Gary Greenberg (2)

This book is hillarious! The pop-ups are excellently done, and the accompanying text adds to the scary joy. The "nightmares" explored are as follows. You find yourself in class for the final exam for which you forgot to study, with the stern exam administrator looming over you ready to snatch your paper! You're driving on a mountain road, and come around a sharp curve to find a huge truck coming at you! You are falling down endless staircases; or you open your refrigerator to find it show more infested with rodents. And then there's the "haunted bedroom" nightmare, the "falling through ice" nightmare, the "naked in public" nightmare (you're at a ball park, no less!), the "being chased by wild dogs" nightmare, the "apocalypse" nightmare....

The pop-ups are what make this book; they are rendered with great skill and imagination, turning each nightmare into a 3- dimensional experience. And then the text -- mock Freudian analyses, that "explain" each bad dream. Every "thing" symbolizes something else -- fears, obsessions, anxieties, phallic symbols, and shameful desires -- all presented in authoritative - sounding psychological mumbo-jumbo.

I had lots of fun with this book, and so can you. Just don't read it right before bed. show less

Having loved Gary Greenberg's The Pop-Up Book of Nightmares, I just couldn't resist his book on phobias. It is every bit as hilarious, and the two page spreads of pop ups are so effectively rendered that sensitive readers may find some of them creepy.

What sorts of phobias are presented? All the standard ones, plus some you didn't know you had. There's fear of heights (acrophobia) -- and the pop-up book puts you at the top of a tall building looking dizzily down at the streets far below. show more There's claustrophobia, where the book puts you in a crowded elevator with people pressed against you. There's dentophobia, and the two - page spread opens to show a mean looking dentist bending over you with a huge drill (the drill "turns" as you open the book wider!). There's fear of flying (aerophobia), in which (as you open the book) your oxygen mask comes down, your tray table tilts and spills your drink, and outside your window you see flames and a crazily tilted horizon. And then there's fear of public speaking -- you're on stage in front of an unfriendly crowd; the microphone looms out of the page towards you, but you're unprepared and speechless. In addition, there's fear of snakes (ophidiophobia); fear of spiders (I will confess -- that page got to me); fear of unsanitary conditions (mysophobia), fear of death (necrophobia); and fear of clowns (which I never experienced until this book, but now...)

The Pop-Up Book of Phobias is quite well done -- very funny, skillfully rendered, and intelligently presented. There's nothing stranger than someone else's phobia, and most everyone will get plenty of laughs from this book, even if some of the laughter is nervously tinged with shivers and shudders. show less

This is quite a fun book in concept. I mean, "Pop-Up Book of Sex"? The title alone is funny in multiple ways. It sounds for all the world like a joke editors and authors would come up with at a convention during a bit of heavy drinking. Unfortunately, once they sobered up, they kind of lost their nerve. When you're producing a book where the main selling-point is titillating novelty, losing nerve undercuts the very purpose of the book.

There are some clever bits here--the doggy-style action show more is absurdly hilarious, but that kind of inspiration is rare. Not a single penis is to be seen, which is the height of irony in a "pop-up" book. Most scenes consist of bare breasts and lingerie, with the most scandalous pages hinting at bi-sexuality and (gasp!) interracial sex. Don't worry, though--it only hints at them. This is not an X-rated book by any means. It is R-rated at best, and most of the time it's kind of a wimpy R at that. This book is an amusing collector's item and conversation piece (talk about breaking the ice at parties!) but is hardly ground-breaking as erotica or pop-up. show less

A delightful intro to dad-ing. Plenty of jokes and a good bit of practical suggestions, some which felt dated (due to technology) - since it was written in 2004. One suggestion in particular I read after-the-fact, but when traveling with a little one, put a chair between you and the pack-and-play with a towel over it. That way when he wakes up, he won't see you and cry continuously. That advice would have saved us a night a sleep and been worth the price of the book. Too bad I read it a few show more days after traveling. Hah! Such is life. show less