A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass

A collection of his new rules segment from Real Time w/ Bill Maher . 2011 provided Bill with lotsa stuff to make fun and he did just that . IN case you dont see his weekly show , this was a good way to read the best of his 2011 new rules segment . It was a fun quick read .

I loved this book. I found myself laughing out loud whenever and wherever I picked it up and started reading. people around me must have thought I was crazy. Bill is a genius. Too bad he won't run for public office.

I really enjoyed this book. I watch Real Time with Bill Maher and enjoy his guests. His new rules always get a laugh from me. His book of new rules gives an entertaining and funny look at current events.

Probably one of Bill Maher's funnier books and the wit is really exceptional. The biggest problem I have with this book isn't really a problem at all--it was so funny and "right on the money" that I finished it in one sitting. I like to make a book last a few days, at least! And don't pay any attention to the one star ratings you see in these reviews because they're from Bible-thumping Ann Coulter-humping right-wingers who didn't read the book but hate Maher so much for being a left-wing unapologetic atheist that they'll do whatever it takes to malign him. If you don't find humor in Bill Maher, then you've got no sense of humor whatsoever whether you're a Democrat or a Republican. Now...this is probably the wrong forum for a complaint that has nothing to do with the book's content, but it's ridiculously high priced for a Kindle. Yes, the book is great. And yes, I wish I'd just gone ahead and spent the extra $2 and bought the hardcover. Saving a lousy $2.00 to read a poorly formatted Kindle version just isn't worth it to me. I have no idea what happened to their $9.99 promise for best-sellers, but e-books aren't going to last if the price on them continues to creep up while the price of hard copies continues to drop. UPDATE: I see they've dropped the price to $9.99, so that sort of makes my complaint a non-issue now, but why did it take so long?

This was a laugh out loud and very entertaining book. It was hard to put down once you started. I am on my second read. You may not agree with everything Mr. Maher has to say, but, it will get you to thinking.

If you are familiar with Bill Maher and follow his show on HBO you will be happy to re-live this set of New Rules. This is quintessential Bill Maher and if you are open-minded you will love his new book. If on the other you do not care for Bill's opinions on religion and politics, this is the right book to get your blood boiling and give you a heart attack.........either way, buy this book!

Classic Bill Maher! If you enjoy the show real time you will enjoy this book. Some are New New rules, and some you will recognize from the show if you are a regular watcher. Funny and edgy take on world events.

This is a compilaton of Bill's great commentaries, and as always, uses his brilliant humor to help us laugh about the absudities in the world. He always says the unexpected while pointing out the obvious. As others have said in their reviews, I was laughing almost to the point of needing diapers :-). While being madly in love with him, I do get tired of him bashing the concept of a higher power as he is smoking one.

New Rules is potent and poignant, energy of politics gone bad put to one of America's best comedians. His evaluations of critical issues are worth reading from any side of the political spectrum. Very funny will read it in a day. Especially liked his older rants that were right on point to future events ...prophetical.

The most refreshing dose of common sense I have read in a long time and it's funny to boot! I highly recommend it to anyone with either half or a whole working brain...not for a Wall Streeter or any politician!

Okay, I thought I was purchasing like a full length book, not a bunch of little poems that waste a ton of paper. That said it will make you laugh, but damn, I thought I was buying a real book. Not worth the money.

I got this book delivered this morning by the local delivery company after pre-ordering it a while ago. the store is great about getting pre-ordered books to you on the day of release and they didn't let me down this time.

I opened the book at about 11am and didn't put it down until I finished it just before dinner. I have to say I laughed out load on nearly every page, which is quite a rarity for me. Maher simply has an amazing way about him when it comes to his commentaries. He has the ability to seize the essence of a situation, find the humor and then make fun of the subject from all sides.

The book contain numerous "New Rules" including some that never aired for various reasons, and longer essays that have all aired previously. Since I don't get the network his show is on, this is a great way to catch up on his humor. Some of the common subjects he writes about are politicians, Americans and food, airlines and airplane behavior as well as a host of other varied subjects.

