When I got a copy of the book Howard Stern Comes Again for my birthday from my family last year, I was grateful but indifferent. Where I have always had respect for Stern’s accomplishments in radio and media, I was never a fan of his style. As I read his past 2 books, and was curious as to what this one was about, I dove into it. And I am glad I did.

This third book of Stern’s is a collection of segments from celebrity interviews he has done on his radio and satellite radio shows over the years, many of them in the last decade. I emphasize the time period for a reason, which will be a nice segue to my takeaways from this book.

Howard Stern has changed – The introduction to the book is 19 pages, which is the longest I have ever seen for an introduction. However it is necessary to paint the picture of the change in Stern’s life, from a health scare to going into psychotherapy. This is reflective in the more recent interviews in the book, where they are less sex-focused and less reflective of his narcissism and are now more insightful, both in the questions he asked and the responses of the celebrities he is interviewing.

Being real can be entertaining too – When I say real I don’t mean “reality” as in the faux-reality shows on TV like Survivor, but real as in conversation that appears on the surface as honest and, and as a result, real. Whether the celebrity responses were scripted ahead of time, who knows. But as I read through the interviews I actually enjoyed them, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t into celebrity interviews.

There’s sex talk too – It wouldn’t be Howard Stern if there was no talk about sex at all. But it’s not like I recall from hearing him in the past where he would open with questions like, “so what is it like to have sex with you?” This was a large part of my lack of interest in listening to him – it’s was raw for no reason other than being raw, and to me not entertaining. Then again, I have seen articles written about how Stern has gotten “soft” as he is now in his 60’s, so others are not a fan of his newer style as well.

If you are into celebrity interviews or just want some mind-candy, Howard Stern Comes Again is a book for you. It is a long book – over 550 pages and formatted in a multi-column format, and took much longer than I would have thought to read. If you’re not sure about whether to dive-in to the full book, the introduction alone is worth the read.

As I give away all books I read, this one is going to a great friend in Florida who is a devoted Howard Stern fan. Though he probably heard each and every one of these interviews, I am sure he will enjoy reading them as well.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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