Instead of reviewing Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason (by Mike Sacks) I would like to review one of the blurbs praising the book.
David Miner says:
“Why surf the web for hours trying (unsucesfully) to find something funny, when you can just pick up this book and surf Mike Sacks’ brilliant brain? Funny tweets, texts, stories, lists, confessions, rules, and even dirty pictures… all between these two covers, with no cookies or pop-ups.”
While I agree with the spirit of this blurb, and indeed, would even amplify some of Miner’s enthusiasm, I have two reservations.
One: David Miner is a TV producer (30 Rock, Parks and Recreation) so I assumed that he is far too busy and important to do any of his web surfing himself. I’m sure he has minions doing it for him. My suspicion is these minions do not have the proper education or web “savvy” to find humor on the Internet. There’s plenty to find. (I note from IMBD that Miner was a producer on The Onion Movie, so perhaps his blurb suffers from hyperbole.) But if he’s serious, I’d suggest he hire a couple of librarians, or find a few interns from a library and information science program. I could hook him up.
My second problem is of greater substance. He believes that the lack of pop-ups is a selling feature of this book, while I think ADDING pop-ups to the book would enhance the humor. (Especially the piece titled, “The Kama Sutra Corrections.”)
That said, I’d give Miner’s blurb 5 out of 5 stars. (Yes, I’m sucking up, but who knows, perhaps he’d like to produce one of my books some day.)
Now, you may be saying, “Mark, how can I possibly decide if this book is worth my time or not?” You may be saying, “behold the season of Intestinal Cramping!” You may simply be too excited about the prospect of a “Kama Sutra Corrections” pop-up book to form coherent speech. To all these concerns, I say Mike Sacks book is the GREATEST THING EVER WRITTEN. There. I’ve said it. I’m glad I have it off my chest.
If that’s not enough to make you want to read it, here is an excerpt from: “Out-of-Office E-Mails That Might Not Fly With Those In Charge.”
“I will be out of the office until May 23rd because I’m taking a “voyage quest” into the woods behind my condominium. I will be bringing with me only a can of beans and an issue of Swank. So, obviously, “not reachable” . . .” *
This piece alone had me laughing out loud on several occasions, and that is high praise indeed.
*A final note: You may not be able to hire a personal minion with rudimentary searching skills, so the above snippet (and many others) can be found at: http://www.mikesacks.com/wp/lists/