Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, thought-provoking & frequently hilarious.
Review: Richard Belzer, my black-suited hero Munch from TV's Homicide, has committed his near-obsessive skepticism for all things governmentally explained, in this very funny book. The title is a bit confusing, though. There is not one word about Elvis in the book! A few chapters into it, I began to wonder if ol' Belz was just purporting a few conspiracies of his own. It was at that point that he congratulated anyone who was unsure about HIS theories! I felt vindicated. Parts of "UFOs, JFK and Elvis" are laugh-out-loud funny. But I'm still wondering why he didn't mention The King, as in the title. Perhaps it was just MY copy that was missing intelligently investigated chapters about Elvis. Hmmm. Do I sense a ... conspiracy????
Rating: 
Summary: Do not waste your time on this one!
Review: Terrible! There is nothing original or interesting about this book. I bought it because I am more a "conspiracy nut" than Belzer fan, so I am neither friend nor foe (Belzer fans are perhaps a bit generous in their praise). What makes this book so bad is its lack of any sort of originality. Mr. Belzer's research consisted of reading a couple dozen conspiracy books, interviewing one single author, and taking the most ludicrous and simplistic of ideas he could comprehend and tossing them together with pathetic attempts at humor at the level of something one might find on a junior high lavoratory. And even worse, he describes all this photographic evidence without a single photo or illustration in the book. Case in point: describing these incredible extraterrestrial structures that have been photographed and prove beyond any doubt that there is intelligent life in this solar system he tells you that you can see them with your own eyes by spending some time on the internet with search engines! His biggest failure, perhaps, is his attempt to inform his reader of these fantastic revelations but at the same time giving the impression that he is doing so sarcastically and winking his eye at you while making these claims. Is he trying to make you think there may be a greater truth out there or does he want you to believe all these alien abductees are perverted morons? At least I can respect J.Z. Knight for believing that Ramtha gibberish to be true. The one thing I can say in the positive sense is that it is good to bring in to question the true facts behind what we are told is history. Mr. Belzer had an opportunity to do credibly but lightheartedly. He fails badly in both cases. Type "conspiracy" on your search engine and you will find both more facts and more laughs.
Rating: 
Summary: FUN.
Review: the book is and entertaining representationg of whar I, and many others fin a fascinating subject.I strongly reccomend this book to everyone, ages 15- to whatever.
Rating: 
Summary: For the Moon is Hollow and I Have Torched This Guy
Review: The first problem with UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to be Crazy to Believer is the cover blurbs. They all state how funny he is, except for the CNN blurb. Bill Maher says it's "a treat to have his insanity in book form." This is a book about conspiracies and Belzer himself says in his introduction that he's trying to get the reader to ask questions and not accept the government's word on everything. If he's trying to do that, is it a good thing that he's called "insane" in a recommendation blurb? I don't think so. When I first picked this book up at the library (I'm a big fan of Belzer from his television roles), the subject matter intrigued me just enough that I wanted to see what Belzer had to say on it. I saw the three things mentioned in the title, but I thought the book would move beyond those three items and delve into other conspiracy theories as well. No luck, though. The entire first half of the book talks about the JFK assassination, and all of the theories behind it. The second half is about aliens and other space-based "cover-ups." He only mentions Elvis in passing. I was very disappointed. That was actually my reaction to the entire book: disappointment. I had so many problems with this book, but they boil down to two. First, the way the book is formatted and written, I had doubts on Belzer's credibility. This doesn't even involve cover blurbs. The JFK section of the book seems like nothing more than a rehash of the many theories that are already out there. Granted, it's nice to have them all in one place, but it would have been nice to get something new in there as well. Belzer talks about all of the different theories, but never really comes down on any one side. Was it the mafia? The CIA? Lyndon Johnson? The Communists? All of them combined? He probably thought that saying so many theories are possible is a good way to get people to question. It doesn't have that effect on me, however. Instead, I felt like I had been hit with a shotgun, with all of these pellets of theory hitting me in the head and none of them actually registering as a shot. Starting with JFK is the easy part. Even many people who think conspiracy-minded people are nuts think that something's fishy about the whole JFK thing. It's like throwing a rock at the ocean: you can't miss. Belzer spends over half the book on it, and I kept saying "yeah, fine, this is definitely a conspiracy...do you have anything interesting?" When Belzer finally does move on, he moves to the various UFO stories: alien abductions, sightings, close encounters, that sort of thing. He further damages his credibility, though, by bringing up the moon landing "hoax." Ok, he says in the introduction that this may be "a little over the top" but then he goes on to say that he wouldn't put it past the government to try and do something like