Heidi Klum's Body of Knowledge : 8 Rules of Model Behavior (to Help You Take Off on the Runway of Life)

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!
Review: For anyone who rates this book low because the book in your opinion focuses on superficiality and lack of substance... in a way you're right. But what exactly were you expecting from a book written by a supermodel? Modeling is a field based on physical attractiveness, presence, performance, and personality in front of a camera and only a few do it very well. But, it is not brain surgery nor is it biochemical engineering. Of course the book is going to have pictures of Heidi and friends scantily clad posing in impossible positions in heavenly environments. That's what models do. It's their job to look incredibly sexy wearing little or no clothing on a perfect beach that only a few ever visit.

Could Heidi have written more about how she became a model, her struggles, her sacrifices? Sure, but quite frankly that's boring. Go to modeling school if you want that info. The whole idea of the book is to share with the reader how to be successful and happy in all areas of life. Happiness to Heidi is a choice that we can all make. Her theme seems to be to keep it simple and to enjoy the little things. Good. In my opinion, this book deserves four-and-a-half stars. The language flows in a simple, easy-to-read pattern and it clearly states her eight rules. Oh, and by the way, the pictures are flat out fantastic! She jumps off the page at you, inviting you into her world. She has a body that maybe 0.05% of the population has, so why not show it off? Michaelangelo could hardly have sculpted a more gorgeous body. If I had to look at her every day, I would succeed in life too. Check out this book!

Rating:
Summary: This is the type of book you flip through in a bookstore..
Review: Heidi Klum has so much personality and spunk and none of it found its way to the pages of this book. I was mildly disappointed, I was hoping for the best. Her current job - as host and executive producer of Project Runway on Bravo networks is brilliant, where is any of that in this book?

I was so bored I ended up reading her book in less than thirty minutes. The pictures are fun to see and her lists of what to do in order to be a model may be helpful to those looking for that type of insight. I was looking for a refreshed interpretation of a model's life. On the bright side, it is better than Paris Hilton's book!

Rating:
Summary: a great book for aspiring models
Review: I am an aspiring model & I attend Barbizon Modeling School and i noticed a lot of the advice Heidi gives to young models is the same advice my teachers at the school tell the students. I would reccomend this book for any girl (or boy!) who wants a career in modeling, or just wants tips on how to succeed in life. It also had wonderful pictures from Heidi's portfolio, old modeling jobs & personal albums :-)

Rating:
Summary: Not the book i thought it was..
Review: I bought this book for my daughter, and it is NOT for children or teens. It's a book full of basic "life experience advice" from business people and some from Heidi. i thought it would have advice about modeling, but it has very little. I think Hedi Klum is trying to become an "advice expert". Yes she has made a great career for herself in modeling, but very little of it made it into this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great photo book!!!
Review: I don't understand the one star reviews. This a beautiful photo book of a beautiful woman. Honestly how many of us will be models anyway? Great pics of Heidi and cute stories - what else do you want?

Rating:
Summary: The Real Skinny on Heidi's Book
Review: I found the reviews below a bit confusing, and when I'd finished reading them I was not at all sure I wanted this book. But I bought it in spite of reservations and I'm glad I did. The book is 200 pages long. About 50-60 pages are text. Of that text fewer than ten pages are by other people. So figure you get 50 pages of writing by HEIDI with her assistant Alexandra Postman. I don't mind the use of a writer. All writers need editors, and non-writers need a writer to help them get the point across - particularly in a second language. There are places in the writing where it is very clear that Heidi was writing, and others where it is clear that Alexandra was. Heidi has a distinct writing style - most people do - and I wish that had been preserved a bit more. That's why the one star off.

