Dave Barry’s Money Secrets:
Like: Why Is There a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar

Author: Dave Barry (really!?)

Publisher: Crown Publishers, Random House

ISBN: 1400047587

URL: www.davebarry.com

Milk came out of my nose.

While reading Dave Barry’s Money Secrets, I was having some cookies and milk - it was a horribly bad idea.

Luckily for me, I didn’t stain the library book.

I’m not too familiar with Dave Barry or his work, but after reading the introduction to Money Secrets, the genius in me has concluded that Dave Barry is quite a funny fellow. Anyway, Money Secret is a parody on money books, it is 240 pages long and uh, its shipping weight is 12.6 ounces.

Money Secrets contains 22 chapters dedicating to specific, important financial topics that are similar to the ones you’ll find in money books. It also has many pictures of Suze Orman, and a few pictures of Donald Trump. Why? Steal your own copy and find out.

Here are some of the chapters found in the book:

• How the U.S. Economy Works - Adam Sandler is involved
• Providing for Medical Care - You’ll need some leeches
• Teaching Your Children About Money - Let the little bastards starve
• Planning For Your Retirement - The financial advantages of early death

Personally I would love to list all of the chapters, as they all have hilarious captions attached to them, but that’ll just spoil the book for you. If you think finance is a boring subject, think again. From how to read an annual report to how to negotiate deals (Dave suggest carrying a machete with you), Money Secrets made me laugh so much that I almost choked on my cookies.

Other wacky stuff from Money Secret included suggestions on filing your taxes. Dave’s tip? Write your name on the tax form, followed by the word: DECEASED.

Har har!

Wasn’t that hilarious? I’d love to list more examples but I have a feeling I’ll just ruin more jokes.

Money Secrets also contained lots of nifty graphs and charts, a plus for literary challenged people like me. Here’s one where Dave shows why cigarettes are so expensive:

I can list even more graphs and charts, but at the risk of being sue and ruining more jokes, I think I’ll stop here.

So yeah, where was I?

Right right, funny book, funny man. I read it, I spit milk, and I laughed out loud. Good times.

The book can get a bit silly though. In some instances, I felt like I was listening to a joke told to me by my 10 year old cousin. But the silliness is kept to a minimum, so it’s not really a big problem. Another small problem is the price tag, the book’s MSRP is $24.95, a little bit on the steep side. ‘Course, no one pays retail anymore these days… and there’s always the library or the five finger discount (I suggest library).

To conclude this depth-less review, Money Secrets is a laugh out loud riot that’s appropriate for all some ages. If you’ve been stressing out about financial matters, you might want to consider picking up this book. It’ll help you laugh a little, or cry a little - especially when you realized that the examples in the book matches your financial situation.

That’s what I did. Tears are yummy along with cookies.

Pros:

• Freaking funny
• Freaking hilarious
• Freaking frequent mentions of toilets

Cons:

• Gets a bit silly sometimes
• Not enough mentions of toilets