While some of the "Rules" are a tad dated, the book is still spot on target and very funny. Even the preface was completely funny and well worth reading. If you like political comedy, especially from someone who spares no one,then this book will be perfect for you!

THIS IS A LIGHT HEARTED EXPRESSION OF THE AUTHORS VIEW OF OUR PEOPLE.
HE IS A POOR MANS "GEORGE CARLIN" AND I ENJOY AND SUPPORT HIS VIEW OF MOST THINGS
WRONG ABOUT OUR COUNTRY. The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass23014110

Not many political observers/satirists in the US or for that matter in the world. Definitely as good if not better then the first version on New Rules and wish he has another book lined up in the next year.

Ordered this book for my husband for the holidays this year. Snagged a great price when I ordered it with another book he also wanted. He is thoroughly enjoying this book. The shipment arrived earlier than I expected and that was great to know that those gifts were taken care of. Thanks for a great shopping experience!!

I was very disappointed in this book and really, I guess I should have known better. This book gave Mr. Maher the opportunity to regurgitate any item that he thought was witty over the past several years and as a consequence it was a complete ripoff
of the public's hard earned dollars. Once bitten, twice shy.

Bill Maher follows up his excellent book New Rules with an even better sequel entitled "The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass." If the title does not give it away, the book features the humorous, sarcastic and outrageous bits from Maher's "New Rules" segment on his HBO show where the comedian gives suggested new rules for society from the serious to the mundane nonsense to the goofy. He tackles the hypocrisy and foolishness of politicians and their corporatist to pop culture to the fad of huge sunglasses on young women and the photograph of an odd looking fish that became an internet meme. The book begins with a funny preface that begins rather angrily facetious but then apologizes and introduces the reader to the book.

The book features unused and unseen materials, so even faithful viewers to Maher's show will find new jokes and laughs. Each "new rule" features a related graphic as well as a pun-tastic title. For example, a new rule about overly sweet junk breakfast cereal is called "Bowl Movement." The title "Canned Job" is attached to a new rule about Lysol's killing of 99.9% of germs with their sprays. Does Lysol spare the remainder to serve as a harbinger to tell the other germs of their villages? There is a new rule called "Body Shots": "No more pictures of dead people in their coffins. It's a funeral, not a 'Kodak moment.' I don't want to remember Boris Yelstin on his back, eyes closed and lifeless. I want to remember Boris Yelstin how he lived: on his back, eyes closed and lifeless."

Maher has a brilliant way to putting a frank and sharp critical lens to American society and life. For example, he lays rest to the near-Idiocracy levels of stupidity, superficiality and anti-intellectualism by the media to create and promote shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and then to actually cover it! "If one of your news organization's headlines is about who got kicked off Dancing with the Stars last night, you're no longer a news organization. Sort of like, if you were on Dancing with the Stars last night, you're no longer a star." Maher also tackles the bad habits and binge tendencies of Americans. "New Rule: Food companies must face the facts: One container equals one serving. Look, we're Americans, and that means once we open the bag, there's no stopping us until we're licking stray bits of powdered cheese off the carpet. So stop trying to give us nutritional information based on a fraction of the package. It assumes a talent for two things that we're really not capable of: restraint and math." I don't want to spoil one of my favorite new rules chronicled here called "Binge and Merge." Maher sarcastically proposes new super-holiday that actually sounds like a fairly good idea. Pick up this book to find out what this fictional holiday is about. Maher spreads some truth through satire in the longer bits such as "Senior, Bite Us" about the antiquated obsession with having as many children as possible for our entire lives and "Hype-Ochondria" about the marketing wing of the drug companies.

Through jokes, puns, bon mots and wit, Bill Maher makes every page worth reading. Sometimes controversial, usually politically incorrect but almost always funny, Bill Maher exceeds expectations in this book. I highly recommend this book.

For the reader, you will find a collection of short witty thoughts, several short reads on more detailed subjects, but mostly a book that runs in a somewhat alphabetic order with phrasing such as "crocktail", followed by "cruller intentions"with next entry being "Cuervo Gold." Maher plays with words, plays with thought combinations and frequently comes out with some fairly predictive thinking. Since I am reading this a few years after it was written I can say that his political predictions have been spot on. My biggest complaint about the book is the raunchy language. I just think you can get your point across without sinking to filthy language.
I read a library copy.

