Reviews for "Lies..."

Description: From Penguin Books.

UK Independent. "In so doing, he has indeed struck a blow against an information (and disinformation) machine that has played a crucial role in spreading and enforcing the White House's with-us-or-against-us mentality ... Franken has found a way to redress this balance, and at the same time get under the skin of his adversaries like nobody else ... Franken can be very funny ... Viewed from across the Atlantic, the humour might seem unnecessarily cruel. But that is to misunderstand the nature of the opponents Franken is up against ... Franken, though, has no interest in turning this into a personal vendetta. For him, it is all about reinvigorating opposition to President Bush, especially in the mainstream media which, in his view, became so cowed after September 11 that "their balls went right back into their body cavity".
NY Daily News. "Frankly, book's funny ... stands tall and takes aim. In today's theater of acrimonious politics, he has major box-office appeal."
USA Today. "Liberals should love it ... The most interesting part is joke-free: a detailed, emotional description of a memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone, D.-Minn., who died in a plane crash while campaigning last year."
Orange County Weekly. "Al Franken is really funny ... hilarious and thrilling ... I stayed up until 5 o'clock Sunday morning. I couldn't sleep. Al Franken had made me mad."
Amazon.com. "Entertaining and insightful ... In a time when much political discourse is composed of rage and shouting, it's refreshing that Al Franken is able to shout in a witty manner."
Minn Star-Tribune. "a serious and riotous retort ... provocative reading for everyone ... With detailed, and often searingly funny footnotes, he deconstructs their writings and public utterances for maximum embarrassment value ... brilliant ... wry commentary ... Franken has built this finger-pointing book to be sturdy and interesting, no matter which side of the capital-gains tax break you butter your bread on."
St. Petersburg Times. "What is striking about Franken's book is that along with the sharp political zings and sometimes sophomoric jokes that you would expect from the former Saturday Night Live comedian turned political satirist, there is a some genuinely impressive investigative reporting."
NY Times. "Al Franken gives as good as he gets ... funny."
Buzzflash.com. "THE book of the summer."
Howard Dean's BlogForAmerica.com. "BRILLIANT."
The Onion. "Lies' shortcomings are overwhelmed by the book's heady mixture of scathing humor and righteous indignation, with the latter dominating a wrenching account of the days following U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone's death."
Business Week. "laugh-out-loud funny ... blistering and impolite attack on the President and his supporters ... compelling, fact-laden slam of the positions and posturing of conservatives ... a liberal who's not only passionate and well-informed but amusing ... exhilarating ... fresher and biting ... not only funny but surprisingly well-versed ... Franken's analysis resonated with me."
Joel Connelly, Seattle PI. "master satirist ... bare knuckles assault on the talking heads of the political right ... "
Wisconsin Capital Times. "Franken just hit a home run ... well-researched and biting criticism ... poignant, laugh-out-loud satire ... systematically expose the efforts of the right-wing media to shuffle their lies into the mainstream ... gobs of wit and humor."
St Paul Pioneer Press. "shrewd analysis ... Franken does what no journalist or political analyst that I'm aware of has done — connected the pieces into a troubling whole ... the ample data in the book is balanced with biting, laugh-out-loud humor ... Through a great deal of investigative reporting by Franken's research assistants, "Lying Liars" gets it right ... Franken does what many in my profession haven't done — present the truth and expose the lying liars."
Cavalier Daily of UVA. "hilarious ... plenty of great material ... real political merit ... addictive page-turner ... funny, insightful and witty."
Economist. "genuinely funny."

Some reader reviews are available here. Also, Amazon.com has user reviews here.

"Lies" NY Times Status

From the NY Times:

Sept 7 - #1.
Sept 14 - #1.
Sept 21 - #1.
Sept 28 - #1.
Oct 5 - #1.
Oct 12 - #2.
Oct 19 - #1.
Oct 26 - #3.
Nov 2 - #2.
Nov 9 - #2.
Nov 16 - #3.
Nov 23 - #3.
Nov 30 - #5.
Dec 7 - #3.
Dec 14 - #2.
Dec 21 - #4.
Dec 28 - #3.
Jan 4 - #3.
Jan 11 - #2.
Jan 18 - #1.
Jan 25 - #3.
Feb 1 - #5.
Feb 8 - #5.
Feb 15 - #7.
Feb 22 - #5.
Feb 29 - #6.
Mar 7 - #7.
Mar 14 - #4.
Mar 21 - #6.
Mar 28 - #6.
Apr 4 - #6.
Apr 11 - #6.
Apr 18 - #6.
Apr 25 - #9.
May 2 - #15
May 9 - #17
May 16 - #23
May 23 - #29

Oh, The Things I Know.