Now to the content. First let me say that I am a photographer, and have used models in my work for about as long as Heidi has been modeling. There is a lot of good advice on modeling in here. And plenty that an aspiring model should be aware of. Some is practicle "Be on time", "Watch your mood". This is stuff people can actually do, that helps a lot. Some of it is not advice but stuff want to be models really need to know: casting calls with 200 girls (sometimes many more), *thousands* of calls before you get a paying job - even if you look like HEIDI, in the first two years you pay to get tested, the price was $200 for her ten years ago, but the better photographers are charging $400+ these days. And you need to do this at least once a week, both to build your book, and most importantly to get experience in front of the camera. Finally there is the advice the book intends to give you, it's motivational and inspirational and involves deep aspects of a persons personality. This is the problem. Heidi is describing her own natural traits which make her the person and celebrity she is. Few people have her drive, ambition, and endless optimism. You can try and develop these traits to the extent you have them. But most people (especially 19 year old models struggling to make it in hyper-competitive New York) will be asking themselves "How do I make myself more optimistic?" Much of HEIDI's advice is like Kurt Vonnegut's "We are what we pretend to be, so we might as well get good at it". Which is good advice for a shoot. But for a young woman in the dark of night who's been shot down eight times that day with comments like "Hips to big", "Uuuhhh, look at that nose", "She'll never do", "No breasts!" pretending to be optimistic is not a realistic choice. I wonder if Heidi's been pretending for so long she no longer remembers what it's like not to be HEIDI, or not to pretend.

I still like her, she is still smart, funny, and likeable - even if that is a bit of a put on at times. There is plenty of material worth reading here. But you have to read closely. Because the value is not in the "8 rules of model behavior", it's in the real Heidi who squeaks out between the lines.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: Heidi Klum's ego trip...
Review: I found this book disgusting in more ways than one. Is Ms. Klum really targeting women who feel they need to re-vamp their bodies, images, sex lives, etc? In other words, the average, moderately insecure woman? Wow, it really makes me feel special to see PAGES AND PAGES--even the inside of the front and back sections--filled with images of an airbrushed, overworked Heidi Klum. How can anyone aspire to that virtually unreachable level (as if Ms. Klum is anyone special without her makeup artist and hair colorist)? Certainly not someone who is taking the time to read this book. If you're in the mood for getting your ego stomped on or for seeing Ms. Klum in a book riddled with soft porn, shovel up the eighteen bucks and ENJOY.

Rating:
Summary: Written Like a Business Management Book
Review: Ms. Klum is one of the elite supermodels in the world. Beautiful, shapely, and it turns out driven for success. She left Germany at nineteen for the United States with the intent of making it as a model. She learned to watch others, learning what she could from their mistakes and victories. During this time she developed a few ‘rules of model behavior. ’ Later it occurred to her that since these rules had helped her reach her level of success that it would also be helpful to any woman who really wants to go for it in her own life, in any arena.

And why not? The business sections of any book store are filled with books for men on how to achieve success in their lives. Why shouldn't there be the equivalent books for women that are oriented to female success. And if you look at it, the things she says are not all that different. For instance the first rule is You Have to Want it, Baby - This chapter is sub-titled Desire, and a chapter named Desire would not be out of place in the business section. The other chapters likewise have a close analogy to the male business books, but are definitely written from a young women's viewpoint.

The resulting book is a mixture of wisdom a la Heidi, liberally illustrated with photographs of Ms. Klum on various modeling assignments.


Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: Very enjoyable book containing excellent photographs of Heidi and many cute stories. It is so refreshing to get a close look at a woman involved in the fashion world/Hollywood who knows who she is, is fun, and knows how to not take life too seriously. The book is extremely pleasant to read/peruse.

Rating:
Summary: Great Advice on Life and People
Review: Yes, the book is light on words and heavy on pictures, but the few words go right to the core of the topic: how to succeed in life and be happy.

Heidi give you her advice, and the advice of many others, on the art of enjoying life and helping others enjoy their own lives. If more people applied her simple, yet profound, rules, the world would be a much better place.

Overall, it's an enjoyable, quick read which, if taken to heart, will help anyone be what they want to be and be a better person.