[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]
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Dave Barry is a famous humor writer who worked for the Miami Herald newspaper for many years. This book is a collection of short essays and stories about modern life. They are full of a sort of old-fashioned type of American humor. Dave Barry often uses “hyperbole,” or exaggeration, in his jokes. In fact, when I was in middle school, I had to read a Dave Barry story in English class (about “first dates”) to learn about hyperbole. I used to read him in the newspaper ever week, too.
Unfortunately, the humor in the first three or four stories in this book is really out of date. They are all about “the differences between men and women,” and are even a little offensive at times. HOWEVER, the rest of the book is mostly harmless and sometimes quite funny. I recommend the essays on “Technology” and “Dog Ownership for Beginners.”
My two cents: Dave Barry uses some pop-culture references, but I think you can still understand most of his jokes if you read with a dictionary on hand.
