Out of My Mind - Softcover

Rooney, Andy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1586485059 ISBN 13: 9781586485054

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2007

Synopsis

Every Sunday evening, millions of viewers tune in to 60 Minutes to hear Andy Rooney riff on everything from coffee percolators to the state of the union. Millions more read his weekly newspaper column. Why? Because Rooney tells it like it is. But Rooney fans have never seen him quite like this. Andy Rooney is plain frustrated by what's going on in America and the world. Why can't Americans—let alone our president—speak English anymore? How do we expect to fight a terrorist enemy that we can't even locate? And when did capitalism go so terribly wrong? This book isn't all heady stuff, though. Readers will also get the familiar—and hysterical—Rooney gripes about everyday foibles, such as the impossibility of physically locating your driver's registration, of purchasing a genuinely healthy breakfast cereal, or of enjoying a college reunion—unless everyone ends up in their nighties, that is. PublicAffairs is pleased to present its fifth collaboration with Andy Rooney. Loyal Rooney fans and anyone who enjoys a good laugh at life's absurdities will be thrilled to add it to the bookshelf during the holidays.

About this title

About the Author

Known to millions for his regular commentary on the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes, and his weekly syndicated newspaper column, Andy Rooney is also the author of numerous bestselling books. He has published four previous books with PublicAffairs: My War, Sincerely, Andy Rooney, Common Nonsense, and Years of Minutes.

From Booklist

The reader can almost hear Rooney's meandering delivery of his 60 Minutes commentaries in this essay collection. In his inimitable rambling but cogent style, Rooney delivers probing questions, sound observations, and occasional whimsy. Rooney concedes that he is no great writer, but he has a wry sense of the everyday life that puts both the large issues and the small stuff into perspective. The essays focus on philosophy, food and drink, work, politics, war, sports, money, his life, and the English language. In an essay on the enormous amount of trash Americans generate each day, he notes that when we speak of throwing things away, "there's really no such place as 'away.'" Rooney riffs on marriage statistics and adds some of his own "homemade statistics" as observations of the likelihood of lasting unions. Rooney also defends the profession of journalism, questions Tom Brokaw's assertion that Rooney's generation--who fought World War II--was the greatest, and wonders why so many Americans speak English so poorly. Rooney's observation on war: Americans learned more firsthand in a day about the progress of World War II than we will learn in a year about the current war as long as the military controls information. Responding to inquiries about when he will retire, Rooney declares: Never. "I am never happier than when I am working." Fans will adore this collection. Vanessa Bush
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About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1586485059
• ISBN 13: 9781586485054
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368