Dave Barry is from Mars and Venus

No, syndicated columnist Barry isn't trying to take over John Gray's franchise (the Mars-and-Venus "solution" to the war between the sexes); he merely covets Gray's place on the best-seller lists. (An introduction discussing other "grabber" titles panderingly considered for this column collection is a hoot!) Having explored guys, gifts, and cyberspace in recent books, Barry covers the waterfront here: he boldly (but foolishly) joins a team of future Olympic synchronized swimmers in the pool in response to a challenge; checks out laser tag; appears on Wheel of Fortune; runs for president; and expresses himself on history, politics, culture, various insects, and the aforementioned war between the sexes in pungent prose, plus occasional poetry and drama. Although Dave's Worldthe CBS sitcom loosely based on the realities (family, friends, Miami Herald column) behind Barry's columns--was not renewed, the show may have expanded the readership for his vaguely twisted brand of humor. --Mary Carroll

Those not fortunate enough to live in cities where Barry's columns are syndicated have a special treat in this newest collection (following Dave Barry in Cyberspace). As his fans will expect, the pieces are delightful. Aided by readers worldwide who sent him copies of news articles about bizarre happenings, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist presents stories about dead sheep found in New Zealand treetops and the activities of decapitated cockroaches. He also takes on some of his pet hates, like opera (which, he maintains, killed an okapi in a Danish zoo) and lobsters (which, in his view, look like large insects and may become even more ominous because scientists are testing Prozac on them). A highlight is one of Barry's reader surveys on the most irritating TV commercials, the runaway winner being Mr. Whipple squeezing the Charmin. The least entertaining pieces are Barry's self-deprecating essays on his failures at such varied sports as synchronized swimming and snowboarding. But even these have their charming moments, and Barry has another success here. Photos. Author tour. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

For once, the promotion says it best: "Dave Barry reveals the shocking secret of his biplanetary androgyny in a transparent attempt to get on some afternoon talk shows and sell a few extra copies of the latest collection of his funniest syndicated columns." (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Syndicated columnist and clowning Pulitzer-nik Barry (Dave Barry in Cyberspace, 1996, etc.) is back with another series of columns, regular as an equinox and admittedly starting to strain for a decent title (``A lot of the really good ones are taken. Thin Thighs in 30 Days, for example. Also The Bible''). As any certified funster must, Barry zeroes in on little events of daily life, such quotidian subjects as lawyers, doctors, aging, marriage, Thanksgiving, O.J. Simpson, and splashing around with US Synchronized Swimming National Team One. He may be getting a little weak in the memory department. ``To be honest,'' he admits, ``I had completely forgotten that in a former life I was Mozart,'' and he's concerned about the effects of his OMBS (``Older Male Brain Shrinkage''). There are, indeed, signs of maturity: ``Booger'' jokes are scarce; they're replaced by ``poop'' jokes. Exploding toilets are covered, too. Barry expends precious shrinking brain power in rearranging the letters of proper names: Winston Churchill can yield ``Hurls Cow Chin Lint,'' he tells us. (He may be pleased to learn that his own name can be rearranged to ``Verry Baad,'' which has kind of rap flavor.) Alert readers supply him with prime fodder from diverse new sources so that he gets to label riffs with his favorite tag line, ``I am not making this up,'' and advance them with the rim shot, ``No, seriously, folks.'' They aren't seamless and certainly not weighty, but Barry's concoctions still deliver. As he says about a completely different subject (bug brains, if you must know), his humor ``is not as simple as we thought it was before we started to think about it.'' Barry remains a formidable practitioner of journalistic silliness. ``Ha!'' some readers may say. Some, differing, may retort, ``Ha ha!'' Others may simply laugh. (photos, not seen) (Author tour)