, Oprah's Book Club, the Enron scandal, etc. Both brainy and playfully vulgar, he's not afraid to hit below the belt--or go for the jugular. His prose style is mischievous and engaging, yet drips with sarcasm. The chapters have such amusing titles as "Oh, the Weight You Will Gain!" and "Oh, the People You'll Sue!" This book made me laugh out loud several times. In fact, at one point I laughed so hard I nearly fell down and injured myself. And that's probably the best praise one can give to a book like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: Some of his insights are very good, but I still cannot believe this guy has his own liberal radio show, that is supposed to be serious opposition to Rush or Sean Hannity. He is in some ways a disgrace to liberals, because he makes fun of everything. Any serious attempt to have a liberal side to talk radio should include a more serious approach. Franken is a clown, and he is very funny..but he doesn't belong in politics. Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"
Rating:
Summary: "WE ARE BORN ALONE AND WE DIE ALONE"
Review: I like Al Franken, the comedian, and, based on some of his other books, I generally like Al Franken, the writer. This book has just enough of each for me to give it, what certain TV movie critics call a "reluctant, or borderline, thumbs up." Franken has certainly done better in other books. Sometimes I just can't figure out if he really means for us to take the advice he gives seriously, or if it is the bad advice he has promised to occasionally slip in, or if it is, purely and simply, an attempt at comedy. Hence my ambivalence. For the moment, I am going to concentrate on some of the more meaningful of his comments: In a chapter titled "Oh The Loneliness, The Loneliness," he comments that we are born alone and that we die alone, even though we may be surrounded, in both cases, by family and friends. Unfortunately, this truly describes the human condition, and the happy man or woman is one who has learned to accommodate this existential (my description, not his) loneliness. Another bit of good advice is that we should prepare for our declining years by anticipating the possibility for the future need of a nursing home or "assisted living facility," and check them out and pick one that we might like if we ever need one. This should be done while we are still young enough to make a valid assessment. These are just two exmples of the better advice he gives. Of lesser value are things like his discussion of the "inevitable" really horrible experiences during the middle years of a marriage. He apologizes to his wife in the afterword, but I think that, even if these chapters were meant to be humorous, they missed the boat. I also found his advice that one must pick a religion in order to get through the tougher parts of life to be less than valid. He never seems to have considered such secular answers to life's so-called mysteries as Humanism. One can get through life's downs without resorting to answers from the god of his or her choice. Thus, it is my opinion that there are other ways to get survive these tough times than by resorting to an organized religion. He also has listed modern religions in order of usefulness. These rankings might be subject to questioning. In summary then, the better and poorer suggestions tend to counterbalance one another, and the discerning reader will probably find some ideas that are of use to him or her.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Writing
Review: When I read the introduction of this book at the bookshop I was quite impressed and I thought I would get more from the rest of the chapters. However when I bought the book and proceeded to the later chapters I was dissappointed. The advice that he gives are sometimes specific to himself and would not suit to other people. As he admits in the book, he wrote this book to get money. No wonder it turn out like this. I suggest you buy another book, rather than wasting your money on this book.
Rating:
Summary: it's different
Review: This is a satire of advice books, and each chapter has a funny title. It has his usual dark humor. It has been a while since I read this book, but I remember that it seemed to cheer me up. Specifically the chapter titled Oh, Are You Going to Hate Your First Job!
Rating:
Summary: Amusing
Review: Like Al Franken admits, he needed a quick buck. Luckily for us, it's a quick read. This is a mildly amusing quicky.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Disappointment
Review: After reading Al's book on Rush I was ready to read anything Al Franken wrote. Wow, was that a mistake. Oh the things i know! makes me think Al wrote the book in his sleep. Not only is it not funny, it's not clever either. Al fills his book with bad advice and tries to pass it off as him being humorous. Sure, there's the occasional funny part- the politics chapter- the religion chapter- but overall this Al book is simply dumb and unhumorous. It is a shame Al used his big name to get away with publishing such crap.
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