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Mad's Dave Berg Looks at Modern Thinking
This isn't a book...it's a mind reading act! Dave Berg looks into your secret thoughts and blabs it to the whole world!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1969
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Dave Berg
65 books4 followersArtist, author, and cartoonist for MAD Magazine, 1956-2002.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 23, 2025
A fun, light read. Basically, a series of comics where something is said aloud and then in a bubble we know what the person is actually thinking. Perfect bathroom reader!
January 3, 2022
Dave Berg was part of my childhood, as I perused MAD Magazine from the mid-60s forward for a good number of years. This collection, and one other, turned up in my online search for more MAD-ness. This particular volume does indeed look at thinking, or failing to.
In a film (I can no longer remember which one, alas), scriptwriters are pondering a sketch or script that is supposed to be comical. One writer turn to the other, saying, "They forgot to bring the funny." Remembering to "bring the funny" has become my catch-phrase for comedy that stands up over time. I recently rediscovered The Addams Family TV series; they remembered to bring the funny. Dave Berg does the same. His characters dress in "period costume," but the thought-bubbles are still relevant after 50 years. Twisted thinking is still twisted, decades later.
Younger readers may miss classic turns of phrase of the sort i grew up with. The statement, "I'm not that kind of girl!" may still be used; I know Berkley Breathed used it in an exchange between Steve Dallas and Quiche Loraine. (Steve replied, "You most certainly are!", to which she replies, "Oh pits; is it that obvious?") Berg made use of the reverse form, as the woman says, "I'll make out with you if you marry me." He replies, indignantly, "I'm not that kind of boy!"
A one-panel cartoon that starts the book shows a young boy angrily kicking an empty tin can, thinking, "My mother and father hate me. They love my sister more. They're always buying her things like glasses and braces on her teeth and corrective shoes. An' they never buy me nothin'."
Five decades later, and we're still not thinking much clearer! Berg remembered to bring the funny.
In a film (I can no longer remember which one, alas), scriptwriters are pondering a sketch or script that is supposed to be comical. One writer turn to the other, saying, "They forgot to bring the funny." Remembering to "bring the funny" has become my catch-phrase for comedy that stands up over time. I recently rediscovered The Addams Family TV series; they remembered to bring the funny. Dave Berg does the same. His characters dress in "period costume," but the thought-bubbles are still relevant after 50 years. Twisted thinking is still twisted, decades later.
Younger readers may miss classic turns of phrase of the sort i grew up with. The statement, "I'm not that kind of girl!" may still be used; I know Berkley Breathed used it in an exchange between Steve Dallas and Quiche Loraine. (Steve replied, "You most certainly are!", to which she replies, "Oh pits; is it that obvious?") Berg made use of the reverse form, as the woman says, "I'll make out with you if you marry me." He replies, indignantly, "I'm not that kind of boy!"
A one-panel cartoon that starts the book shows a young boy angrily kicking an empty tin can, thinking, "My mother and father hate me. They love my sister more. They're always buying her things like glasses and braces on her teeth and corrective shoes. An' they never buy me nothin'."
Five decades later, and we're still not thinking much clearer! Berg remembered to bring the funny.
August 22, 2019
It feels like Dave Berg's earlier work.
December 22, 2025
More amusing as a time capsule than for its jokes. Like SEINFELD.
February 13, 2017
1st Read: January 11, 1983 - January 12, 1983 (** Rating)
Uncertain where I got this book. Possibly from one of my sisters. Some things were funny and others I didn't quite grasp as I was still naive and innocent.
2nd Read: January 15, 2017 (** Rating)
Keeping this one as it is a First Printing from 1969 and my copy is in very good condition. Reads in under twenty minutes and is doubtful if I'd read it again. A lot of the modern thinking scenarios in the book still ring true as they were drawn and written. I've done a few myself in my lifetime.
Uncertain where I got this book. Possibly from one of my sisters. Some things were funny and others I didn't quite grasp as I was still naive and innocent.
2nd Read: January 15, 2017 (** Rating)
Keeping this one as it is a First Printing from 1969 and my copy is in very good condition. Reads in under twenty minutes and is doubtful if I'd read it again. A lot of the modern thinking scenarios in the book still ring true as they were drawn and written. I've done a few myself in my lifetime.
June 22, 2016
Typical examples of the gentle humour of Dave Berg.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews