I just picked this up in a used bookshop during lunch. I opened randomly to page 9, with the headline "Head-butt to the Ovaries" (in the first chapter, titled "A is for Ass-Kicking") I laughed out loud. This is Man Show humor, and I'm someone who thinks Adam Corolla is one the biggest jackasses in show business.

Yes, it's juvenile. It's also satire. It is a mockery of the manly stereotype and therefore itself. It probably helps that I'm tired-- I've put in more than 80 hours during the past 8 days inside a fluorescent-lit cubicle farm, not to mention taking a 300-mile overnight road trip this weekend-- but anything that makes me laugh like that is OK. I haven't finished it yet and I'm still giving it top ratings.

I'm sure it wouldn't be near as funny were I to read it a second time. Most humor has a shelf-life. Easily offended people, the politically correct, emo-boys, and other "sensitive" types will probably not enjoy this. I don't even recommend paying full price for it ($15.95). I wouldn't. I paid $5 to a local business and the puerile laughs were worth every penny.

Being a man, I certainly enjoyed this book. I have visited Maddox's website for a long time and his articles never cease to be awesome. Frankly, the book can't really compete with the website in terms of content, but that wasn't the point of the book. The book was published so Maddox could make money, which in turn would fund the website... the end. This is the greatest idea for extortion ever, tell people you are writing a book simply to make money and have them buy it whether it's good or not. I thought it was a pretty good book regardless and I am not ashamed to have it in my collection (anyone who is... probably isn't a man anyway).

The book is fairly short, and has Maddox influenced art all over (courtesy of some guest artists), so it's a pretty quick read. Most people can probably finish it in a single afternoon. It's just long enough. I think if Maddox had tried to stretch out this content any further he would have risked losing the audience because then it would be unfunny and boring, but Maddox is a smart man and he knows to give people just enough to want more. This will hopefully easily fund his website for quite sometime, which is now legendary!

I must say, one particularly excellent topic that was brought up was urinal etiquette. More people need to understand this. Nothing pisses me off more than when there are clearly three urinals, I take the one closest to the wall and some fool takes the one right next to me. Next time this happens, thanks to this book, I will summarily kick the crap out of the person, resulting in me actually having a semi-good day for once.

If you are a man and you have a sense of humor, you will like this book. Otherwise... if you don't like this book... you should seek execution or something, because clearly your stay on this planet isn't amounting to very much.

I have always enjoyed Maddox's style of humor since his website first emerged but I thought that the majority of his "jokes" were more offensive than enjoyable. I think if you want to steam roll the opposite sex, there are more creative ways to do it. As a woman, I laugh at our and my own flaws all the time...but this book just made me more frustrated if anything.

This book isn't bad, but if you're looking for the sort of humour that Maddox displays on his website then I'm not 100% sure that you should bother. If you haven't seen his website then search for "The Best Page in the Universe" and you should find it. Start with that, and read all of it before you consider buying the book as it's generally much funnier.

The book is funny in parts, but the subject of manliness just seems a bit restrictive. Most of my favourite Maddox posts are laughing at popular culture, and some of the stuff in the book is just a bit feeble by comparison. It's not that the book is bad, it's just average, and there are some really good bits, but don't expect anything too clever.

An entertaining read as long as you take it for what it is, which is humor.

I took a gamble on this book because of no prior knowledge of it's writer or his acclaimed website. I heard from a friend that Maddox is both "funny" and "sick bro". With that glowing review I decided to read and extremely glad I did.

To start with the cons, I'd be lying if I didn't say the book does start to drag near the end with less and less one liners to suck you back in like the rest of the book. I don't think I'm a prude or feminist but this book is a little more sexist than I thought it would be. I obviously understand it's hyperbole, but I was thrown off originally because I didn't think this was part of Maddox's style. I think the publisher, who usually does "Tucker Max" stuff was responsible for this choice. Never the less, doesn't mean it wasn't hilarious.

For the positives, literally very think else in the book. Probably one of the best satirical reads I've ever layed my eyes on. I have a bad habit of wondering and drifting while reading. I'll be moving my eyes down but not really reading and when I notice I have to start the page over again, I think a lot of people have this problem. However, with this book I'd read a funny line that snaps me back in and want to learn the context.

Maddox is king.

Some men find leaving adolescence very trying and cling to it with the ferocity of toddler Bart Simpson holding on to the bars of his crib. Mr. Maddox is clearly one of those men. His book celebrates all the stereotypical tropes of supposed American masculinity: forcing women into being submissive sexual objects, pounding beers, worshipping men with bodybuilder physiques (which you strongly suspect they themselves don’t possess), creating the perfect fart, hating hippies and loving ear-blasting music, to name a few things.

It’s meant to be raucous good fun. a humor book to be taken with a very large grain of salt since most men wouldn’t live past the age of 30 if they followed its precepts. At best, it’s an insight to the wistful dreams of certain men who believe that their world lacks real adventure and this is the closest they’ll get to it. At worst, it helps codify the attributes of a “man’s man”—meaning that no woman would have him.

Way much better than, "Fuck Whales", and "I am Better than Your Kids". Maddox either you love him or you hate him. I like his irreverent, insulting and corrosive humor, but the guy has damped down since some years. This book was written when he was at his peak of humor.

I was nothing before I read this. Upon finishing it i found I had a full beard, could stomach any raw meat, and was able to lift a city bus over my head, all while peeing on anything within 20 yards. I now regularly eat broken glass for breakfast and jump over moving commuter trains. You need this book.

If you don't understand satire (one many on the internet), or get triggered easy, this is not the book for you. If you are the opposite of said contingents above, then you'll find this book to be a hilarious and clear example of the literary/comedic genius that is Maddox. Note: If you want more of Maddox, check out his podcast: The Biggest Problem In The Universe

My dad gave me this book like 7 years ago. It sat in the corner of my room, untouched for 99% of that. The book contains 26 chapters on things related to Manliness (Ass-kicking, Boners etc) written in 2006, it shows its age. Pretty bad

I learned that Event Horizon is not just a movie.

This book is great, but maybe not quite as good as the website because it's not as distilled. Still, The Alphabet of Manliness should be in the reference section of every library.