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Private Parts

3.65 of 5 stars 3.65 · rating details · 2,374 ratings · 125 reviews

The #1 bestseller and fastest selling autobiography of all time, "Private Parts," will be released on March 14 as a major motion picture from Paramount Pictures and Rysher Entertainment. This is the event Stern's millions of fans have been waiting for. Yes, The King of All Media is back, letting it all hang out in his outrageous new movie. And here is the book that tracks...more

Mass Market Paperback, 660 pages

Published March 1st 1997 by Pocket Books (first published 1993)

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May 29, 2009 Evan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: deliciously-nasty, __in-my-collection, celebrity-famous-bio, howard-stern, ny-ny

I'm a Stern fan to the point that I have archives on disc of most of the radio shows going back through most of the 90s and some before that. Yet, I had never taken the time to read Howard's book. Most of the stories in this book will be familiar to longtime fans. I have to say I enjoyed Robin's autobiography a lot more than this; it is much better written and far more thoughtful and insightful. Nonetheless, there were many times I found myself laughing out loud at Howard's tome, especially when...more

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Apr 15, 2009 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read this on the beach over the course of a few days. It's definitely a quick and fairly mindless read. I used to be a fan of Howard when he had his TV show on CBS and was on terrestrial radio in NYC. The best parts of this book are contained in his upbringing and rise to the top of the radio world. He fought some serious battles and refused to back down from management. This ended up getting him fired, but it also let to a half billion dollar deal with Sirius. It's really amazing and somewhat...more

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Mar 12, 2009 candy added it

i was late jumping on the stern bandwagon, so this book is an interesting way to catch up on the history of how this formerly outcasted, underappreciated, racey radio show host from long island overcame the odds, becomming a millionaire by creating an empire and turning into what some consider a revolutionairy icon by changing the paradigm of talk radio. i don't want to put him on a pedestal, but i find his story worth reading. this book may seem long considering its girth, but the font is big...more i was late jumping on the stern bandwagon, so this book is an interesting way to catch up on the history of how this formerly outcasted, underappreciated, racey radio show host from long island overcame the odds, becomming a millionaire by creating an empire and turning into what some consider a revolutionairy icon by changing the paradigm of talk radio. i don't want to put him on a pedestal, but i find his story worth reading. this book may seem long considering its girth, but the font is big and chapters are short, so don't be fooled.
i think people gravitate towards his p.o.v. because he's all about being candid and getting down to the nitty gritty. one of the best parts of the book is when he makes fun of celebrities, rather than worshipping the ground they walk on. there probably isn't anyone who howard hasn't insulted, including myself. but it undoubtedly does take bravery to say whatever one's thinking, even if it is for the ratings and money. but i do think a lot of what comes out of his mouth is what others are thinking but would never say, along with what's interesting, controversial, funny, etc.. he's politically incorrect and uncouth, even before he was a mulit-millionaire. admittitedly, this could be a lil sleazy, and i go back and forth with how i feel about his whole deal. considering his popularity, his content must resonate with america's mentality in some form.
i read this book on my train rides to brooklyn, and many times found myself holding back laughter; so if howard can make a femninist like me laugh, there's gotta be something engaging about what he does that can't be denied. sometimes i do wonder and feel like he either dumbs himself down for his audience, or is really actually downright uneducated in regards to unapologetic stereotypical statements he makes about women, race, class, other parts of the country, the list goes on. i don't even know if i'd like him as a person if i knew him, but that's not the issue.
also, it can't be forgotten that he underwent fcc censorship battles for years, taking hits for the free speech fight. the book brings to light how much he has done for opening up the public forum for sexual discussion, without being self righteous about it. i feel he broke boundaries by helping expose the taboo of what is deemed to be unspeakable and improper in our society. gotta give him credit for that.
admittedly, there is not too much wisdom or life lessons to learn from in between these pages; but for anyone who's a fan of the show looking for a fun book that is pretty effortlessly engaging and entertaining, i say 'go forth and read!'(less)

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Jul 09, 2012 Neil rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been an incorrigible Stern fan since my early teenage years, when I tried to impress my older brother by finding him funny; eventually, I really did. But for a brief and glorious two-month free trial of Sirius recently, I haven't listened to him in his satellite era, yet that fleeting reunion made me remember how much I like him. I saw this book at a thrift shop and thought it was worth a few bucks.

