Rating: 
Summary: debunking modern hysteria
Review: I can't tell you enough how great this book is. What I love about PJ's approach is that he doesn't puff up and claim to be an authority on the calamity du jour. He also doesn't pursue a line of rambling speculation, in the belief that by simple rumination one may become enlightened. PJ goes to the experts and reports facts... most humorously reports facts. If there's a shortage of experts, he goes to the site of the issue, and writes about what he sees, with humor, but without pronouncing judgements. Read this book! I still read it and burst out in chuckles.
Rating: 
Summary: In-form O'Rourke
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. As usual with O'Rourke's books, I tackled it bit-by-bit, savouring one chapter at a time. I think that O'Rourke's at his best when he's confronting the those nasty parts of the world that most of us would not venture to even on a bet (compare with his "Holidays in Hell"). So, I was pleased that PJ ventured to, among other places, the nether reaches of the Czech Republic, up-country Vietnam and flooded Bangladesh. Added to which, he tackled the "joys of nature" to be found in the Amazon basin (I was almost itching in sympathy). You don't have to agree with all of O'Rourke's views to enjoy reading him - at his best he's a very witty and at the same time outspoken author: parts of this had me laughing out loud. Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: From neo-con to iconoclast
Review: I expected to be entertained by this book, but was pleasantly surprised to find that rather than simply outrageous and provocative this incorporates a number of thoughtful, substantive, and valid observations. While the sardonic reader will find what he wants "All the Trouble in the World" reflects O'Rourke's maturing as a humorist and a social critic. While heretofore I have enjoyed O'Rourke's works overall, sometimes his efforts at humor have been so purile that they are unfunny. This book, however, has kept in check the extreme "I've got mine", boorish, chauvanist, self centered hedonist/frat boy perspective characteristic of earlier works. While the bad boy theme is shocking, titilating, and outrageous (hence -- entertaining) in the past O'Rourke has tended toward overkill and the humor goes flat. Instead in "All the Trouble in the World" O'Rourke effectively skewers half baked environmentalism, political correctness, and simplistic (and invalid) determinations concerning right and wrong in various world conflicts. He maintains his rapier sense of irony, but lets his guard down and reveals that he has some depth and social consciousness. In this book O'Rourke comes across as an iconoclast rather than as a relentless neo-con and you end up respecting him more.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok, he has a point - but style ?
Review: I picked up this book after reading similar books and themes by Bill Bryson who is a travel writer. P.J. gets off to a good start with incisive observations in Bangladesh and then he goes on to the Amazon - which is where he lets me down. He meanders too far from his focus to be able to hold a reader's interest which he would have aroused due to the contrarian position he takes on environment and other pet peeves of our age. His deviations in talking about Virgil and Fenimore Cooper in a non-sequitor fashion was too much for me to handle. I guess the liberal and tree hugging Bill Bryson comes away the winner not because of my own liberal leanings but P.J. loses me somewhere while I was listening intently and sympathetically to his arguments. Is it only my observations that liberals, due to the long suffering pent up emotions that they harbor over a lifetime or due to sheer experience in griping - get to be more articulate than conservatives in attempting to counter them ?
Rating:
Summary: Nice One, PJ.
Review: I think it was the late Chinese leader Deng Xaiping who said that we shouldn't worry whether the cat was black or white, but whether it caught mice. This, for me, is the simple message from PJ's swipe at the world's environmentalism industry. Yes, the environment is important. But the solutions to the problems haven't been solutions at all. They make us feel good because 'something is being done'. But most of those 'somethings' aren't working. In fact, heaps of them are counter productive. Sure, PJ has a bit of fun with the Al Gore's of this world, but why shouldn't he? The stupidity of what so many watermelons (green on the outside, red in the middle) are saying is breathtaking. But it's almost considered a sin not to take their wild-eyed whinings as gospel. And PJ does show a positive side, suggesting real-world (free world?) solutions as alternatives to the myriad politically correct ones that have failed miserably. Nice one PJ. So let's start catching the mice (so long as their not endangered) and not worrying about the colour of the cat.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Intelligent
Review: It's always a pleasure to read a witty conservative, if only to know that those who think conservatives are a bunch of cold scolds might learn that it is possible to address serious issues and have a sense of humor. Of course the very fact that O'Rourke finds humor in the temple of "world crises" will convince those people that conservatives can be worse than cold scolds -- they even laugh in the face of serious problems. All The Trouble in the World focuses P.J. O'Rourke's biting satire and sarcasm on several topics that were hot in the early 1990's (and still are): overpopulation, famine, ecological apocalypse, multiculturalism, and miserable third world regimes that hide their brutality and failure behind the facade of socialism and first world envy. Interspersed behind the barbs and wise-guy cracks are usually thoughtful analysis and intelligent criticism. For example, he compares Bangladesh with Fresno, California. Both have the same density, but find themselves in dramatically different conditions. While Bangladesh has some problems not found in Fresno, O'Rourke argues it's lack of free markets and a creaking bureaucracy overwhelm what had historically been a pretty productive population. Of course, his travels there set the stage for many humorous observations and situations (The Ministry of Jute -- Monty Python would have had a time with that one). Some of the best chapters focus on our own living room liberals: those whose mission it is to save America from itself. Two chapters on multiculturalism and the world environmental movement show the length to which people who think of themselves as liberal have really become authoritarians who brook no dissent (nor inconvenient facts) in their quest to make the world right by their mind. The jokes just write themselves in these chapters -- there is such a gulf between some of these people and the real world (not to mention freedom and the Constitution) -- that one alternates between laughter and amazement when reading of what is being done "for" us by those who don't trust us. Sometimes the humor wears -- I get the same feeling when reading Dave Berry. A little time between chapters keeps the material more fresh and sharp. But O'Rourke undergirds all of his criticisms (this is a critical analysis) with facts and thoughtful arguments. He doesn't necessarily have all the answers, but he does have a different and refreshing perspective.
Rating:
Summary: A witty, commonsense, no nonsense book
Review: Just got this book from our local library on an off chance and can't put it down. I love O'Rourke's wit, his commonsense and ability to cut through humbug. His description of life in Mogadishu and the reason aid did not get to the people dying of famine in Somalia answered so many of my questions. I can't help but think that a lot of his opinions are "tongue-in-cheek" and provocative but they certainly make one ponder. O'Rourke the mold was broken when you were born!
Rating:
Summary: Around the world with your libertarian guide
Review: Like him or hate him you must admit that P.J. O'Rourke's writing is always outrageous and never boring. A spokesperson for wealthy, satisfied, middle-aged white guys everywhere, P.J. travels around the world and along the way makes you happy you're an American. His amusing takes on the planet's trouble spots are actually quite informative. There is a lot of truth in pieces like "All Guns, No Butter," which gets to the heart of starvation in Africa, for example. P.J. is one of the few writers who actually makes conservatism fun (even if you aren't one).
Rating:
Summary: Conservative humor with teeth--amazing!
Review: O'Rourke is the real thing. He has been there and seen and can tell us what was going in a ways that are insightful, touching, and hilarious. Just when I was beginning to think that conservatism and humor were bitter enemies, P.J. has restored my faith in humanity. Worth your while.
Rating:
Summary: Sidesplittingly funny
Review: O'Rourke seems to cut through the tourist brochure with
a chainsaw as he visits various troubled places around the world. Most entertaining and enlightening, highly recommended.
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