When it comes to money, the average American will simply ask, ""how can I make more of it?"" However, when it comes to the statistics of money, like the U.S. Economy, the average attention span is limited to approximately a mere five seconds. In Dave Barry's Money Secrets: Like Why is there a Giant Eyeball on the Dollar?,\ a satirical and comical approach is expressed toward the worlds of money and financing.
Dave Barry has stretched his witty approach to writing to topics such as marriage, sex and politics in the past. It was just a matter of time before he poked fun at the economy and ways to make money. One of Barry's first claims to a practical way of making money is to marry Donald Trump, and other famous icons such as Adam Sandler, Alan Greenspan and especially Suze Orman surface quite regularly and randomly.
One of the most successful parts of Barry's writing is his pointless yet riveting footnotes. Barry continuously criticizes lawyers and how they benefit from various money situations; his footnote next to lawyers says ""I realize that this book has been pretty hard on lawyers. Be advised that the legal community will offer a thorough rebuttal in Chapter 27, titled ‘There Is No Chapter 27.'"" His hilarious footnotes appear frequently and offer snide side remarks that enhance the hilarity of his writing.
Barry begins his crusade on money with discussing personal finances and how one way to manage money is to cut back on children. He points out that just because a child's friend has food, a home and shelter, it does not mean your child has to as well. In this chapter, Orman's photograph materializes randomly amidst the paragraphs as it does throughout the entire novel. However, seeing Orman's face slowly gets tiresome as it emerges on almost every page.
Barry goes on to discuss how to provide for the most vital present a parent could ever give to a child, a college education. Instead of giving advice like saving money, Barry says to simply make sure they go to a ""mediocre or actively bad college."" He goes on to counsel parents to limit the amount of studying time a child partakes in per night.
The best part comes when Barry gives examples of a child that is studying too much: hiding books under the mattress, hanging out with friends who make eye contact with you and speak in complete sentences and using big words such as ""curriculum"" and ""dormitory.""
By the end of the book, the purpose of the novel is quite clear: There is no purpose. Barry explicitly states that he in no way provided time-tested principles of money management that were promised in the beginning. However, the absense of principle comes with the comedy and entertainment of this book. His randomness is ideal, creating a quick and highly amusing read.
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