It surprised me how perfectly it captures Stern's voice. I had no expectations about the pros...more I've been an incorrigible Stern fan since my early teenage years, when I tried to impress my older brother by finding him funny; eventually, I really did. But for a brief and glorious two-month free trial of Sirius recently, I haven't listened to him in his satellite era, yet that fleeting reunion made me remember how much I like him. I saw this book at a thrift shop and thought it was worth a few bucks.

It surprised me how perfectly it captures Stern's voice. I had no expectations about the prose -- it always surprises me how the average person, say, can speak perfectly articulately but can't write at all -- and even the greatest entertainers usually write insipid autobiographies, but the book's written in Stern's exact voice. Whether that the credit ought to go to Stern or the writer who helped him, I can't say (from the acknowledgments: "Most people assume that the author of this kind of celebrity book just hires a guy to write a book for him. I always assumed that as well, so I went right out and hired Larry "Ratso" Sloman. Ratso's first job was to inform me that I'd have to wrte the book myself. I should have fired him for insubordination."), but it's like listening to a good episode of the show, with his neuroses and sexual obsessions and self-deprecation and fantastic embellishments and attention to bizarre details. Like, p. 50:

"Thanks to my overprotective mother, I was the target of every bully in the neighborhood. A fat neighborhood kid named Johnny, who used to blow his nose into his Italian ices, and then eat them with a wooden spoon, used to beat me up so regularly that my parents made me go to judo school to learn to defend myself. On the day of my first lesson I took a brush and scrubbed my feet down before I went. I knew in judo you had to take your socks and shoes off. I always hated to take baths or showers. I would go for days without washing until my mother would smell me and go "You stink!" and march me in for a bath. So I went to judo with my scrubbed feet, I took off my shoes and socks, and the Korean instructor looked down at my toenails and he freaked out."

Then the next paragraph is about how this sort of thing led him to do drugs and he'd buy pot from a friends older brother, "a big, fat, white Jewish guy who'd be lying naked on his bed like a beached whale wearing a sombrero while reading Penthouse and playing with himself... it was a disgusting experience." The guy's the best.(less)

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Jan 15, 2011 Dan Logue rated it 1 of 5 stars

After driving 21 straight hours from Miami to Phila, and spending a large part of that time listening to Stern archives, I decided to give this book a try. While I do find Stern arrogant and sometimes unfailingly immature, I do have a great amount of appreciation for what he did for radio, and respect for the honesty with which he describes his own life to his listeners, something that is increasing rare these days. Unfortunately, this book is trash. It seems Stern just used it as a platform to...more

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Mar 21, 2008 Joe Mossa rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people with completely open minds

i couldn t finish it cause disgust was the emotion that this book kept emitting in me and who wants to be disgusted while reading. this book is listed on the list of the 100 best books of the 20th century. what a joke..lol. i read 344 of the 440 pages but this took courage on my part.

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Dec 12, 2008 Cwn_annwn_13 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-my-shelf-home-library

Might be the funniest book I've ever read. Had me laughing my ass off from beginning to end! The movie was a lot different from the book. I liked the movie but its nowhere near as funny as the book.

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Jan 28, 2013 Agustin rated it 5 of 5 stars

I admit it, I am a Howard Stern fan. This man has made me laugh for years! I read Private Parts many years ago when it was first released, and also saw the movie.

Recently, I found book again after moving, and decided to re-read it. Years later, it was still very funny to me! It was like taking a walk down memory lane and getting to relive so many stories that Howard told throughout the years.

The book even had a new form of entertainment due to his divorce which took after the book and movie wer...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Sergio GRANDE films rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm at odds with some of my fellow reviewers here. One of them rightly criticizes the book for not being insightful enough; others object to it because Stern appears self-absorbed, immature, lascivious, smutty and I don't know what else.

