They Call Me Baba Booey Paperback – May 31, 2011

I read this book assuming it was going to be a typical growing up in NYC biography with some humor and funny stories included. I was not disappointed at all in the book and found every chapter and story to be interesting and fun to read.Though I was hoping to hear more about the authors radio experiences and some of the things he learned while working on the radio, Maybe the next book will dig deeper into actually working on the radio and what it is like to work for these big media companies. Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for a tell all book about Howard Stern. I am just interested in how people in the media work and deal with the day to day (which the author does touch on in a few chapters in the book - just I would love more of it).I still found the cover to cover read to be really fun. I related a lot with these stories as I grew up in a similar time and could put myself in the author's shoes and relive some of my experiences.Overall this is not a book that is filled with laughs or tears (though I have to admit I did tear up reading about the authors brother and his struggle with being gay and having AIDS.) This book is filled with feel good coming of age stories that are true to life and not sugar coated.If you like to read about other people's experiences, enjoy music and/or radio, and have ever struggled with crazy family members, you will find this book an interesting and fun, and pretty simple, read.Kick off your shoes and sit back on the couch during winter break, this is a fun one, and it isn't going to take too much brain power. I strongly recommend this to anyone and everyone I know.

Let me put my review in context. I'm a casual Howard Stern fan, having always found him (and the rest of the gang) funny but having also not listened to them in years. Love the movie Private Parts, but not in the diehard fan camp. Maybe that's why I was happy to read this book in its own terms and didn't need it to be more about the show than it was. I feel there was a fair amount of time spent on the show, but this was more a story of his family, growing up, and how he ended up working for Howard.A great deal of the book was about his mother's bouts with mental illness and how it shaped him, as well as losing his brother to AIDS. I think you have to come to this with compassion in order to enjoy it and with an understanding that what happens on the show isn't real life. Anyone who comes to this wanting it to be about the show, will only be sporadically happy, but I found it pretty interesting. The co-writing, Chad Millman, did a nice job making it sound like Gary's voice, or my understanding of his voice over the years. While I wasn't blown away, I felt that the book accomplished what the author(s) set out to do. Gary comes across as a pretty sincere guy.Parents who are degrees of crazy are familiar to a lot of people. Growing up, even in a good home, is necessarily about being at the whims and moods of your elders and their ideas about child-rearing and so I almost always sympathize with stories about growing up. It started with Mommy Dearest and still persists. I also see why he's had a job so long on a show in which mood swings make for good radio when other people would have slipped out the door.The cover is pretty funny, but I almost wonder if it mislead people into thinking it was going to be a different type of book, along with perhaps some preconceptions. I found it to be an entertaining and interesting read. I also thought the note of "be careful what you wish for" concerning perfect parents at the end was well-handled and relatable to a lot of people.4 stars.

I loved this book - it's fun and funny, easy to read, and enjoyable throughout. This is not a tell all about the Stern show; rather it's Gary's story from his difficult home life growing up to his successful career as the producer of the Howard Stern show. In some chapters I felt like branding it "the Italian version of Running With Scissors." The story about his brother dying from AIDS is incredibly sad but extraordinarily touching and beautifully told.You'll learn how Gary overcame so much difficulty in his life to attain professional success (his career is at about a 9), have lifelong relationships with a solid core group of friends, and give his kids the upbringing he never had. His ability to tell stories and remember details is remarkable and is one of the book's greatest strengths. I'd highly recommend this book to those still in school, as it shows how Gary had to struggle for so long to find meaningful work, and with great determination and perseverance landed the job he loves. Gary may not be able to throw strikes, but he hit a home run when he wrote this book.

Try and view this book without the refraction of being connected to the Howard Stern Show. Taken as such, this memoir easily stands on it's own as the moving recounting of the steps and missteps of a (lower) middle class kid who found his way to the top of the radio heap. Dell'Abate's book is a no-holds-barred account of a family's dysfunction as they come to grips with a mother's mental illness and how that struggle influenced Dell'Abate dealings with life's curveballs. It's a fascinating tale of a young man trying to carve out a career in a cut-throat business that's filled with funny, revealing anecdotes and personal observations told from his unique point of view. There is nobody in radio with Gary's extraordinary perspective and it's his willingness to reveal his vulnerabilities and just plain be human that makes this book great. Dell'Abate shows nothing but heart. Don't let the usual Baba Booey goofing or polarized haters color your opinion ahead of time. This book's a great read; an honest, emotionally sincere, occasionally hysterical narrative that will appeal to Stern fans and non-fans alike.

This book was one of the best ever. I love Gary on the Howard Stern show and this is a very real and at time moving story of his life. Very well written and even better is the audio book.

i like this read better than robin quiver's book. i wonder how the dynamic is with the crew of the howard stern show and it is very interesting to get baba booey's perspective.

If you listen to the show, you should read the book

A very entertaining read, if you are Stern fan this fills in a lot of the unseen aspects of Gary in doing his job as well as his very interesting upbringing. Definitely recommended reading.

Great read