If you've ever watched Real Time with Bill Maher, then you are probably familiar with Bill Maher's segment toward the end of each show called New Rules. This book is a collection of New Rules, including both the short ones and some of the longer comedic essays.

Of course, with all things Bill Maher, you have to expect the politically charged brand of humor that he is quite famous for. This book does not disappoint. It is filled with that irreverent, yet informed style that he has become so famous and hated for. There are times when some might feel that he crosses a line, but it is never anything worse than what you could see weekly on his show. And he jokes about people on both sides of the political spectrum.

The book is arranged alphabetically by joke name, so it is easy to keep up with where exactly you are. Most of the names for the jokes give a pretty big clue about what it will be about. The essays are in order of when they appeared on the series, with the oldest ones coming in the front of the book. It is an extremely easy read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who just is having one of those days when they need a laugh to get through the day.

This review refers to the unabridged CD audio version which Bill Maher narrates. First off, I am a Bill Maher fan. I love his shows and his sense of boring cynicism that he injects into his monologues. Unfortunately, his own boredom with narration and the material itself are way too evident in his reading of this book. I felt he was trying hard just to quickly get through it and I found myself trying hard just to get through it too. Enjoy Bill Maher. He is a thoughtful, terrific entertainer. But this audiobook is NOT worth a listen.

This new book by Bill Mahler was a Christmas gift from a friend who knew I was a "junkie" for political humor. From the Daly show, to Colbert, to Letterman, to . . . let's see . . . who else? OK, that's it. But Mahler is most likely the best because of his overly liberal, sarcastic, ironic, pro-pot and devout-atheism . . . anyone is fair game, including other liberals he feels need a poke too. A poke for fun that is, and as always Mahler hits the target. This is an easy read, stop-and-go whenever you need a laugh, or a pick-me-up . . . or just curl up with your blankie and a cup of tea, or whatever, and laugh the night away. In a world full of too many worries, so much strife, division, economic despair, and hopeless and mounting debt by a government that is essentially dysfunctional, Mahler at least helps us cope by pointing out the obvious and making it seem funny. As Frank Sinatra is said to have said, "I am for whatever helps me make it through the night." There you go, you got Mahler now. Check it out.

Feeling a lack of snarkiness in your life? Have no fear, Bill Maher is here. The NEW New Rules is a compilation of Maher's observations on politics, education, American culture, food, sex, sports, the economy, history--you name it, Bill's got an opinion on it and it will probably make you laugh.

The book is arranged alphabetically. In each chapter, observations having to do with a subject starting with that letter are arrayed. Photographs are used to illustrate various points. Most of the material comes from various prior writings but some material is written new for this book and each new observation is marked as such.

Love him or hate him, Maher will make you laugh. The material is R-rated so this book is not recommended for children, but adults will be hard-pressed not to find something to make them smile, if not outright chortle. This book is recommended for adult readers ready for some fun.

Confession: I've never watched Maher's TV show "Real Time" so all this material is new to me. I did read and review "New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer" which he put out some years ago. This book is if anything even funnier, more incisive (and divisive), and more potty-mouthed than the old "New Rules."

But if all Maher and his crew did was tell dirty jokes and make fun of hypocritical Republican halfwits I would have better things to do with my time than read this book. What Maher and his writers and editors do especially well is tell the truth about what is happening in America today. Yes, they do it in an edgy, patently offensive way; but maybe that's necessary because without the jokes it would all be all too depressing.

Consider this from May 6, 2011:

"New Rule: Now that it's become clear that the Republicans, the fiscally conservative/strong on defense party, are neither fiscally conservative nor strong on defense, they have to tell us what exactly it is they're good at. Because it's not defense. 9/11 happened on your watch. And you retaliated by invading the wrong country. And you lost a ten-year game of hide-and-seek with Osama bin Laden. And you're responsible for running up most of the debt, which more than anything makes us weak..."

