BKDBRYCB.RVW   970128
 
"Dave Barry in Cyberspace", Dave Barry, 1996, 0-517-59575-3, U$22.00/C$27.00
%A   Dave Barry
%C   201 E. 50th St., 31st Floor
%D   1996
%G   0-517-59575-3
%I   Random House/Crown
%O   U$22.00/C$27.00 +1-212-572-2750, +1-212-751-2600, +1-800-726-0600
%O   fax: +1-212-572-4997 abiggert@randomhouse.com 74261.2352@compuserve.com
%P   215
%T   "Dave Barry in Cyberspace"
 
I have long suspected that a significant factor in successful humour or comedy
is close and keen observation.
 
Chapter twelve of "Dave Barry in Cyberspace" is thirty three pages long. 
"Chat" (cf. BKCHAT.RVW) by Nan McCarthy, is over a hundred pages long.  Both
deal with the same topic.  McCarthy is trying to make a Point.  Barry only has
to be amusing.  By the time I was two thirds of the way through "Chat", I
really couldn't have cared less about what happened to the two protagonists. 
By the time I had read ten pages of chapter twelve, I doubt that I could have
stopped before reading through to the end.  McCarthy has been a participant,
and knows some of the forms.  But Barry has also been an observer, and he
understands.
 
Dave Barry is hilariously funny.  When he wants to, though, he can *write*.
 
OK, now for the thousands of you who passed around the Exploding Whale story,
and got Barry's column pulled from Clarinet, no need for alarm.  The rest of
the book (or most of the rest of the book) is as funny as you could want. 
(Interestingly, neither of the two excerpts from the book that I've seen in
magazines mentions chapter twelve.)  From a history of computing, through how
computers work, via buying a computer, digressing to visit Comdex, to the
Internet, Barry zeros in on the ridiculous in technology.  And he understands
it.  Unlike the vast majority of self-proclaimed technopeasants (why is it only
in computers and math that people are actually *proud* of their ignorance?) who
attempt to joke about the absurdities of computer use, Barry actually knows why
a 486 with *only* 8 megs of RAM is funny.
 
(The cover picture?  With Dave peering out of the monitor at you?  With his
hand reaching out of the monitor to press the "P" key?  The monitor is
obviously powered on.  Now I know it's silly and all, but I can't help but
wondering ... what would happen if you punched it off?  Reading one of Dave
Barry's books can do that to you ...)
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997   BKDBRYCB.RVW   970128

======================
roberts@decus.ca           rslade@vcn.bc.ca           rslade@vanisl.decus.ca
              Ceterum censeo CNA Financial Services delendam esse
  Please note the Peterson story - http://www.netmind.com/~padgett/trial.htm