Rating: 
Summary: Laugh out loud great read
Review: I had a setback at work and felt depressed. Despite my poor mood I decided to read this book. It had me laughing out loud and tremendously cheered. Some of the advice is even worthwhile. I read several passages to my husband and he had a good laugh as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, I should have saved the $...
Review: Al Franken is a long-time star of big and small screen, who has chosen to focus on writing books instead of Saturday Night Live skits in the last few years. This is one of his weaker efforts. Clearly the "Al Franken Decade" has long since passed into history. Franken had the clever idea to write a parody of advice books, but unfortunately, the cleverness wears off after about 20 pages, in other words, there is enough here for a Bill Murray skit but not a full-length film. Franken is funny, and puts some clever comedic moments into this, but I got the idea that he was writing it as fast as I was reading it. What works well here is his chapter summaries. Early on in the book, he provides Maria Shriver/Oprah Winfrey type summaries with action items, journals, and topics for monthly discussion with one's mentor. As the book progresses, the summaries degenerate into excuses for why the chapter was not very good, new information that Franken forgot to put in the chapter, and material totally unrelated to the chapter. Franken is a natural comic genius, and adds some other nice touches, such as references to non-existent chapters (he later explains that the editor deleted his books 4-7 from the manuscript, leaving us with only books 1-3), his cut-outs of handy information such as the country codes for dialing every nation, and his reasons for ranking religions into a Top Ten list. But in the end, this is a jumble of un-related rants and random thoughts. There is no story to this and it does not hold one's interest, even for a fan like me. One is almost concerned for the well-being of the Franken family, if this is what the mighty have fallen to.
Rating:
Summary: great gift for a graduate, career changer, or slacker youth
Review: This is a deeply funny book. Perhaps it's not up to par with Franken's other work, but it is certainly one of the funniest things I've read all year... especially if you've read any of the self-help and career books that he parodies. I intend to pair it up with a genuine self-help book for certain troubled youths that I know, to make the pill go down smoother. It is filled with advice excellent for elbowing your way to the top, whether in the corporate boardroom, the kindergarten, or the discount liquor store. True, he probably wrote most of it in the bathroom. True, this is not a finely crafted work redolent of the artist's dedication. True, he subtly mocks us for spending money on a book he pulled out of his bottom. But who cares? I enjoyed it and have read it at least twice with amusement.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, the money you could save!
Review: If you really feel the need to read this rather bland work, I'd suggest just borrowing a copy from the library. While Al Franken's previous works are among my favorites in humor, I couldn't even bring myself to finish the second half of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the Money I Could Have Saved
Review: Oh, he's done better. I agree with earlier comments that this book is not up to Al Franken's usual standards. He spends what seems like half of the book reminding the reader his primary reason for writing the book was to generate some revenue (yes I know he's trying to be funny, it just doesn't work), and the rest of the book boring the reader with less than stellar attempts at humor. I have always enjoyed Al Franken's humor, but this book leaves me shaking my head.
Rating:
Summary: Really Funny; I've Listened to It A Couple of Times
Review: More like a series of Saturday Night Live-style monologues rather than advice. Favorites include, "Oh, The Bad Investments You Will Make", "Oh, If You Engage in Bondage/Sado-masochism Make Sure You Use a Safeword", "Oh, How You Will Hate Your First Job". Strongly recommend the audio version (tape or download), which is read by him, Al Franken.
Rating:
Summary: It's no "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot"
Review: I picked up an autographed copy at Reagan Airport along with More George W. Bushisms; I finished both before my plane had taken off. This book is somewhat meatier than the Bushisms book, and funnier as well, but doesn't compare to Franken's Limbaugh book. The laughs don't come as often, and I can't really recommend it to anyone but a die-hard fan. A much funnier book along the same lines is Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo's _Feel This Book_ (the audio version of which is better than the written).
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the [Insert semi-witty phrase here]
Review: While reading this book I got the strange feeling that he was doing this for money. I might have been the shortness of the book. Or maybe the roughness of it. But I think I got this feling from the fact that he tells me, the reader, on numerous occasions that he needs the cash. And furthermore, I had read Rush Limbaugh just before this and noticed many remarkingly similar, infact identical, jokes. If you want a classic Franken book, don't get this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, What A Waste of Time!
Review: It takes a dedicated Al Franken fan to enjoy this book. For those of us who merely enjoy (or tolerate) Franken's humor, this book is basically just a slapdown of random, useless thoughts designed only to consume an hour of your reading time and a few of your hard earned $$. Twenty-nine five page chapters give the bookstore thumber ample opportunity to quickly find a snippet of apparent wisdom and interest, which upon reading is swiftly disposed of to make room for the next abbreviated chapter. Several chapters contain nothing but the kind of filler used by a grade-school journal writer to increase his word count (3 pages of areas codes - c'mon, that's 2% of the total book!). Franken can't even use his own jokes, and resurrects Buddy Hackett's. Does that alone tell you what you need to know? For serious and substantial laughs, stick with PJ O'Rourke and Michael Moore.
Rating: 
Summary: Get the Audio CD version
Review: To truly appreciate this book you need to hear Al Franken read it. The comic timing and tongue and cheek jokes don't translate very well in print.
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