This is Howard Stern's biography for God's sake! WTF were you expecting?! Of course the book is shallow, and cruel, and self-absorbed, and immature and smutty. It's also brutally funny and full-frontal irreverent.

To those fellow reviewers I alluded in the first...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Robert by: Howard Stern

Shelves: nonfiction, autobiography, bookcrossing, own

At the time of this release, I was very much a Stern listener and was looking forward to reading the book. I was impressed with the book. I thought it was a good biography of Howard's career. And funny. And weird. And titillating.

I liked Stern and have always supported his right to do as he pleases. I lost interest in him long ago, as I think most mature adults do. But to each his own . . .

For anyone who is interested in the self-heralded King of All Media, this book is essential. Not for the t...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Mick rated it 3 of 5 stars

You either like this guy or you don't. Even he describes himself as obsessive compulsive and no-one will argue with that. "He insists that others submit to his ways, using any and all tactics of verbal persuasion - from charm and ingratiation, to inducing sympathy, to persistant begging and complaining of unfair treatment. When these methods fail, he resorts to bullying tactics, including public humiliation and denigration." A few parts of this book made me laugh out loud. This guy really has an...more

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May 04, 2010 Laurie V rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

I did this all out of order. The first time I'd ever heard of Howard Stern was when I saw the film version of Private Parts in 1997 with some friends who were fans. I then read Miss America soon after it was published, again not knowing much about Howard. Fast forward to 2010 -- I'm now a Sirius radio subscriber and daily listener of Howard's show. Because of this, I thought it was about damn time I finally sat down and read Howard's great literary achievement.

I liked Miss America a lot better t...more I did this all out of order. The first time I'd ever heard of Howard Stern was when I saw the film version of Private Parts in 1997 with some friends who were fans. I then read Miss America soon after it was published, again not knowing much about Howard. Fast forward to 2010 -- I'm now a Sirius radio subscriber and daily listener of Howard's show. Because of this, I thought it was about damn time I finally sat down and read Howard's great literary achievement.

I liked Miss America a lot better than Private Parts. I enjoyed the first half of the book when Howard talked about his family and breaking into the radio business. I love hearing stories about Howard's parents and reading about them was just as entertaining. I wish he'd incorporated more of his family life (even life with his first wife Alison) into the book. He does do a lot more of this in Miss America though, so that might have been done on purpose so he'd have material for the second book. But I do wish he'd included more stories about his personal life after he got married.

The rest of the book suffers from being outdated, which isn't Howard's fault and doesn't reflect on the actual writing at all. Unfortunately, this was clearly meant to be read when it was published almost 20 years ago. Howard's opinion on several of the celebrities he mentions is now completely different. Jay Leno, for instance, is praised in Private Parts as being a nice guy who was set up for failure by Johnny Carson when he took over the Tonight Show. This is a strange opinion coming from Howard, who recently trashed Leno publicly in numerous outlets for how he handled himself when Conan O'Brien took over the Tonight Show. Howard also addresses topical-for-1993 news stories and issues that are hard to comprehend in 2010.

What I found most interesting with this book was the fact that I probably wouldn't have been nearly as big a fan of Howard if I'd been a listener when Private Parts was first published. He describes a good amount of juvenile schtick that seems beneath him in 2010. I understand that the schtick is how he built his name and reputation, but I very much prefer the mellower Howard of today. Given the choice between Butt Bongo Fiesta and Win Sal's Money, I'd take Sal in a second.(less)

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May 09, 2009 Eva Leger rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Howard Stern fans

Recommended to Eva by: I just like Stern

Shelves: challenged-or-banned, celebs, b-non-fiction, humor

I picked this up to read on a whim. I got the book from a friend months ago and wasn't planning on reading it right away- I thought it'd be years before I actually started it. Then I just grabbed it one morning when I stuck on about three or four other books I just couldn't get into.
I started flying through these pages. I think you have to already find Howard Stern funny to like this though. There are scores of people who would be highly offended by even the "mild" stuff he says here. By even t...more

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Aug 07, 2012 David A. Núñez rated it 5 of 5 stars

The funniest book I've read. I was very surprised to learn that Howard is a good writer! I couldn't put the book down. I read this book several years ago when it first came out. I really miss hearing Howard onn the radio. I don't subscribe to any satellite radio, so I don't get to listen to his show. I was very impressed with Howard's writing. I highly recommend this book!

