Bill Gates' Personal Super Secret Private Laptop |
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Henry Beard, John Boswell
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Pages: 112 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0684854643
Pub: Simon & Schuster UK
Pub date: 1998-11-02
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 459459
Editorial Review:
I found Bill Gates' Personal Super Secret Private Laptop on Amazon when I was browsing for books by Henry Beard, not for computer books. Imagine my surprise..."A very funny send-up from a very funny guy about a not-so-funny billionaire."
If you haven't read anything by Henry Beard, you may not have had a good laugh in a while. Henry's writing reminds me of the classic Mad Magazine satires of the 1960s and 1970s, back when the magazine was funny and biting. Here, along with John Boswell, Henry does a send-up on what might be on Bill Gates' laptop computer.
The book is set up like a laptop. The left page contains a "screen", the right a "keyboard". Both sides are funny. The screen shows activities you might typically find on Bill Gates' laptop, though I doubt the Janet Reno in a bikini image would be there (unless you read the previous page's screen). The keyboard side is the most amusing to me, with certain keys subtly changing names on each page.
Like other books by Beard this one has a special place in my office, right there by the most important seat I occupy. I believe you will enjoy it as well. --Dan Gookin
Reader Reviews:
A good coffee-table book (1/1 people found this helpful)
This book is pure visual slapstick, and to a certain extent a one-joke wonder.
The concept is that you open the book as if it were a laptop computer - each page pair depicts a screen and keyboard, showing some dubious activity.
To appreciate the humour, you need to have used Microsoft operating systems at least a little, and have some awareness of Bill Gates's various legal shenanigans. Provided you have the background, and aren't an incurable Microsoft zealot, you'll find this very funny indeed.
It can be enjoyed fully in under an hour - the sparse format inevitably puts not very much on each page pair. But once you've read and enjoyed it, leave it lying around the house and your friends can enjoy it too.
Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Humour -> Computers & Internet
Books -> Subjects -> Humour -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Humour -> Parodies
Books -> Subjects -> Humour -> Political
Books -> Subjects -> Society, Politics & Philosophy -> Government & Politics
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Hardcover