Description: From Penguin Books.

From Dr. Al. Franken, the first indispensable book of the new millennium.

Filled with wisdom, observations, and practical tips you can put to work right away, Oh, the Things I Know! is a cradle-to-grave guide to living, an easy-to-follow user's manual for human existence.

What does a megasuccess like Al Franken—bestselling author, Emmy-award winning television star, and honorary Ph.D.—have to say to ordinary people like you? Well, as Dr. Al himself says, “There's no point in getting advice from hopeless failures.”

Join Mr. Franken—sorry, Dr. Franken—on a journey that will take you from your first job (“Oh, Are You Going to Hate Your First Job!”), through the perils and pitfalls of your twenties and thirties (“Oh, the Person of Your Dreams vs. the Person You Can Actually Attract!”), into the joys of marriage and parenthood (“Oh, Just Looking at Your Spouse Will Make Your Skin Crawl!”), all the way to the golden years of senior citizenship (“Oh, the Nursing Home You'll Wind Up In!”).

Don't travel life's lonesome highway by yourself. Take Al Franken along, if not as an infallible guide, then at least as a friend who will make you laugh.

An excerpt.

Time for a reality check. You're going to have some setbacks. Time for a reality check of that reality check. "Setbacks" is just a nice word for "failures."

When confronted with failure, you will undoubtably tell yourself something like, "You learn more from failure than you do from success." The next time you fail, you will probably say to yourself again, "You learn more from failure than you do from success." By the third time you fail, you may start to think, "Why am I failing so often if I am supposedly learning so much from these failures?" Most likely, that will be just a passing thought, and you will seek solace in your old stand-by, "You learn more from failure than you do from success" or some version thereof, like, "Failure is a better teacher than success" or "Show me a man who is a success, and I'll show you a man who has failed a dozen times."

That last one is good for your next nine failures. After which you may begin to wonder whether telling yourself this sort of thing over and over is really getting you anywhere.

Most of the things people keep telling themselves, while temporarily encouraging, are simply untrue. Take, for example, the popular adage, "You learn more from failure than you do from success." Let me give you an example from my own life, which, unlike the other examples from my life in this book, is an actual true example of something that really happened to me.

In 1995, I wrote and starred in the film, Stuart Saves His Family. It was a failure as defined by the Hollywood powers-that-be, in that it lost millions of dollars for Paramount instead of making millions of dollars for the studio. Now, I am very proud of the movie, and if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing, except perhaps whatever it was that made it a failure.

But to tell you truth, I did learn a few things from my failure. I learned, for example, that I would probably never again have the opportunity to star in a movie, a piece of information that can officially be categorized as utterly useless, because there is no way to act upon it. I also learned that writing is not for me. I have approached every writing project since then with dread. And it is only due to dire financial necessity that I have undertaken writing projects like this one.

On the other hand, had the movie been a huge success and won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year instead of Braveheart, (which was, frankly, overrated), I would have been "hot" instead of "cold." All sorts of opportunities would have presented themselves. I could have been in many more movies and learned how to act better. Who knows? I might have been able to direct a movie. Perhaps one about submarines. Think of all the stuff I would have learned about submarines if I had to direct a whole movie about them.

A single success would have entitled me to make a half dozen failures. And even if I didn't learn as much from those failures as I would have from successes, I would have learned something because there would have been six of them.

Or I might have made a witty or memorable speech when I accepted my Academy Award, like Roberto Benigni. That would have been fun.

Think of all the things I could have learned from success. So, be careful when you find yourself repeatedly telling yourself something encouraging which probably isn't true. Like, "It's lonelier at the top." In my experience people at the top are immensely popular. Who do you think is more likely to get his phone call returned: Intel Chairman Andy Grove or a homeless man?

Here's another phrase to be extremely wary of: "Every time one door closes, another door opens." Very often when one door closes, another does open. A trap door, leading directly to that lonely place at the bottom.

Here's a phrase that often makes people at funerals even more miserable than they already are. "God doesn't give you any more than you can handle." There's nothing worse than feeling guilty about going crazy.

