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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.5402
EAN: 9780786887583
ISBN: 0786887583
Label: Hyperion
Manufacturer: Hyperion
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: April 10, 2002
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: April 10, 2002
Sales Rank: 28716
Studio: Hyperion
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The #1 New York Times bestseller with more than 450,000 copies in print offers up a hilarious and 'entertaining' [Chicago Sun-Times] collection of razor-sharp observations -- now available in paperback!
Spending more than 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover, George Carlin, the thinking person's comic, has made it very clear how successful he is at the transition from stage to page. In Napalm & Silly Putty, Carlin's characteristically ironic and hilarious take on life shines through. He asks:
How can it be a spy satellite if they announce on TV that it's a spy satellite?
Why do they bother saying 'raw sewage'?
Do some people cook that stuff?
In the expression 'topsy-turvy,' what exactly is meant by 'turvy'?
Amazon.com Review:
Standup comic George Carlin follows up his dark-horse smash bestseller Brain Droppings with another compendium of cranky meditations, cinching his reputation as the Andy Rooney of boomer hepcats. 'Road rage, air rage,' Carlin rails. 'Why should I be forced to divide my rage into separate categories? To me, it's just one big, all-around, everyday rage. I don't have time for fine distinctions.' Carlin is not into the lengthy essay--he's a sprinter of the mind. Most sentences in the book could be lifted out to stand alone and provoke deep thought: 'How can it be a spy satellite if they announce on television that it's a spy satellite?' Good question. 'Why do they bother saying 'Raw sewage'? Do some people cook that stuff?' Yuck, but yes, Carlin's got a point.
He can do an extended bit too, most memorably the transcript of Jesus on a talk show plugging his new tell-all memoir about the Trinity, Three's a Crowd. Carlin is funny, but genuinely angry and poignant at times: 'You live 80 years and at best you get about six minutes of pure magic,' he says. Sad, but about right.
And how did Carlin get into his line of business, 'thinking up goofy s---,' as he puts it? There's a clue in one entry in this book: 'As of 1995 the number of people who had lived on earth was 105,472,380,169 ... it means that at this point there have been almost 1 quadrillion human bowel movements and most of them occurred before people had anything to read. These are the kind of thoughts that kept me from moving quickly up the corporate ladder.'
Thank god Carlin stayed low on the corporate food chain and high on his own utterly idiosyncratic ideas! --Tim Appelo
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Better on Stage
Though the insights into various human behaviors are funny, it is more funny on stage, and left me yawning.
Rating:  - one of the funniest books i ever read
i got this as a christmas present a few years ago. i was a bit sceptical because i never heard of him and i thought his jokes would be too old fashioned for me to relate to. but after the first couple pages i couldn't stop laughing. when i read this at school i had a hard time trying not to laugh out loud so people wouldn't stare at me. i definitely recommend this book to anyone.
Rating: - Crosses the line.
In "Brain Droppings", George Carlin did a marvellous job of offering curmudgeonly perspectives on life, the universe, and everything. He was funny, witty, and spot-on with his observations. In this book, he crosses the line between curmudgeonly and nasty. There are still some funny bits in this book, which is why I rated it 2 stars instead of 1, and his observations are still frequently unsettlingly accurate. But instead of coming across as an amusingly witty curmudgeon, in far too much of this book he comes across as a downright nasty, vindictive, bitter and hateful misanthropist. I don't recommend this book unless you share that attitude, or at least have absolutely NO capacity for being offended.
Rating:  - A Good Introduction to a Great Comedian
Some of the older readers like myself, may prefer Carlin's earlier book "Brain Droppings" that have a good deal of his material that made him one of the top comedians of the late 70's to early 80's. Younger readers are probably more familiar with this material. It's full of a lot of great quotes and hilarious commentary (I love the bit about there only being three real sports). It helps a lot if you have seen Carlin because of the way he delivers the material live, which is not as effective as blindly reading his material without a clue as to his vocal style and facial expressions.
The best part about owning the book is that it is easier to memorize some of the funnier bits and whip out the quotes to people who annoy you. It seems like he has a great quote in this book for just about any occasion!
Rating: - Hey, Don't Prick Your Finger, Buddy
Napalm & Silly Putty made me laugh. A bunch. A whole bunch. Carlin's cerebral, feisty, crude humor is sometimes just what the doctor ordered in this "hypocritically correct" society. No matter how great his jokes might be his irreverent but intelligent observations are what makes him the best in his field.
Some of Napalm & Silly Putty's yard-jewels of wit and wisdom include:
"So far this is the oldest I've ever been."
"You know a business that doesn't lend itself too easily to the Internet? Pay toilets."
"Next time they give you all that civic BS about voting, keep in mind that Hitler was elected in a full, free democratic election."
"You know something you rarely hear about? A bunch of Jews killed in a tornado."
And finally:
"America has too many fake Irish pubs. Giving your bar an Irish name doesn't make it a pub. The word pub is earned the hard way: tons and tons of puke and thousands of shattered cheekbones."
Ah, so true...
But you know what's really strange about this 2001 book? How many tragic and once funny but now cringe-inducing things Carlin jokingly wrote about have since actually happened. I won't make a list here but anyone who has read this book in the last year or two knows what I mean, right? (Okay, I will mention a couple. Buildings blowing up, buses exploding, etc etc etc...) Maybe Carlin's precognitive in a darkly comedic sort of way, huh? All I know ... Read More
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