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Apr 14, 2009 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, humor

I'm not a huge fan of Stern, but I did like him better after reading this book. It's funny and insightful, as well as self-deprecating. ALl too often I know exactly what he's talking about.

Best quote: Basically, my mother, Ray, raised me like a veal. It was like growing up in a box with no lights on.

Second best: My father's favorite sport was yelling.

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Jul 25, 2012 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was laughing so hard looking at the illustrations from when the people in the studio tried to draw a nude model...I had to collect myself before I could go on. A lot of the book made me laugh out loud, and not just a "hmhmhmhm" laugh, but a big belly laugh. I'm sure that not everyone shares the appreciation for Stern's humor, though.

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Jan 20, 2013 Squire rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not particularly a Stern fan. But this book took me by surprise. It was bawdy and nasty and not particulary insightful, but it was also full of the passion that made Stern the self-proclaimed King of all media; it was funny and fun to read. 700 pages felt like 100 pages. As entertainment, it worked for me.

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Feb 24, 2012 Mazzy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I actually thought this book was amazingly entertaining. I thought it would be kind of stupid-humor, which it had, but it was also just overall funny and kept me laughing through out the read while telling an interesting, yet pretty normal, life story of an American celeb.

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Aug 20, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Very funny book about The King of All Media. Unfortunately a large part of the book was about how great his wife is. Since they ended up divorced several year after the book was published, the book has not aged well.

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Sep 26, 2012 Peter Gorman II rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Raunchy, exactly what you would expect from Howard. He is the definition of an entertainer and uses his past as a self-deprecating, demoralizing attack on the human soul. The King of all Media, indeed.

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Mar 26, 2012 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of Howard Stern so I loved "Private Parts." It was great to understand Howard's background and to learn more about the characters on his show. I love Howard Stern even more after reading this book!

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Jul 09, 2009 Minty rated it 4 of 5 stars

i'm not saying it's great literature or anything, but howard stern is a pretty entertaining and straightforward guy and i have fond memories of reading my brother's copy when i was younger. so get off my back!

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Feb 15, 2011 Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Surprisingly good. Learn about Howard Stern struggling to keep a job, only to create a on air persona that repulses the mass public and draws in people to hear what he has to say yet.

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Sep 23, 2010 Stan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved this when I first read it 15 years ago ... but to be honest, there's a little bit of dust on these jokes. Howard is brilliantly funny, but there's less of his history here than I remembered and a lot of the jokes and stories about his radio show are super old. The wackpack chapter was atrocious ... no one in there comes close to the current stars.

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Apr 17, 2010 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good if you like Howard Stern but don't expect too much about his personal life after childhood. he doesnt talk about wife and kida and home life as much as thought he would have.

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Mar 08, 2013 Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very funny, especially the parts about his adolescence. There's a picture of him when he was like 14 that still makes me laugh to this day when I think about it.

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Sep 15, 2009 Rick Lasly rated it 2 of 5 stars

If you like the antics of Howard Stern, then you will like his book, it was an amusing read but certainly gives more of the self absorbed shock-jock we all love to hate.

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Jun 12, 2009 Joy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, good-movie-too

I read this a long time ago before the movie (which was good) came out. I don't remember that much about it but I think it was interesting to read about his background.

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Sep 10, 2011 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars

As much as I don't like the man (he is a HORRIBLE talk show host, just find him immature and annoying), this was a very good read. Well worth your time.

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Nov 01, 2012 Jake Moody rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm a huge fan of Howard's radio show and it was really entertaining to get more detail behind alot of his stories that he tells on the air. Also interesting to see how he has changed over the years.

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The self-proclaimed "King of All Media" has been dubbed a shock jock for his highly controversial use of scatological, sexual, and racial humor. Stern has said that the show was never about shocking people, but primar...more

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