"Let's look at some facts.... When Bill Clinton left office in 2001, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that by the end of the decade, we would have paid off the entire debt and have $2 trillion surplus. Instead we have a $10.5 trillion public debt, and the difference in those two numbers is mostly because the Republicans put tax cuts for the rich, the prescription drug plan, and two wars on the layaway plan, and then bailed on the check. So...so much for fiscal responsibility." (p. 330)

All true, and as you can see, Maher takes his political commentary seriously.

Like the previous "Rules" book this one has over a hundred black and white prints cleverly juxtaposed among the jokes and savage commentary--pictures of various celebs and pols and "news makers" caught in the act of just being (heaven help us) themselves. Four mugs shots (count 'em) of Lindsey Lohan looking rather wasted, one of New Jersey governor Chris Christie looking especially...rotund, another of Sarah Palin winking spastically, a "GoGirl" device that allows women to urinate standing up, a rack of plastic shoes, etc.

Here's an example of straight-forward juxapositioning from page 175:

"Lowenbrau Humor

"New Rule: Just because you're drunk and it's October, it doesn't make it Octoberfest. When you drink in November, it's not Novemberfest. It's just Thanksgiving, and you hate your relatives. Besides, we already know what happens when people get drunk and start acting like Germans:"

(photo of Mel Gibson looking sheepishly embarrassed)

Puns. You want puns? How about "Loser Friendly" for the iPad? "Kitty Porn" for cute shots of kittens or "Kiddie Litter" for a baby doing what babies do in a public swimming pool. Or "Tot and Bothered" which is how Maher felt at a kid's birthday party on a hot day. Or "Rack-U-Weather" for the weather girl with a big pair.

Needless to say Maher is a social critic as well as a comedian and political smart ass.

By the way, the guys who wrote most of the jokes in this book are, according to Maher's Acknowledgments page, Chris Kelly, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Matt Gunn, Adam Felber, and Danny Vermont. Congratulations, gentlemen.

Bottom line: very funny, and if you're left of center, profound.

--Dennis Littrell, author of "The World Is Not as We Think It Is"

One thing this book proves is that when the obituary of the American nation is finally and inevitably written, the historical record will show that from the very beginning only the Satirists have been telling us the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the state of our nation: Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Will Rogers, H.L. Mencken, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Stephen Colbert, John Stewart and now Bill Maher, have all sounded warnings in their own way, and for their own respective times.

The loudest alarm for our times (arguably one of the most troubled times of all for this young nation) can be taken from the gray pages of this book. It is here that Maher leaves his mark on American history by proving to us that he just may be the smartest and most prescient of American Satirist. His selective creations here would be funny only if these were not such serious times and only if his humor did not have such a sharp edge, one that is so deadly accurate that it cuts beyond the white meat literally to the bone.

Maher has looked deeply into the soul of the America nation and is unafraid to tell us what he sees there. And what he sees there is the same thing that we all see but are pretending not to see (and thus are afraid to acknowledge): that our "faith over facts," sexually repressed, warmongering, economically mindless, politically gridlocked, and racist nation is finally in serious trouble. And it is not of the easily "fixable kind of trouble;" but is of the systemic "virtually unfixable" kind. What we are collectively pretending not to know about ourselves (even though it is right before our eyes) is, why the nation we love so has turned right before our own lying eyes into a "chest-beating," "war-mongering," "economically hollowed out," "racist" shell of a Third World country?

In the gray pages of this book, Maher gives us the answer: The reason the American nation is in such trouble is that the "ruling class" has repackaged and then commandeered America's patriotic symbolism and has used it to dumb-down and then to mount and ride the "political class" like a Trojan Horse. That class of political misfits, morally-challenged whores, demagogues and ideologues is now being used to trample the very ground of everything that is meaningful about American culture, values and ideals -- as it makes a beeline straight down the path towards the abyss.

As we saw in 2007-8 in the Ponzi scheme that led to the economic crash, the political whores are being ridden right to the edge of the precipice all in the name of Gorton Gecko level greed; to save the proverbial "job-creator's bottom line." The problem is that, not only is it that the jobs they are creating are all in the Communist Police State of China, but also that there is no bottom to the bottom line. And even if there were a bottom, there is nothing else meaningful beyond the bottom line but blind, empty, random, mindless, inhuman, greed. All we can see as far out into the future as the eye can see, is the once "almighty dollar" now chasing its own tail, as that tail changes right before our eyes into the "almighty Yen."

