The Man Book: Booze, Boobs and Baseball - A Kick-Ass Guide

by Otto DeFay

This book contains everything you need to know to be a man. Everything . It will prepare you for every situation you can imagine, from the office to the bedroom. It will improve your life no matter what you're doing…whether you're in a bar, in a fight, in a wedding, in an argument, at a game, at work, or in a stranger's bed.

It's time to be a man. Read this book.

Genres: Comedy, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Otto DeFay is a free-lance writer and sports data analyst who spends most of his life on the road and in semi-decent hotels. Among his notable achievements are scoring a hole-in-one at the Russian Jack Springs Golf Course in Anchorage, Alaska and breaking three ribs during a layup in the final four seconds of his high school basketball championship. He has never dated anybody famous but he did win $17,550 once while playing blackjack in Las Vegas.

Reviews

[Nick]

Pretty much what it says on the tin. Not much you couldn't just Google.

[Zack]

life is a tapestry of gag gifts that now haunt the annals of your goodreads

[Avery Orren]

Quite silly. Tries a bit too hard to appeal to the Man, but is just self aware enough to not be intolerable. Quite entertaining to scan through, or open up at a party.

[DC]

I've flipped through some pages, and already know that I'm going to be laughing out loud (while learning a lot on HOW TO BE A MAN) on about every page. It has dictionary terms ("A Thousand Names For Your Penis (Not Counting Your Penis)", etc.), interesting lists ("Great Professional Wrestlers And Their Signature Moves", etc.), jokes ("The Alligator Joke, Part 1" (and 2! I LOL'ed at them, haha!), etc.), tips which are honestly helpful & useful ("Words of Wisdom: Resumes", etc.), and some other random bits and pieces ("The Finest Insults Ever Made", "Terms for Sexual Intercourse", "Manned Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Missions", etc.).

The most (if not all) thoughts here are meant to inform (wine terms, weather, how to hot-wire a car, poker hands, major crimes, how to tie a tie, ivy league schools, etc.), though admittedly an idea not meant to be taken seriously (well, that's what I think anyway) is found here and there. I dare say that more often than not, the machismo oozing in this book was not exactly meant to degrade women, but merely to celebrate and definitely educate the reader (preferably a man) the well-known ideas of "being a man". It's up to the reader on how to react, but I definitely enjoyed this-- both for its being a very informative read, as well as its humor.

Pro-tip: Read the introduction. SRSLY. I mean, it says there plainly: "Women's books have names like Our Bodies, Ourselves... Men don't have books- they have magazines. Most of these magazines you can't read in public after the age of thirty... So it's time for a book. This book. This book is for men." So revel in the fact that there's a book like this (probably among others, but this is THE MAN BOOK, and how could you go wrong with a book with such a telling title?), and read on.

[To clarify: I'm not a man. I just bought this book out of interest, plus it was on sale. Sweet deal, I'll say.]

[Matt Amott]

when my nephew was born, i always wanted to find him a book about being a boy/man, or just a plain ol' guy. i've seen them at different book stores i worked at over the years. they tell you how to tie a tie and polish shoes and how to throw the perfect pitch and fix a car. there would be chapters on surviving outdoors and how to wrestle a bear and also how to make your gf/wife's favorite drink or a chart that reminds you what gift(paper, wood, gold, silver) goes with what anniversary. i haven't seen one i a long time, but i came across one a few weeks back and it looked interesting. although, i'm going to have to wait to give it to my nephew because the subtitle is "...Booze, Boobs and Baseball- A Kick Ass Guide" and he's still a preteen so i don't want to overwhelm the boy. but it is a "man book" none the less. full of interesting facts, stats, jokes and stories that involves being a guy. there are the chapters i would expect like poker, top guy movies, a list of who won the last 30 championships in football, basketball and boxing, weather and dressing up and going out. but there are also a few one's that surprised me like the hottest animated woman, finest insults ever made, writer's every guy should read,the names of the twelve men who walked on the moon as well as the names of the twelve apostles and the most important, Asimov's three laws of robotics. all intertwined amoung pages of beer facts, sex facts and slang. it goes to show there is never such a thing as useless facts.

[David]

Some good information is contained within this book; SOME. Sadly, there are few true gems of knowledge here: it seems almost as if the author looked up the word "men" and "stereotypical" and then proceeded from there. As a result, the book really does not pass along too much that a quick Google search would not yield: how to tie a tie, the difference between scotch and whiskey, military ranks, and so forth. Additionally, along with these great things to know that you can already find for free elsewhere, the book contains pages upon pages of lists of alternate names for the genitalia of men and women (and some boring jokes along the way), most of which you would never use because they're stupid-sounding (and not even funny/silly as a result) and fairly unimaginative (you might be able to hear some of these words at the local playground, uttered by some creative five-year-olds).

Mostly a waste of time; you might gleam a few new things, but it's worth the rest of the book. If you're a guy, and you have male friends (or are on good terms with your dad), you'd probably rather learn this stuff from them instead of this book, and it would be a lot more enjoyable and memorable (example: go to the bar, and ask the bartender to explain the difference some alcohols, and enjoy the drinks; and if it's a girl tending the bar, so much the better).

[John]

The Man Book is everything you need to know to be a man. It covers it all. Some of my favorite sections were; A Thousand Names for your Penis (not including penis), Scotch, Whiskey, Bourbon, & Rye, Meet Your Prostate, and Management vs. Employees. This is not the read cover to cover kind of book; more of a skim to what you need to know. Yes, it is sophomoric. Yes, it is very funny. Highly recommend it for your coffee table.

[Christian Mesina]

I'm not going to lie.. I needed a book for class, and this book caught my eye as I was glimpsing through my older brother's books. It seems interesting. I'll just have to wait and see!