Guys read, but judging from this collection they don't care much about quality. With a few exceptions, the writing here is flat and reads like a homework assignment done at the last minute. Guys write, but judging by this collection, women don't, at least not anything boys want to read. And some of the guys who write have ideas about guyness so stereotypical that even a ten-year-old would sneer -- real guys apparently burp, fart, and play sports. Alert the media.

There are a few gems among much dross, and a few that defy the stereotypes. David Klass has a lovely piece about his dad, and Rick Reilly contributes a poignant column about trying to tell his son why we're here. But for every one of those there are several egregious essays like those by Gordon Korman and Darren Shan, which go a long way towards showing why neither of them are known for their character development. This was a good idea -- getting boys to read, and keeping them reading, is a worthy goal, and the profits go to support the Guys Read website. But it's too bad that so many of the authors weren't as invested in the idea as the editor.

From the Book:
The following things are, without question, one hundred percent non-guy: pleasant smells, princesses, salad, figure skating, cuteness, bedtime, yoga, all fat-free products (except nitroglycerine), periwinkle blue, periwinkles, and three-quarters of the books your librarian describes as award-winners.

Compare this to the core list of guy things: foul smells, Cartoon Network, jock itch, torque, X-games, X-rays, X-box, underwater explosions, Monty Python, gas (all varieties), professional wrestling (including sumo), and any injury that involves something being hyperextended.