But I don't mean to be entirely negative. There are pessimistic phrases that are equally untrue. For example, "Nice guys finish last." Believe me, there are plenty of unsuccessful assholes. And being a winner doesn't automatically make you a prick. Many nice guys have finished on top, like Tom Hanks and... Well, I'm sure there's others. Oh, yes. There's Oprah. She's very nice.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

So why do we keep telling ourselves these useless bromides and soothing falsehoods? In reality, they're a form of denial. Next time you confront a failure, ask yourself, "What really happened here? Is it possible that there is absolutely nothing to be learned from this experience?" If the answer is yes, don't waste valuable time trying to invent a lesson where none may exist. If there is something to be learned, fine. But that's no reason to be especially grateful for having had to learn it the hard way.

Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot

Description: From Delacorte.

In the grand satirical tradition of Swift, Rabelais, and Twain comes...

Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, and Other Observations...

a scathing--but uncompromisingly fair--look at America's largest talk show host and the rest of the Republican right.

Penned by the Emmy award-winning Saturday Night Live writer whom John Podhoretz of the New York Post has called "the man responsible for some of the most brilliant political satire of our time," Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot tackles the issues--and the politicians--in ways few have dared...

Exploding Medicare Costs: "Why not shoot the elderly into space? Stay with me. Because I'm not just thinking about the budget here. I'm talking about science. Just think how many more manned space operations NASA could undertake if they didn't have to worry about getting the astronauts back."

Crime: "I have a radical gun-buyback idea that I guarantee would be a huge success. Here's how it works: hand in a gun, get a free vial of crack."

Newt Gingrich: "Many of us, like Newt, have acknowledged smoking dope and reading Toffler in the early 70s. But after reading his book, I think Newt's dirty little secret is that he smoked dope and watched The Jetsons."

Phil Gramm: "If you get beyond the fact the Gramm is ugly, mean, hypocritical, has a boob fetish, and drives his wife like a mule, he does have a certain folksy charm."

On the subject of Rush Limbaugh, Franken lets the facts speak for themselves. Listen to Rush, the "rugged individualist" and enemy of government handouts, explain how his second wife made him stop sitting around the house eating just food and go file for unemployment insurance. And learn all of Rush's several explanations for how he avoided the draft.

Of course, when it comes to draft-dodging Republicans, Rush isn't alone. Reading Al's Vietnam short story, "Operation Chickenhawk," you'll savor the exploits of Privates Limbaugh, Gramm, Quayle, Buchanan, Gingrich, and George Will as Lieutenant Oliver North leads them kicking and screaming into combat.

And don't miss Al's informative discussion with the man who has "the easiest job in America": Rush Limbaugh's fact-checker. And much, much more.

Why Not Me?

Description: From Delacorte.

First came Theodore White's The Making of the President, 1960. Then All the President's Men. Now the searing chronicle that will forever change the way we view the man and the office...

Why Not Me?

...chronicles the dramatic rise and dizzying fall of Al Franken, who would become the first Jewish president of the United States. Meet the president as a young man. Witness the Franken campaign in its infancy, as the candidate pledges "to walk the state of New Hampshire, diagonally and then from side to side." Go behind the scenes and meet Team Franken, the candidate's brain trust: including brother and deputy campaign manager Otto, a recovering sex addict and alcoholic, and campaign manager Norm Ornstein, the think-tank policy wonk who masterminds the single-issue (ATM fees) campaign. Cheer as Franken stuns the pundits by defeating Al Gore for the Democratic nomination, then is swept into office carrying all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Then, through excerpts from Bob Woodward's detailed account of the first hundred days, The Void, go inside the Franken White House, which is gripped by crisis from day one. After the highly medicated chief executive exhibits a roller coaster of bipolar behavior, Franken is forced to cooperate with the Joint Congressional Committee on the President's Mood Swings. And when the committee releases Franken's personal diaries to the public, his presidency faces its ultimate crisis.

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!

Description:

The ultimate meditation book, not to be grandiose...

Take a hilarious, healing journey with Stuart Smalley as he careens down the road to Recovery. For one entire year Stuart recorded an affirmation a day...except when he had taken to his bed (but that's Okay)...and the result is the most entertaining and indispensable meditation book ever. From program wisdom (Denial Ain't Just a River in Egypt! December 1) to survival tips (When I Go Home to Visit My Family I Will Stay in a Motel! September 26) to some good sound practical advice (I am entitled to file for an Extension on my Income Taxes! April 15th), Stuart's affirmations will empower you!

Work, Friendship, Love, Spirituality, Codependency, Self-Esteem, Acceptance...Stuart deals with it all. And as you share his ups and downs, his triumphs and shame spirals, you will come to see the ultimate truth of Stuart's March 21st affirmation: Today I Will Laugh--At Least Once!