Following the immense success of Ozzy Osbourne’s biography, I Am Ozzy, it was a natural move to make a book based on the advice column which Osbourne writes for The Sunday Magazine and Rolling Stone. After all, who knows more about drugs and dysfunction than Ozzy does? Who else has sampled probably every drug known to man, broken his neck, survived a number of bizarre near-death experiences, and generally had more experience with more things than most of the inhabitants of planet earth? And thus, Trust Me, I’m Dr. Ozzy was born.
The surprising thing here is that Ozzy often gives pretty good advice. And he is always careful to caution anyone who seems to have a real medical or psychological issue to get real professional help rather than depend on Dr. Ozzy.
The quizzes and extra material included in every chapter also are both amusing and often quite informative.
But the real pleasure of the book is, of course, the truly amazing diversity of questions that people will ask Dr. Ozzy. A young woman wants to know if she should sleep with her mother’s younger boyfriend. Another reader wants to know if a person should just inject silicone into his or her scars and save the cost of plastic surgery. And what does it mean if you burst into tears whenever you urinate?
Ozzy often illustrates his answers to questions with anecdotes from his own history, and he finds ample opportunity to display his keen sense of humor. For instance, when a reader wrote to ask if she would get a terrible disease from swallowing a fly (no), Osbourne explains why swallowing a bumblebee while riding a bike at 70 mph is infinitely worse (“I thought I’d swallowed a — pigeon.”)
As a self-help book, proceed with caution. (In fact, if you’re considering this as a serious self-help book, seek professional help.) For a book that is a lot of fun, get it. You’ll be entertained.