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Not That You Asked...
Book by Rooney, Andy
- GenresHumorNonfiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 1989
14 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Andy Rooney
32 books48 followersAndrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney was an American radio and television writer. He became most famous as a humorist and commentator with his weekly broadcast A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney, a part of the CBS news program 60 Minutes from 1978 to 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 25, 2025
Andy Rooney once again proves why he is one of America's favorite curmudgeons. Writing at the top of his form, Rooney covers a plethora of subjects, from getting rid of leftovers to the worst job in the world, from travel tips for the travel industry to the best hotel room he ever had.
June 26, 2011
Thought-provoking, humorous, and properly brief.
September 21, 2024
What an interesting walk into the past. This book is a collection of short essays from Rooney about a whole variety of subjects. The book is divided into thirteen sections based on specific categories such as Problems, Truths, Reporters, Places and Dilemmas.
In the essay, My Friend the Horse Thief, Rooney notes, "A person can be so many different things. He or she can be a loving husband or wife, a considerate friend who'd do anything for you in an emergency, but also someone who'd steal a sweater from a department store. This mixed-up quality of the character of all of us is hard to get used to and the movies make it harder because they condition us to expect people to be predictably all good or all bad."
In his essay Talk, Talk, Talk, he notes that, "Conversation may be disappearing along with good writing. In the average week, we hear hundreds of people talking but we don't hear much conversation."
"There are several other reasons why conversation may be a dying art. First, good talk takes time and we aren't willing to spend it on something that seems like doing nothing. Second, the best conversations are between two people, not among three, four, or ten...
There's a third reason for the deterioration of good conversation. We're all more aware of how careful we have to be about what we say. We're nervous about being quoted in the newspaper or having our friends tell other friends, and enemies, what we've said. We can't be careful in a good conversation. We have to let the thought pop out of our mouths before we've finished having it. Good conversation is often a little irresponsible. We say things we don't really mean. We can't have the feeling it's being recorded because that makes a conversationalist careful and care kills conversation."
And in his essay, Where Am I, Anyway? Rooney says, "They've talked for years about some finding device for cars but can't seem to come up with it. I think it's science fiction.
What we need is a screen that can be mounted in some good place, like the back side of the sunshade, so the driver can see it easily. A small, bright light should indicate the present position of the vehicle...and the position of police speed-patrols cars in the area...
...The screen would show you the whole United States if you wished to plan a trip from San Diego to Baltimore by way of Madison, Wisconsin, or it would show you the name of the street three blocks down the road from where you are.
It also should be possible to press a button and get a list of hotels, motels, and restaurants in any area. Asking for a list of restaurants to avoid would probably be asking for too much.
This electronic map might even include the phone book and the Yellow Pages. Why not? Is this the computer age or isn't it? What are we waiting for?"
Rooney died in 2011. He lived long enough to see this particular dream come true as Google Maps launched in 2005.
And in his essay, The Country We Love to Hate he had some interesting observations about the Soviet Union that are particularly interesting in light of Russia's current activities in the world. "Mikhail Gorbachev appears to be making so many good changes in the Soviet Union that it's getting harder and harder for us to complain about our favourite enemy, the Russians.
If Gorbachev opens the Soviet society, lets us in and Russians out, as it appears he is doing, and then tears down the Berlin Wall, what in the world are we going to do for an enemy?
As satisfactory as the Russians have been as enemies, we have to hope that time is over. It would be nice to stop assuming we are about to fight a nuclear war with them. It would be nice to stop thinking of them as our enemy."
Overall this was a fun read. He's not always politically correct or has an opinion I agree with but I enjoyed the book and hearing his side of the conversation. It shows sometimes things change and sometimes things stay the same and it reminded me considering the turmoil in the world now about how tumultuous times have been in the past.
Books can be time capsules that capture something of their time and that's always interesting. It's interesting to examine your own thoughts and ideas and to open the past and remember how you thought about what was going on at the time and how different and how much you've remained the same over the years.
In the essay, My Friend the Horse Thief, Rooney notes, "A person can be so many different things. He or she can be a loving husband or wife, a considerate friend who'd do anything for you in an emergency, but also someone who'd steal a sweater from a department store. This mixed-up quality of the character of all of us is hard to get used to and the movies make it harder because they condition us to expect people to be predictably all good or all bad."
In his essay Talk, Talk, Talk, he notes that, "Conversation may be disappearing along with good writing. In the average week, we hear hundreds of people talking but we don't hear much conversation."