Maher tells us that we have been divided into two lying subcultures: the dumb and dumber (also known as Republicans and Democrats). The only difference between them is that the Democrats believe the lies that they tell us, while the Republicans, who are infinitely more cynical, do not. In a paroxysm of capitalist greed that feeds only on itself and has no discernable logic, rhyme or reason, the two political parties, thin proxies for the mean-spirited, cynical, greedy and mindless ruling class, have abandoned the notion of a "common good" trading it in for more endless ideologically-based wars: "wars of choice," "wars on terror,"" wars on drugs," "wars on crime," "wars on blacks and the poor," and it has finally come full circle and home to roost as "wars on the white middle class."

The only discernable result of all this warring has been to enrich stateless and loyal-less corporations like Haliburton who, along with the political whores along K-Street running Washington D.C., have helped put the U.S. in hock to a Communist Police state; one that we used to mock and make fun of as being backwards and tyrannical. But all the while we have been beating our chest with our obsolete military hardware, claiming to still be the greatest country on earth, the Communist Police state that we used to mock has proven to be better capitalist than we are. And the best evidence that it is THEY that is emerging as number one, is that they currently hold three trillion dollars of our treasury bonds and thus "the balls" to our capitalistic democratic system in a global economic vise grip.

All Maher is trying to tell us here is that we had better wake up before the Trojan Horse drives right over the edge of the cliff. With limp-wristed moral wimps like Barack Obama on the left, and the eight reactionary stooges running for President on the right, it does not look good for America's long-term survival. It does not look like we are going to be able to stall off our own collective national political suicide. This book is so funny it will make you cry from the inside out, literally. Five Stars

For starters, Bill Maher is a very funny guy. Very often I don't agree with his viewpoints at all, but nevertheless, his spin is almost always amusing. The only thing keeping me from giving this book 5 stars is that I found it got a bit tired and repetitive as it went on. OK Bill, I get it; Sarah Palin is a mental midget, George W. Bush caused most of the troubles in the world, Obama can walk on water and you love weed. But after reading variations of those over and over, the book got a bit boring. The best zingers were definitely aimed at the Tea Party.

I'm usually disappointed by books written by those known as comedians. Not so with Bill Maher. His "The New New Rules" is funny from the Foreword, in which he begins by insulting readers by declaring that those who read the Foreward of such a book are 'anal.' ('It's joke book.') Continuing he then goes into detail on why his latest book is really needed, despite the likelihood of Christians considering his writings and musings to be a plague.

So, 'Why is this book need?' Per Maher, it provides a funny diversion while the earth slowly fries and confronts us with other side-effects of Global Warming, such as droughts, flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. He also points out that since his last epistle, we have new fads to make fun of - like the masses walking around seemingly talking to themselves via Bluetooth. Then he off and punning, from page 1 - actually its page 7 by the time he gets going, pointing fun at those who tweet supposedly important stuff about themselves over ten times/day, refrigerators with Internet service that allow you to email while it orders more milk from the store.

An important side benefit of this book is that the material is organized alphabetically, providing readers with a free review of that topic as well. Get this on your Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Bluetooth, whatever, now! Or, if you're technically challenged like me, buy the book. Or, if you both technically challenged and cheap, read it for free at Barnes and Noble, like me.

First there was Will Rogers, then Mort Sahl, and then Mark Russell. Now we have Bill Maher, who is carrying the tradition of political satire to new heights.

Just like the other people I mentioned, Maher has no hesitation in telling it like it is. He is not as inhibited as they were, but they were not inhibited due to anything internal to themselves; rather, they were inhibited due to the times they lived in - there were limits to what they could get away with saying. In today's more open era, Maher can say quite a lot more than they could and not worry about being shut down or arrested. There are still limits, but he knows what they are and stays just shy of crossing the line.

Maher doesn't spare anyone from his "New Rules", and as long as there are idiots in the world he will have ample fodder for them.