It's a coffee table book about Weird Al ... I'm not sure what else you're expecting? I will admit to hoping for a slightly more critical/in-depth look at his life and career, but it's got some neat art/pictures, and a wide-ranging look at Al's life from the beginning of his career through Alpocalypse. ( )

It's a coffee table book about Weird Al ... I'm not sure what else you're expecting? I will admit to hoping for a slightly more critical/in-depth look at his life and career, but it's got some neat art/pictures, and a wide-ranging look at Al's life from the beginning of his career through Alpocalypse. ( )

I've had a thing for Weird Al since I was a kid and I was lucky enough to see him in concert some time ago. This book brought back many good childhood memories. I enjoyed the tongue in cheek way that it was written. It also makes a good coffee table book. ( )

This coffee table-sized book provides a brief look at Al's life and career -- nothing too in-depth, but it's a nice overview, with a few interesting bits of trivia. My only complaint is Rabin does get a little embarrassingly overzealous at heaping on the praise. Which is entirely understandable -- I can get pretty fangirly over the guy, myself -- but is wholly unnecessary. I don't think anybody willing to pick this book up needs Nathan Rabin to tell us how great Al is; the brilliance of his comedy speaks for itself.

The biggest appeal in this book, though, is in the pictures -- including lots of photographs, album art, and other visual delights -- and in Al's own contributions. He wrote all the photo captions himself, and has also sprinkled the book liberally with samples of his tweets and some silly top ten lists, which are, predictably, very funny.

I wouldn't call this an essential addition to any Al fan's library, but it is a fun one, and well worth a look.

And, while I'm at it, hearty congrats to Al on making the #1 slot on Billboard with his newest album. It is well deserved! ( )

I've been a huge fan of Weird Al Yankovic since the early 1980s -- the first of his parody songs that I can remember hearing was "Another One Rides the Bus", followed by "Ricky". This book is a blast to read -- filled with anecdotes, rare photos from Al's life and career, song lyrics, Al's tweets, and recollections from Al's friends and bandmates. Told in purely chronological order,Weird Al: The Book, starts with Al's childhood, with the formative influences on his eventual career, such as Dr. Demento, and carries us through 2011 and his latest album release, Alpocalypse. Al's history is broken into five chapters -- "Portrait of the Parody Artist as a Young Man", "The Eat It Guy", "Kurt Cobain Saves Rock & Roll and Also Al's Career", "A New Look Al for a New Era", and "The Alpocalypse Approaches". Also included are a complete discography and videography. Plenty of space in these pages is dedicated to the creative process -- what exactly inspired and went into the making of many of Al's greatest songs and madcap music videos. The sense of humor prevalent througout Weird Al: The Book perfectly captures Al's sarcastic, poke-fun-in-a-loving-way tone. If you've ever enjoyed a Weird Al song/video, either his spot-on parodies like "Eat It", "Like a Surgeon", "Smells Like Nirvana", "Amish Paradise", "The Saga Begins", "White & Nerdy" or "Perform This Way", or you prefer his originals, like "Slime Creatures From Outer Space", "One More Minute", "Christmas at Ground Zero", "Bob", "Don't Download This Song", "Weasel Stomping Day" or "Polka Face", you'll enjoy this terrific but short biography. My only complaint is that the author(s) could have easily gone into far more detail about most of the stories told in this book -- it barely scratches the surface of Weird Al! [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to track down any of his albums (none of which are currently owned by the libraries) or search online for his many hilarious music videos. And, if you ever have the chance, make sure you see him in concert live!]

Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts/bookguide/srec/staffrec13-03.htm ( )