Having it all Book

I picked up this book at a flea market and have spent the last week engrossed in 462 pages of advice from the original Cosmo girl herself, Helen Gurley Brown. I have always been fascinated with this woman -- she was such a blend of drive and insecurity, and she holds nothing back in this tell-all book about how a "mooseburger" like herself made it to the top.

It must be noted that the common understanding of "having it all" didn't apply, since Helen never had children nor wanted any. But she did achieve professional success as the long-time editor of Cosmopolitan, celebrity status, wealth, and a 50-year marriage to a well-known movie producer David Brown. This book has so many witticisms I don't know where to begin. She wrote with clever, self-deprecating humour, offering advice on everything from money to makeup to dieting to fellatio (yep).

Some of her advice hasn't really stood the test of time, since she wrote the book in 1982, but much of it is still valid. Her key message was that even "mouseburgers" can have it all with passion, hard work, and self-discipline. Helen died at the age of 90 in 2012, but she never gave up trying.