The Death of Cool: From Teenage Rebellion to the Hangover of Adulthood

Feeling dumb or like a Kang- subscribe to Censor Media, will learn something while laughing etc..

My wife and I learned about Gavin from his Red Eye appearances. The show is great, overall, but the guests can make a huge difference and when Gavin is there, it's nearly always funny and interesting because he is funny and interesting.He's obviously a very bright, talented, guy, but he really stood out because (similar to Gutfeld) he completely broke the sterotype of what a "conservative" is. We'd never heard of Vice magazine, so I didn't even fully understand the extent of his cultural impact, but basically here's a guy who articulates conservative/libertarian views like a WSJ editorialist, yet looks and acts like he could be...well, a founder of Vice magazine.Anyway, my wife got me this book as a birthday present. And, wow, I had no idea just how "unconservative" his personal history was!He's lived a pretty wild life and documents in this book in vivid fashion -- at times hilarious, at times cringe-worthy, and often shocking. He is, above all, a great story teller and when you combine that with some of the great stories he has to tell, it is largely a captivating ride -- I read the book in a weekend and really couldn't put it down.Still, I couldn't help walking away from the book being a little disappointed and, I suppose, sad.He talks, a lot, on Red Eye (and his columns) about how important his family is to him, his unabashed rediscovery of Catholicism including membership in the Knights of Columbus and pro-life views, and generally conservative outlook. Yet, he lead an astonishingly hedonistic lifestyle for much of his life. I don't mean a bit of debauchery here and there...I mean stuff like, intentional drunk-driving for fun, lots of heavy drugs, week long benders, unprotected sex with 300+ women...I don't know, not just mildly immoral behavior, but at times deeply reckless not merely to himself, but also those around him.As I made my way through the book, I think I was hoping for a conversion experience or something that would make this Gavin's version of The Confessions. But, the conversion never came and I finished the book not as fond of Gavin as I was before reading it. He recalls his wild days with pride -- not regret -- and although he does say you gotta give up with wildness and grow up, eventually, he almost advocates his youthful insanity. But, I've known plenty of people who went the route Gavin did who never escaped from it. He acts like it's perfectly normal that he'd be where he is, today, despite all that he's done and I know first hand that's not true.Ultimately, though, this is a comedy book, not a philosophical one and if you're into R, and at times X-rated, humor, it's certainly 5 stars.

Gavin's adventures from childhood to manhood is interesting. He's correct in this day and age the Death of cool is DEAD.

Gav for sure has a way with words! Most of his stories, I felt like I was a fly on the wall. Some made me feel sick to my stomach, that's how descriptive they were. As a parent, I probably won't let my teenager read this book till he is closer to 18. Get this book while you still can. P.S. I'm writing this review while I am wearing my "get off my lawn" gav and no padre ryan shirt. 10 out of 10 book. 10 out of 10 shirt. 10 out of 10 for the work you put in!!!

I bought this book because I am a long-time reader of Vice and have always found Gavin McInnes' videos and writings to be entertaining.Ultimately I was very let down with this book and cannot not recommend it to anyone. It's mostly a collection of stories from McInnes' "party years," ranging from his childhood growing up as a young punk in Canada, to living a libertine adult life and running a major media corporation in NYC.I thought some of the beginning stories, such as one where he describers a mishap during an acid trip or when he spent a summer planting trees were interesting, but pretty soon the majority of the stories just become graphic details about his sexual encounters. Sometimes he'll explain something humorously or cleverly, but most the sex stories were nothing more than Gavin's personal jerk-off material. Side note: I found the level of detail in some of the high school sex stories to be pretty weird, as the author is a man in his 40s at this point.There are a few later chapters that present interesting material. I particularly the story of Vice's creation, and the one of Gavin showing his parents his first tattoo. Unfortunately, a lot of times even the most decent stories ended up just going nowhere.The structure of his stories typically tends to introduce a particularly outlandish topic (threesomes, drug trips, fights, etc) but never really takes this topic anywhere. Sure, the subject matter is crazy, but after you get past the sensational concept of what is going on the stories never really progress. For example: in one chapter, Gavin describes a threesome he has, and I expected the story to take some kind of crazy twist at the end, but instead, Gavin just ended up outlining how the threesome went down. The chapter called "My Dinner with the Clash"? Spoiler: it's basically just him attending a dinner party that Joe Strummer was at, and then leaving early. Oh.Then there are a few moments where Gavin sprinkles in some baffling, cringe-worthy opinions, like "In college, we were taught no means no, but my experience has been more like "three nos mean no" (p.156), or one a story about how Gavin couldn't understand why people got upset when he jokingly said "I love f*****s" (p. 112) to a gay co-worker in a Vice board meeting. A lot of his professed views are pretty old-fashioned, which seems at ends with the kind-of gross way he lived his life for 30 years, and some of the more sexist comments give a kind of disturbing context to a few of the sex stories.The book never really reaches any kind of logical conclusion or offers any reflective introspection. Instead, Gavin just goes "here are my wild sex and drug stories from my 20s and 30s! But now I'm old."Overall, I was disappointed with this read. If you just want to laugh at a few sex stories, there is much better smut elsewhere, and if you are looking for anything deep or cohesive, I'd definitely find something else to read.

To enjoy this book, you have to have a sense of humor and be from a generation when everything was still possible. So, no one under thirty-five or who has ever used the words ‘safe space’ should try.There’s an interesting sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll story about McIness’ co-founding of Vice (his claim-to-fame) in this book, but much, much more – all still laced with more sex, more drugs, and more rock ‘n roll. I think some Generation Xers may know McIness as their paradoxical spirit animal. He is that charming with his brashness, included in this book.Anyway, many a giggle and snort (stupid unsnortable coffee) got me through his story. McIness’ story is definitely worth reading. I could not have lived it. But, I think it’s great that somebody did.

There's a quote on the front that says "A bible waiting to happen" and I think that's downplaying the uniqueness of this book.The entire 271 pages are so streamlined, it felt like I was ice skating with my eyes shut towards the terminal full stop. Not once did my sub conscious yawn "I'm no longer immersed". I finished it from start to finish in 21 minutes.To concisely describe this book to a novice, i'd conjour the image of the "Howler" from Harry Potter in which the letter undressed itself out of the envelope and literally screams out the message to the recipient.THIS BOOK IS ALIVE. IT KNOWS WHO IT IS. I finished this book having Gavin's voice subsume my own inner monologue. Why? Because funny, confident, facetious, honest, intelligent men get remembered.Buy this book.

I love McInnis he's so funny, I read this in 2 days, stayed up late exhausted after work as I couldn't put it down. Buy it

What a read. I won't go into too much detail and ruin the brilliant stories from within this book but for someone interested in journalism and the rise and fall and rise and subsequent fall (in my opinion) of Vice this is perfect.The stories involved are bonkers; drugs, sex, violence and money all involved. It's easy to read and as someone who doesn't read a whole lot I was surprised at how quickly I got through this. Eager to read more by Gavin.Wish I had not lent this book to a friend who moved away as I will most certainly be wanting to give it another read at some point.

I did not expect to like this book. In fact I very much did not want to like this book, as I thought Mcinnes to be a borderline nutcase with a penchant for abusing people. If the stories conatined here are true then he is definatley a nutcase with a penchant for abusing people, but it was an amazing read nevertheless. Hilariously funny in parts, it's the story of a true iconoclast that only America could make rich.

I like Gavin McInnes and appreciate his outlook of life, however I thought his memoir was nothing special.Keep up the other efforts Gavin McInnes, we others certainly need you.