I started reading this book several weeks ago and I had a hard time getting into it. Cosby chronicles his encounter with a 30% clogged artery and begins a meandering discussion about food and health. The prose is annoyingly repetitive and he doesn't provide any particularly useful or extraordinary information regarding his health or how to improve yours.
Lest you discount my opinion as the ranting of one who never liked Bill Cosby in the first place, I should let you know that I'm a longtime fan of his. I have seen his stand up routine live, I used to listen to his records as a kid and could recite many of his routines by heart. I used to watch The Cosby Show regularly.
My beef with the book is that it should have been in audio or video form. It looks like he took a standup routine and put it on paper, losing the very thing that makes him funny: him. I'm sure I'd be singing a different tune if he had read the book out loud because he would have been able to add his facial expressions, sound effects, pauses and voice inflection that has made him one of the funniest comedians around.
In the end it was a major disappointment. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny, even when I tried thinking of how he would say what I was reading but it just didn't work for me. I still think he's a great comedian, but his work as an author left a lot to be desired. Having never read any of his other books I can't say if this is indicative of his other works, but I still look forward to the next time I get to see the dentist routine.
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