Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Do Bald Men Get Half-Price Haircuts: In Search of America's Great Barbershops by Vince Staten ISBN: 0-684-86745-1 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: June, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Great subject, superficial treatment
Comment: I suppose this book might be ok if the reader knows beforehand not to expect a serious work. The level of writing is about what one would find in one of those Sunday supplement feature articles. In fact, the book gives the impression of being a collection of such features. Some of the chapters repeat nearly word-for-word things that have already been said in other chapters, such as the anecdote about the ruler Hadrian. The book is a combination memoir/essay/comedy script, not a serious history. Most of the jokes are incredibly bad, and I don't mean the barber jokes, but the lame ones the author attempts. Many things about the book are annoying. The font is huge, almost the size of large-print text, which means you are actually not getting 176 pages. There are several typos, such as a period instead of a comma in the middle of a sentence, and using the article "a" when "an" is called for. The chapter promising to explain the origin of the barbershop quartet is clear as mud. On the positive side, the discussion of the origin of the barber pole and Bill Marvy's role in manufacturing the poles is good. Also I sympathize with the author's lament over the decline of traditional barber shops. But the book simply disappoints and is not worth the cover price. Borrow it, or get it used if you still want to read it.
Rating: 1
Summary: Disappointed - not what i wanted or expected.
Comment: although the book is well written and interesting reading, it is not at all what i wanted or expected. i am looking for a serious reference book which provides names, addresses, phone numbers, and ratings of the top barbers in the country. in fact, the subtitle of the book, which i feel is very misleading, is "in search of america's great barbershops". what search? i expected several hundred listings of barbers from across the usa. Instead, this book is a mishmash of history, haircutting and shaving techniques, and barber jokes, and i think it's aimed mostly at barbers themselves, rather than the public at large. it features barbers the author has visited personally, but it doesn't provide the pertinent information necessary to locate them. like most people, i've been the victim of many a bad haircut in my day, and i would like to find a simple, no nonsense directory of top rated barbers across the country.
Rating: 5
Summary: Tonic for the soul as well as the hair
Comment: I saw this book discussed on the Today Show, where Matt Lauer spent several minutes reminiscing with Vince Staten about boyhood experiences at the barbershop. Then I heard another feature about the book on NPR. So I figured either the author had a really good PR person, or the book was interesting. Fortunately, it's the latter.
The nostalgia aspect of the book is certainly the part that will strike closest to home for most male readers - the way the shop smelled (like Lucky Tiger), the joy of reading a million comic books (not to mention Argosy), the feeling of manhood on the day when the barber finally let you sit in the chair without the extra board that raised a small boy to a reasonable cutting height.
But that only takes you back 10 or 20 or 50 years. In other parts of the book, Staten time-travels to ancient Egypt and Greece to unearth the beginnings of the barbering trade. In the present day, we get to hear the story direct from the mouths of some of the few hundred barbers Staten met while researching the book, and they're the best part. Because the community of the barbershop naturally reflects the personality of the barber.
It's a little sad, too. While you get the feeling that the emotional pull of the barbershop will keep the institution from completely disappearing - that it provides something all men need (the way the "beauty parlor" did/does for women) - the future doesn't look all that bright for barbering.
As in some of his other books, Staten has given us a strong sense of something lost, or at least something we're losing. But his delight and amazement in the sensual pleasure of the perfect barbershop shave makes even a bearded guy like me almost ready to settle into that red leather chair and luxuriate in that hot towel wrapped around my face. Almost.
It's fun.
 |
Title: Barbershop: History and Antiques (Schiffer Book for Collectors) by Christian R. Jones ISBN: 0764306952 Publisher: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
 |
Title: Did Monkeys Invent The Monkey Wrench by Vince Staten ISBN: 0684832747 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
 |
Title: Can You Trust a Tomato in January?: The Hidden Life of Groceries and Other Secrets of the Supermarket Revealed at Last by Vince Staten ISBN: 0671885782 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: July, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.75 |
 |
Title: Barber Shop Jokes and Stories by Joseph A. Laratonda ISBN: 1587360845 Publisher: Hats Off Books Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: Do Pharmacists Sell Farms?: A Trip Inside the Corner Drugstore by Vince Staten ISBN: 0684834855 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
