So I bought Jillette's book from the iBookstore.
Let me start by saying a few things. I really like Penn Jillette. I like his attitude, his way of putting things, and his beliefs. Mostly. I have some reservations about his views on gun ownership, but that's a topic for another time.
However, his book disappointed me slightly. In retrospect, I suppose I "should have" guessed what it would be like, judging from his (and Teller's) TV show - Penn&Teller:Bullshit.
His book is pretty much like a series of ten of those shows. It's divided up into ten sections, for each of the Ten Commandments. He substitutes them with ten suggestions. However, the chapters that follow each of the ten suggestions tend to digress quite far from the topic at hand. They are also full of sound bites and short witty quips - much like his TV show. There's very little that's novel - certainly for a reader hoping for insightful atheistic arguments.
Most of the book seems to be an autobiography - which is, I think, what his primary interest was - and most of it shows how through some or other unexpected or arbitrary life experience, he came to arrive at atheism, or another aspect of his current world-view. Actually, most of the book seemed to consist of him bragging about the bizarre sexcapades that he experienced, and how 'hot' the woman in question was. The rest of the material seemed to consist of anecdotes from the stage act industry (live performers of all kinds), and how he and his business partner Teller went through this or that experience. I found the material amusing, for the most part - especially where he met Prince Charles and referred to him as "Chuck". But I didn't find the book very strong on the philosophical front - most of the points he made were aphorisms that could have been collected onto a single page. And I didn't find the chapters associated with those aphorisms really explained them. I guess he was free-associating.
I'd say the only thing in the book that I found memorable was his discussion of death. He reports that his family have a tradition where if someone dies, they buy blue balloons (and on the anniversary), and release them into the sky, and watch them disappear, never to be seen again. I found that story touching, and a novel idea.
But apart from that, most of the book sounds and reads like one of his shows - brief, blunt, lots of swearing, naked women, interviews with worst-exemplars of a type, oversimplified arguments, etc. I guess it's written in the brief sound-bite style that most Americans expect from TV, and thus, I am certain it will reach the bestseller lists, because I am certain its intended audience will love it. But I couldn't find anything to reference in there for my dissertation.
Sorry Penn. I still love your work.
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The reason I can't be bothered to read the book is exactly what you've said here.
ReplyDeleteI find, with these people, who build a reputation on a particular behaviour or a particular idea, that when they put it down, it's mostly a regurgitation of what you already know about them and their ideas.
Because have a thirst to keep learning new information, I find that the best way to learn is to look at new writers and new sources. If you keep returning to the same source, or the same writer, the work is merely a repeat of what you've already read, just perhaps expanded as new information emerges.