"There are several other reasons why conversation may be a dying art. First, good talk takes time and we aren't willing to spend it on something that seems like doing nothing. Second, the best conversations are between two people, not among three, four, or ten...
There's a third reason for the deterioration of good conversation. We're all more aware of how careful we have to be about what we say. We're nervous about being quoted in the newspaper or having our friends tell other friends, and enemies, what we've said. We can't be careful in a good conversation. We have to let the thought pop out of our mouths before we've finished having it. Good conversation is often a little irresponsible. We say things we don't really mean. We can't have the feeling it's being recorded because that makes a conversationalist careful and care kills conversation."
And in his essay, Where Am I, Anyway? Rooney says, "They've talked for years about some finding device for cars but can't seem to come up with it. I think it's science fiction.
What we need is a screen that can be mounted in some good place, like the back side of the sunshade, so the driver can see it easily. A small, bright light should indicate the present position of the vehicle...and the position of police speed-patrols cars in the area...
...The screen would show you the whole United States if you wished to plan a trip from San Diego to Baltimore by way of Madison, Wisconsin, or it would show you the name of the street three blocks down the road from where you are.
It also should be possible to press a button and get a list of hotels, motels, and restaurants in any area. Asking for a list of restaurants to avoid would probably be asking for too much.
This electronic map might even include the phone book and the Yellow Pages. Why not? Is this the computer age or isn't it? What are we waiting for?"
Rooney died in 2011. He lived long enough to see this particular dream come true as Google Maps launched in 2005.
And in his essay, The Country We Love to Hate he had some interesting observations about the Soviet Union that are particularly interesting in light of Russia's current activities in the world. "Mikhail Gorbachev appears to be making so many good changes in the Soviet Union that it's getting harder and harder for us to complain about our favourite enemy, the Russians.
If Gorbachev opens the Soviet society, lets us in and Russians out, as it appears he is doing, and then tears down the Berlin Wall, what in the world are we going to do for an enemy?
As satisfactory as the Russians have been as enemies, we have to hope that time is over. It would be nice to stop assuming we are about to fight a nuclear war with them. It would be nice to stop thinking of them as our enemy."
Overall this was a fun read. He's not always politically correct or has an opinion I agree with but I enjoyed the book and hearing his side of the conversation. It shows sometimes things change and sometimes things stay the same and it reminded me considering the turmoil in the world now about how tumultuous times have been in the past.
Books can be time capsules that capture something of their time and that's always interesting. It's interesting to examine your own thoughts and ideas and to open the past and remember how you thought about what was going on at the time and how different and how much you've remained the same over the years.
August 9, 2019
This is my second Rooney collection and find them largely whimsical, nostalgic yearning for a Norman Rockwell world. Curmudgeon that he might be, it is not exactly like reading the rantings of Archie Bunker. When he bemoans the urine-stained Grand Central Station overrun with homeless, he reflects on the difficulty of the situation and lacking in severe judgment hopes for a solution with homes for the homeless and GCS back to travellers of his ilk. Then, sometimes he makes me cringe. From his column "Some Don't Like It Hot", published in The Eunice News from Eunice, Tuesday, May 27, 1986 and elsewhere:
Seems rather dismissive of everything from the rapa nui of Easter Island to Polynesians populating the vast South Pacific with outrigger canoes...
There is no question that the whole human race gets less done where the temperature is regularly above 80 degrees. Look at the world and see where most good things have been accomplished. In Pago Pago? In Tahiti? In Calcutta or the Philippines? They may be nice places to visit but for the men and women who have advanced our civilization, look toward countries with temperate climates. Heat saps ambition.
Seems rather dismissive of everything from the rapa nui of Easter Island to Polynesians populating the vast South Pacific with outrigger canoes...
March 25, 2020
Brilliant and witty - like the man's weekly editorials on 60 Minutes used to be. There will be some essays in here that may reflect the man and the times he moved through, but there is an overwhelming amount that simply comments on life, its quirks, its complaints and its wonders. His many essays with proposed changes to everyday habits will still have the reader laughing out loud and saying, "Yes! Oh I wish I had thought of that!" If you can find a copy, and want a gentle, warm read, make a tea and dive in.
August 22, 2018
Wit and cantakerous wisdom from one of America's best commentators. Non of these articles were in his later compilations. One needs to have lived in the 1980's to appreciate it.
September 18, 2009
Some parts were humerous and some I directly related too. Light reading to pass the time.
April 21, 2019
Typical Andy Rooney material. Better than his other book I read - Common Nonsense.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews