The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs

The Guinea Pig Diaries
by A.J. Jacobs
$15.00
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (July 13, 2010) 
ISBN-10: 1439104999
ISBN-13: 978-1439104996 

Annotation/Flashtalk: Could you live without telling a lie for 30 days? How hard is it to focus on just one task at a time? Can you successfully outsource an argument with your spouse?

Summary:
A.J. Jacobs is up to it again, this time instead of one big experiment, like his "The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible" or "The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World," this time he does a series of 30-day experiments.  A.J. takes on:

• Radical Honesty
• Living like George Washington
• Outsourcing his life
• Walking the Red Carpet
• Trying to be totally rational and remove bias from his life
• Being a unitasker and focusing on one task at a time
• Using his writing skills to get his nanny a date
• Posing naked for Esquire
• And for his "saintly" wife Julie, a month doing EVERYTHING she asks.

Jacobs writes of his "experiments" with his usual humor, insight, and journalistic approach that readers of his previous work have come to expect.

Genre/Subgenre: Non-Fiction/Humor

Evaluation: 3-stars

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

Sh*t My Dad Says
by Justin Halpern

$15.99
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: It Books (May 4, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0061992704
ISBN-13: 978-0061992704

Annotation/Flashtalk:
Crass at times, humorous always; Halpern recounts some of his dad’s most…well…let’s just say his dad’s advice, for example:

On My Interest in Skydiving
“You won’t go do that, I know it…Son, I used to wipe your ass, I know you better than you know you…Fine, Mom used to wipe it, but I was usually nearby.”

Summary:
What started as a bored and back-living-at-home, 28-year-old Justin’s posting on Twitter for the folly of his friends, turned into mega-following in less than a month.

Halpern has turned some of his funniest, if not fondest, childhood memories about some of life’s most unexpected lessons he learned though the expletive-laden wisdom of his father, into a hilarious set of short-stories punctuated by more of his father’s brutally honest wit.

The book has spawned a TV series of the same name, written by Halpern.

Genre/Subgenre: Humor/Non-Fiction

Evaluation: 3-stars

Stiff by Mary Roach

Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach
$13.95

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (May 2004)

ISBN-10: 0393324826

ISBN-13: 978-0393324822

Annotation/Flashtalk:

Have you ever considered what could happen to you if you donated your body to science after you died?  Find out the possibilities in Stiff by author and journalist Mary Roach.

Summary:

In this humorous novel from Mary Roach, she discusses the various scientific uses for a cadaver that has been donated to science.  Almost since the beginning of scientific inquiry, dead bodies have been used to further our advancement of knowledge.  The same holds true for today.  Bodies which have been donated to science are used for a myriad of things.  Heads are used for plastic surgery practice. Full bodies can be used as crash-test dummies or for measuring the rate of decomposition at a body farm.  Roach goes on to recount various experiments including crucifixion, ballistics, beheadings, medical cannibalism, and the search for the soul.  Roach’s text gives you new possibilities beyond the usual choices of burial and cremation, including a new, greener burial as compost – currently only available in Sweden. 

While the subject is grim, Roach’s humorous but journalistic style really gives readers something to think about.

Genre/Subgenre: Non-Fiction/Science

Evaluation: 4-stars.

Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks

Round Ireland with a Fridge
by Tony Hawks
$14.95

Paperback: 264 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (March 7, 2001)

ISBN-10: 0312274920

ISBN-13: 978-0312274924

Annotation/Flash talk:

 I could not say it better than the author in his prologue:

“I'm not, by nature, a betting man. However, the pages that follow in this book do not bear testimony to that. In fact they exist wholly as the result of a bet.
    I'm not, by nature, a drinking man. However, the making of the bet which led to this book does not bear testimony to that. Because I made it when I was pissed.
    Everything you read from this moment forth is a tribute to what can be achieved as a result of a shabby night of booze.”

Summary:

On an earlier trip to Ireland, Tony Hawks spotted a man standing on the side of the road trying to hitchhike a ride with a refrigerator in tow.  The story became one of those classic back pocket stories he tossed out as banter at dinner parties with friends.  One night, one drunken night, the subject of the Fridge Man came up again.  Tony’s friends did not believe him.  Tony awoke the next morning to find a wager scribbled in his own hand, betting his friend £100 that Tony could not hitchhike around Ireland with fridge. 

The gauntlet having been thrown, Tony did just that. He arrived in Ireland, was aided is picking up a small cube fridge and proceeded to spend the month of May trying to hitchhike a full circle around Ireland.  Aided some by promotion on a local radio show, Tony worked his way around Ireland, but not with the greatest of ease. 

The fridge became to symbolize more than the bet; it became a philosophy for life and an in-road to the hearts, fellowship and minds of some of the most generous Irish people.  The story in a way is also a travelogue for the beauty of the Ireland.

Genre/Subgenre: Non-Fiction/Humor/Travelogue

Evaluation: 3-stars.