A Google user
Did this thing make any best sellers' lists? I was given the book as a present by an 80+ year old woman who is totally disarmed by Mr. Beck's charm and hangs on his every word. Given her corollary penchant for Nancy Reagan's horoscope, I shouldn't find it unusual.
Ten-year-olds don't read Beck, lucky thing - no potty or fart jokes. Read through this one expecting it to get funny and you'll find it doesn't even attempt clever. It seems someone with Mr. Beck's aspirations would at least have a competent ghost to lend some semblance of entertainment to his print persona, but that would probably be good money after bad to no avail. The thought of Beck reaching an audience above him is folly. Reaching down is unlikely, so let's chalk it up to perfectly nice folks finding themselves equally as charmed as my beloved octegenarian (bless her heart!) and putting themselves on his level for some reason. Will Rogers did that, but without the small and mean snark that is Beck's trademark.
Seriously, folks, if you're after entertainment from the conservative pews, read P.J. O'Rourke's humor or George Will's very human and touching pieces from his heart. And if you're really given to that side of the aisle, go directly to the late William F. Buckley's "Airborne". After reading it, you will have a much better picture of son Christopher and why his views are truly libertarian in nature.
Nothing about Beck qualifies him as a latter day George Lincoln Rockwell or Roy Cone. Beck is a practicing intellectual bantamweight and the savvy folks at Murdoch recognize how much Homer Simpson has done for them. And if you want to predicate your views of public events on an entertainer, you're better served by Bevis and Butthead re-runs. Just guess which one most informs the Glenn Beck character.
A Google user
This man knows nothing about science, economics, middle eastern culture, higher learning, etc., yet he thinks he is knowledgeable enough to write a book on all these topics. One could spend their lives studying only a facet of one of those topics; in fact, some people do exactly that. They spend intensive years working and studying so they understand the details of an issue which are not easily discernable, and guess what: IT PAYS OFF.
If Glenn Beck wants to believe that he's a doctor, he can believe it. He can write a book about his "knowledge", and offer advice to whomever will listen. The book could even do well. But at the end of the day, because he has NO ACTUAL REAL KNOWLEDGE of the subject, people will get hurt.
Glenn Beck is no different than a traveling salesman who sells the "magic tonic" which is supposed to cure everything and instead does nothing, or even worse does actual damage. And the sad part is that good 'Ol Glenn seriously believes that he's doing his readers a favor- he's so caught up in his over-inflated ego that he won't even take a moment to think that maybe he's wrong.
A Google user
Mostly satire, but not totally. Some irreverant, some vulgar. Yet there is insight, and the other side of arguments that somehow never get presented in public discussions. There is calling people to account who should be called to account publicly, but who probably never will be.
So the silliness could probably have been cut out and the book cut by 1/3. Where were you, Mr. Editor? It would have made the impace to the meat that much stronger. Too bad.
Who would have thought that after four years the book would have had so little that was dated about it? I wonder how dated it will feel four years hence.