that. Later, when he actually addresses it, he gives all the standard reasons for it being a hoax (no stars in pictures, moon dust, shadows, etc) which have been thoroughly debunked (check the web by putting "moon hoax" in the search engine). This does not help his credibility any. He quickly backs away from it and talks about people who believe that the beings inhabiting the moon and using it as a base kicked us off of it. Which is it Richard? The fact that he seems to believe a theory that's been completely discredited (though some people still cling to it) just takes away from the credibility of the rest of the text. The second problem is Belzer's writing style. I love Belzer's trademark wit, and he definitely applies it in this book. The trouble was, as I ground through the text, I found his asides and witticisms increasingly grating. That could be because I wasn't liking what I was reading, so maybe it's tied to my first problem. Whatever the case, I found his style cringe-worthy and it's only the fact that it's a short book that let me get through it without throwing it against the wall. Tied into the style is the format of the book. Theories are tossed in and then ignored with alarming regularity. Belzer brings up the supposed connection between Kennedy and Lincoln, even going so far as to imply that the John Wilkes Booth who was killed after Lincoln was shot wasn't the real assassin, but a patsy. What's the scoop behind that? I couldn't tell you, because Belzer drops it and goes back to JFK. The book is also filled with sidebars, which also makes it a bit annoying. You constantly have to leave the ongoing text to read the little side note or factoid that's also on the page. Other times, the sidebar has more space on the page then the regular text. I think this did add to the quickness of the reading, because there isn't as much as text to read as you would have thought. Overall, I couldn't find much to like about this book. It would be a good introduction to the various theories that are out there having to do with certain conspiracies. The UFO conspiracies are actually kind of interesting, though again the credibility gap is there. Since this is Belzer's stated goal, I guess the best question is: does it make you ask questions? My personal answer is no. To me, you would have to already be leaning that way before this book would push you over the edge. Does the government lie to us? Inevitably. But I don't necessarily buy the specific lies that Belzer is selling. Most importantly for a book review, I also didn't enjoy the sell-job. David Roy
Rating:
Summary: For the Moon is Hollow and I Have Torched This Guy
Review: The first problem with UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to be Crazy to Believer is the cover blurbs. They all state how funny he is, except for the CNN blurb. Bill Maher says it's "a treat to have his insanity in book form." This is a book about conspiracies and Belzer himself says in his introduction that he's trying to get the reader to ask questions and not accept the government's word on everything. If he's trying to do that, is it a good thing that he's called "insane" in a recommendation blurb? I don't think so. When I first picked this book up at the library (I'm a big fan of Belzer from his television roles), the subject matter intrigued me just enough that I wanted to see what Belzer had to say on it. I saw the three things mentioned in the title, but I thought the book would move beyond those three items and delve into other conspiracy theories as well. No luck, though. The entire first half of the book talks about the JFK assassination, and all of the theories behind it. The second half is about aliens and other space-based "cover-ups." He only mentions Elvis in passing. I was very disappointed. That was actually my reaction to the entire book: disappointment. I had so many problems with this book, but they boil down to two. First, the way the book is formatted and written, I had doubts on Belzer's credibility. This doesn't even involve cover blurbs. The JFK section of the book seems like nothing more than a rehash of the many theories that are already out there. Granted, it's nice to have them all in one place, but it would have been nice to get something new in there as well. Belzer talks about all of the different theories, but never really comes down on any one side. Was it the mafia? The CIA? Lyndon Johnson? The Communists? All of them combined? He probably thought that saying so many theories are possible is a good way to get people to question. It doesn't have that effect on me, however. Instead, I felt like I had been hit with a shotgun, with all of these pellets of theory hitting me in the head and none of them actually registering as a shot. Starting with JFK is the easy part. Even many people who think conspiracy-minded people are nuts think that something's fishy about the whole JFK thing. It's like throwing a rock at the ocean: you can't miss. Belzer spends over half the book on it, and I kept saying "yeah, fine, this is definitely a conspiracy...do you have anything interesting?" When Belzer finally does move on, he moves to the various UFO stories: alien abductions, sightings, close encounters, that sort of thing. He further damages his credibility, though, by bringing up the moon landing "hoax." Ok, he says in the introduction that this may be "a little over the top" but then he goes on to say that he wouldn't put it past the government to try and do something like that. Later, when he actually addresses it, he gives all the standard reasons for it being a hoax (no stars in pictures, moon dust, shadows, etc) which have been thoroughly debunked (check the web by putting "moon hoax" in the search engine). This does not help his credibility any. He quickly