Dave Barry's Money Secrets by Dave Barry (2006, Hardcover)

When Dave Barry is at the top of his game, he can generate some good, consistent laughs. This does NOT represent the top of his game.

The idea is decent enough. It's about Money. Which involves the physical concept of money, the economy, jobs, purchases, etc... He has a lot to work with, but he just doesn't follow through.

Granted, it does have humor in it. It seems to start out smoothly enough. But it gets old fast. Because, once he's found a joke, he may use it over and over until the laugh is nothing but a dry memory.

He also has clipart and photos liberally overused throughout the book. Really. He has one picture of Suze Orman that I counted as appearing (in different sizes) over a dozen times! And he tosses in repeats of Prince Charles, Donald Trump, Punxsutawney Phil (the groundhog), a transit map and the World's Largest Cheeto. Granted the first couple of uses of each image are generally funny. But the repetitions seem to say, "I don't have any new jokes, so laugh at the old one again."

Speaking of which, parts of this may look familiar. That's because they are. If you're a longtime fan of Dave Barry, you'll recognize rewrites (or even perhaps large verbatim sections) of past columns. Which is not always bad. But, in this case, it comes off as a lazy effort.

Also, the consistency of the book simply ISN'T. It doesn't match with itself. You get the idea that he tossed a bunch of humorous (and some not-so-humorous) ideas around willy-nilly until he had enough pages for a book.

As I said, it is not the top of his game. In fact, it may signal his sinking into mediocrity, selling books on his name alone while producing much lower quality than his prior works.

And speaking of quality, this has less "class" than his prior works. If you're familiar with Dave Barry, you'll understand why I used the quotation marks. This is a guy who made his name joking about boogers, flatulence and exploding toilets. Too often, this book does not even aspire to those high standards. He uses vulgarity far too often, possibly as a coverup for the lack of genuine content.

The book does have its moments. And it is worth a few honest laughs. But I can rate it no higher than a 3 for these reasons:

* Too much repetition
* Inconsistent read
* Too much (and unnecessary) vulgarity

If you like Dave Barry and can get the book cheap, then go ahead and buy it. But don't make the mistake I did and pay the regular (albeit discounted) price.