About book Don't Vote - It Just Encourages The Bastards (2010)
I've been a fan of P.J.'s work, whether or not I agreed with what he was saying, since, well, since a long time, okay? And I have to admit it: he's not the writer he once was. This may not be entirely a bad thing, but...Don't Vote... has some thought put into it, no question. Indeed, as he admits himself, a lot of that thought went into previous works, making this one in many places a sort of culmination of where he's been these few decades. And in several places, this has taken him somewhere important and timely -- late in the book, he lambasts the current "conservatives" for their, well, lack of conservatism. I found that refreshing. On the other hand, in many other places, he's... well, clearly I've been avoiding saying it. He's not really as funny as he once was. He's grown, well, conservative. Heh.Truthfully, it's a good book. But it's not a great book, like Parliament of Whores; it comes off tired where Parliament was angry, and smugly witty where Parliament was edgy and hilarious. There's nothing wrong with a good book. I like good books. But I would've liked a great book more. As has been noted in other places, this rant of P.J. O'Rourke's is not as entertaining as Parliament of Whores, but I think it is indicative of a change in his reporting position: When he wrote Parliament of Whores, he was still working in Washington and had regular contact with politicians and policy wonks of all types - you'll never find a better (or more infuriating) look at federal bureaucracy than his chapter on the Department of Transportation. In Don't Vote, a lot of it is just P.J. ruminating on things that aggravate him. While his aggravation is amusing to read, it's not quite the entertaining/educating work of a journalist.My only other gripe is that a number of pieces are reprints of various op-eds he produced for other sources. This has the effect of making the book slightly disjointed as we switch from topic to topic without a whole lot of rhyme or reason. All that being said, P.J. O'Rourke is still an immensely talented writer with a talent for metaphor that makes seemingly complex concepts understandable. I say "seemingly" because what I think P.J. really does is strip away complex verbiage that he powers-what-is use to make simple concepts (zero-sum, the effects of government investment) seem too complex for the plebeians. Even at a distance, his nose for B.S. is still very keen and makes for entertaining reading.
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WTF!?!? I can't understand all of PJ's academic references. This book is almost unreadable.
—VeeFBaby
P.J. is funny and shoots straight. Better that the average political book.
—gtrrzdnll
Thought it would be better. Drags in too much extraneous information.
—megustabooks
