Rating: 
Summary: Another outstanding work, with a suprisingly poignant point
Review: I've just finished this book, and I seem to be pushing it on everybody I talk to. Like some other reviewers, I bought it after seeing the CSPAN interview, and expected more profundity because of that interview, but still found the book to be one of the more memorable reads I've had in quite a while. However, I think some of the reviewers are missing the point. No matter what the cover says, this book is not teaching economics. If you are looking for the author to make economics understandable for you, this isn't your book despite some great summaries of a few key economic concepts. If you're looking for unbelievably funny entertainment with economics as the theme, come right in. If the book makes you step back and think about your assumptions concerning politics, life, economics, and your place in the world, so much the better. The one thought that keeps coming back to me is how lucky I really am, compared to 95% of the rest of the souls on this planet, and if you're reading this, or have the luxury of reading this book, you probably are too. (NOTE RE:Chelsea attack-I didn't find it mean. OK, not overly mean. But if she wants to get onto a public stage and speak her mind in a public forum, she better think about what she says and be careful not to insult most of the worlds population with her privileged-class angst. I remember that speech and how embarrassed I was for her, whether she was or not.)
Rating: 
Summary: With each new book O'Rourke just gets better.
Review: Like a fine wine, P.J. O'Rourke seems to get better with age. Eat the Rich is one of the most surprisingly serious texts on modern macro-economics which can be read. It is also possibly the most understandable. O'Rourke's genius is that he uses humor to get the point across. His humor is satirical, sarcastic, even sophmoric at times. He has been criticized for taking pot-shots at obvious targets, but one wonders, if the targets are that obvious, why do they endure? What P.J. sets out to prove is that it is impossible to build an economically sound civilization without the rule of law and respect for private property. This seems to hold true regardless of politics. While O'Rourke's method is humorous, his message is deadly serious.
Rating:
Summary: You'll laff out loud at some line if not all on every page.
Review: No sh-t. You really will. I had tears running down my cheeks. They say laughter is good medicine....buy this and get the panacea of literary genius curing your blues with every chapter. The funniest being in Cuba...or was it Sweden... wherever P.J. goes or ends up, you'll be laffing till it hurts. Another O'Rourke masterpiece, written with sheer brilliance. Like I said in another review, he's the funniest man living because any man funnier must surely be dead. Susie Melkus
Rating:
Summary: Immensely funny
Review: After seeing an interview of P.J. O'Rourke on PBS, I hurried to obtain a copy. I enjoyed it immensely. It lived up to the billing.Herman Krieger, author, "Churches ad hoc: a divine comedy"
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Usually when reading book with friends in the room, if its a good book their might be a humerous passage worth reading aloud at most every chapter. Eat The Rich, can only be read alone. Any attempt to read with company will result in either an annoyed friend or a dry mouth. I doubt I will ever read again an economics book that made me laugh so hard. O'Rourke does not go beyond the basics, so I wouldn't expect any new theories, and the language is at times unnecessary vulgar but neither stops it from being the best book I've read in a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting but superficial book
Review: When I read the first few chapters, it seemed funny and authentic. Then, it came to the chapters about Hongkong and Shanghai where I have certain first-hand experience, I doubt if the author had extensive contact with local people or just had a brief tour. I learned that sometimes people look at things in very different views, which made me doubt if the first few chapters I enjoyed a lot were just because I didn't know the subject or I thought it in the same way as the author.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall insulting, teaches basic economics
Review: If you would like to read basic economics explained to you in layman terms, you'll appreciate this book. If you like clever and witty humor, you won't. This book mainly takes cheap shots at obvious targets and somehow expects them to be funny.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Blunt
Review: Well informed and funny as hell. (Motorhead took the name "Eat the Rich" from the 1987 film by Peter Richardson.)
Rating:
Summary: A Breath of Fresh Air
Review: As a financial analyst, I am frequently subjected to economic events as explained by economists. The language they use sound authoritative but after some time you stop and think - "hey wait a minute, didn't he just say the opposite of what he's saying now last week?" PJ's book somehow cuts through the crap and is hilarious too.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading, but not P.J.'s best work.
Review: While I thought "Eat the Rich" was well worth reading, it had a somewhat slapped-together feel that made it a lesser book, than say, "Parliment of Whores", which I enjoyed immensely. I've been reading P.J. since I was a freshman in high school sneaking National Lampoon into class with me, but I'm afraid comedy writing is a young man's game, and P.J.'s no kid anymore. I saw him recently on C-SPAN being interviewed by (the excellent) Brian Lamb, and P.J. was being calm and serious, as befits his years, and made his points about economic life more convincingly than the book itself did, in my humble opinion.
|