backs away from it and talks about people who believe that the beings inhabiting the moon and using it as a base kicked us off of it. Which is it Richard? The fact that he seems to believe a theory that's been completely discredited (though some people still cling to it) just takes away from the credibility of the rest of the text. The second problem is Belzer's writing style. I love Belzer's trademark wit, and he definitely applies it in this book. The trouble was, as I ground through the text, I found his asides and witticisms increasingly grating. That could be because I wasn't liking what I was reading, so maybe it's tied to my first problem. Whatever the case, I found his style cringe-worthy and it's only the fact that it's a short book that let me get through it without throwing it against the wall. Tied into the style is the format of the book. Theories are tossed in and then ignored with alarming regularity. Belzer brings up the supposed connection between Kennedy and Lincoln, even going so far as to imply that the John Wilkes Booth who was killed after Lincoln was shot wasn't the real assassin, but a patsy. What's the scoop behind that? I couldn't tell you, because Belzer drops it and goes back to JFK. The book is also filled with sidebars, which also makes it a bit annoying. You constantly have to leave the ongoing text to read the little side note or factoid that's also on the page. Other times, the sidebar has more space on the page then the regular text. I think this did add to the quickness of the reading, because there isn't as much as text to read as you would have thought. Overall, I couldn't find much to like about this book. It would be a good introduction to the various theories that are out there having to do with certain conspiracies. The UFO conspiracies are actually kind of interesting, though again the credibility gap is there. Since this is Belzer's stated goal, I guess the best question is: does it make you ask questions? My personal answer is no. To me, you would have to already be leaning that way before this book would push you over the edge. Does the government lie to us? Inevitably. But I don't necessarily buy the specific lies that Belzer is selling. Most importantly for a book review, I also didn't enjoy the sell-job. David Roy
Rating:
Summary: Belzer says: It's hip to be brain-dead
Review: The one mystery not explained by this disorganized hash of a book is why we should listen to actor Richard Belzer's paranoid rants about the JFK assassination, the existence of UFO, and -- well, there's no Elvis in this book, despite the title, but it sure sounds great, doesn't it? Half the book is an extended rant on various JFK assassination theories and the other half a rant about UFO theories. It's disjointed, hostile, irritating and not in the least amusing, as if someone loaded Belzer up with Thorozine and turned on the tape recorder. No theory is too outlandish to consider, and no fact cannot be twisted to fit whatever scheme. With characters like the Umbrella Man, 60 Oswald doubles and a J.Edgar Hoover killed by doctored asperin, and you've got the script for a fanboy "X-Files" episode. After finishing this book -- assuming that anyone will -- you may find yourself concluding that sinister government agencies had recruited Belzer to write "UFOs, JFK, and Elvis." No more effective way exists to discredit these conspiracy theories.
Rating:
Summary: Comedic Conspiracies
Review: This book can't decide if it's a book about conspiracies or if it's comedy, which means it trys to straddle both areas. It does a fairly good job, raising some issues about many a controversial subject and at the same time getting many a chuckle from the reader. It's hard to know how much of it Richard Belzer himself believes, but it that doesn't hurt the book too much. I hope Belzer does another one along the same vein, as there are PLENTY more conspiracies out there for him to tackle. Belzer is a funny man and this book proves it and proves he's at his wry best when dealing with his favorite subject: conspiracies and the unexplained. This book is also highly recommendable based on it's bibliography which should be able to keep any amateur conspiracy theorist reading for a good, long time.
Rating:
Summary: The Humor Of JFK
Review: This book was not ufo's jfk and elvis. The I am writing about is called the humor of jfk. It deals with the history of JFK's life by summerizing it in the form of a comedic biography. By the things I read in this book were things that they were not to tell to the public in this book. I found it very interesting and pretty cool too read this book and I am not going to tell the people what happened because you will have to read it to find out. I recomend this book to people who are into comedy and yet to learn about who JFK was and how he affected the United States. This in my mind was a inspiration book saying what JFK had to deal with in his life time. I thank you for taking the time to read my evaluation.
Rating:
Summary: great,but flawed book
Review: this is a great book for people who are just beginning to question the way things are.i have to admit,i didn't believe half of what belzer writes,buthe sure presents it in an entertaining way.heres something spooky-he includes a quote in his book from aldous huxley-did you know that he died on nov.22,1963,the same day as president kennedy?oooh!Spooky!
Rating:
Summary: Full of deep thought.Easy to both understand and believe
Review: This is an excellent book.It is just descriptive enough to give u a good idea of what hes saying. His thoughts are deep and genious and he also puts humor into his book which gives it an edge.It is easy to both understand and believe. It is an excellent book.
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