Tom Magliozzi (1937–2014)

Tom and Ray Magliozzi write about cars, marriage, education and many things in between in their book titled In Our Humble Opinion. They each write their own chapters and give their humble opinions as well as rants on many topics. However, Tom is certainly the more prolific of the two as his chapters outnumber those written by Ray.

Even though I know nothing about cars I have listened to the radio show and have enjoyed their lively banter. I may have even learned a thing or two. That is why I decided to read this book. It was not quite what I expected. Even though parts of the book were tongue-in-cheek, there were other parts that I felt were more likened to a lecture than to a rant. I anticipated a lighter read that would more closely replicate their exchanges on the radio.
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Ray and Tom Magliozzi were two brothers who co-hosted NPR’s weekly talk show, “Car Talk” from 1987-2012. “Car Talk” was a call-in show wherein the public would phone into the station with questions about their cars, and the brothers would use their expertise to answer those questions. In the beginning, the questions were pretty technical; but over time, the questions became frequently more tangentially related to cars; and coupled with the brothers’ sense of humor and their Everyman approach in talking to the callers, the show became more entertaining. In 2012, the show ended its run (though NPR continued to air re-runs); and in 2014 Tom Magliozzi died due complications of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Ray Magiozzi has pulled together a few clips from the original show’s run that highlight Q&As that drew upon the brothers’ scientific knowledge (both were graduates of MIT.) That said, the callers and listeners were not subjected to some dry, academic explanations; but rather to some commonsense and comic responses. As always, hearing “Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers” is fun, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face; but admittedly, hearing the prolonged laughter of the two brothers starts to wear thin within the short duration of the audio. In the end, it’s basically recycled material that pings on listener nostalgia.… (plus d'informations)

The book is subtitled: Car Talk’s Click and Clack Rant and Rave and that is exactly what this book is – a collection of rants on a variety of subjects from poor drivers, to the sorry state of education, to global warming.

I love National Public Radio’s Car Talk program. Listening to the brothers laugh their way through the various dilemmas posed by their audience was entertaining and laugh-producing. A wonderful way to start a weekend. I was expecting that kind of reaction to the book. There were some entertaining essays in the book, but I was disappointed. That’s mostly my own fault, because I didn’t read the description closely, or pay attention to any reviews. There’s probably a rant about idiot readers who don’t know what kind of book they just picked up …
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