[.ca] Bald as I Wanna Be (ISBN 0375500375)

From Amazon.com:
A popular columnist for the Washington Post and commentator for ESPN's The Sports Reporters, Kornhesier continues to chew on the big issues that he tackled in Pumping Irony. His monologue-like columns enjoy, to say the least, a good rant. He opines outrageously, for example, on the oxymoronic logic of up-to-the-minute medical "breakthroughs." A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that doctors who have one or two daily drinks are less likely to suffer heart attacks. "Should we," asks Kornheiser, "be concerned that the study was conducted on doctors?" From the momentous details of Amerika-the-Commercial ("I have the new Michael Jordan Cologne in my office... a sample card that I picked up at Foot Locker.... I sniffed the card, found the odor rather perky, left it on my desk, and thought nothing more about it until my friend Nancy walked in the office and asked me if I'd had the carpet sprayed for scarab-beetle infestation.") to the mock sublime (his 13-year-old daughter going off to summer camp), this irrepressible humorist will give you the stamina to consider the absurdities of angst-ridden modern life.

Why is this out of print?:
It can only be speculated why one of Tony Kornheiser's books is out of print, and another is currently a "special order" item. A sports/humor writer for the Washington Post, he is an underrated gem among humorous writers. I only enjoy Dave Barry more. In this book (whose cover and title spoof a Dennis Rodman autobio, and whom he roundly flogs on the book's pages) Kornheiser contemplates male pattern baldness and whether the cure is worse than the affliction; Michael Jordan cologne ("if you give the average person a sheet of paper and instructions to list what he thinks of when he thinks of Michael Jordan, 'smells good' would end up No. 97, right after 'rabbinical student'"); dogs; different kinds of cars; foreign money; how to have a nice lawn; exhuming presidents and whether this is a new trend; Jose Lind, who was arrested without pants or underwear; politically correct food; and his crazy family, which includes a sociopath nephew, a newly single brother, an alcoholic uncle, and an eightysomething father who's dating "Tiffany," who doesn't know who "Kennedy" was and tells people about her past lives. There are a few more somber columns in this collection, such as the one about his aging uncle; there is also the occasional lapse into literal poetry, such as a rhymed eulogy to Dr. Seuss and a poem about Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan (that one is a real hoot!). But overall it has the flavor of a Jewish Dave Barry (who gives Kornheiser a highly entertaining back cover quote). Fans of Barry will find the same sort of rational insanity in Kornheiser's work, and some of the same observations through a different lens. (Like being hit by the flu) It's a hilarious collection of funny columns by a funny writer. Someone bring it back into print, and fast.

Snicker.:
This collection of humorous columns is not quite as good as Kornheiser's first, "Pumping Irony." I do, however, believe that when this collection was published, Kornheiser was still funnier than Dave Barry. (He has since gone downhill as he became more famous and focused more on his sports radio show.) This collection is quite amusing and if you are a fan of Kornheiser, Barry, or similar columnists, you should enjoy it. The columns are observant and self-deprecating with cute anecdotes and standard jokes. My personal favorite is entitled "A Clothes Call" and it details the author's shopping trip with another Washington Post sports columnist, Michael Wilbon. Other columns focus on Thanksgiving, dogs, parents, and weathermen. It is very much worth a try.

One word...HILARIOUS:
Tony Kornheiser tackles everything from politics to his daughter's softball and soccer games in this book, but with a hilarious sense of humor is involved with everything. This book is for everyone, it's for your 85 year old father and your high school junior son, like me. I can asure you that you'll be chuckling within a few of the first pages. Another great book by Kornheiser is Pumping Irony...I HIGHLY recommend both to any reader.