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Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales
An unconventional weight loss tale from an unconventional personality—Penn Jillette tells how he lost 100 pounds with his trademark outrageous sense of humor and biting social commentary that makes this success story anything but ordinary.
Legendary magician Penn Jillette was approaching his sixtieth birthday. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he knew he was at a dangerous if he wanted to see his small children grow up, he needed to change. And then came Crazy Ray. A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise saved Penn Jillette’s life with his wild “potato diet.”
In Presto , Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician’s body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric performers, all while remaining a dedicated husband and father. Throughout, he weaves in his views on sex, religion, and pop culture, making his story a refreshing, genre-busting account. Outspoken, frank, and bitingly clever, Presto is an incisive, rollicking read.
Legendary magician Penn Jillette was approaching his sixtieth birthday. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he knew he was at a dangerous if he wanted to see his small children grow up, he needed to change. And then came Crazy Ray. A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise saved Penn Jillette’s life with his wild “potato diet.”
In Presto , Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician’s body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric performers, all while remaining a dedicated husband and father. Throughout, he weaves in his views on sex, religion, and pop culture, making his story a refreshing, genre-busting account. Outspoken, frank, and bitingly clever, Presto is an incisive, rollicking read.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published August 2, 2016
423 people are currently reading
1276 people want to read
About the author
Penn Jillette
43 books449 followersPenn Fraser Jillette is an American comedian, illusionist, juggler and writer known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 397 reviews
November 2, 2018
I have to start by saying I am a huge fan of Penn Jillette. I have watched his comedy for years and even attended a Penn and Teller show in Vegas. I love listening to him talk – he is just such a big and charismatic presence – everything he says is delivered with importance and grandeur. I was so glad to find this book on audio so I could listen to it in his voice. Listening to this book has led to hours down the rabbit hole of YouTube to find old Penn and teller skits, Penn interviews, etc., and I am loving every minute of it.
This book is primarily about Penn’s recent weight loss. While there are some anecdotes about other things in his life, it comes down basically to the crazy changes he made to his diet and lifestyle to make sure he would feel better and not die at an early age. The stories of the pain he was dealing with, the medication he was on, and the things he couldn’t do are heartbreaking. The revelations about how he could stop the medications, feel better, and have so much energy by having the willpower to make changes and lose weight are inspiring. And, as always, with Penn, it is a hilarious ride the whole way.
Over the years, my own weight has fluctuated a lot. I have been as high as 235 and as low as 180. At one point I trained for a marathon, but with kids and work I have become somewhat lazy again. I am back up to 235, but listening to this book has inspired me to try again and maybe make a few crazy changes to how I eat so that I can feel better and live a long time to see my kids grow up and still be able to keep up with them and their children (which will definitely be a long time from now). I am looking at some options and planning to go whole hog starting on 11/4/2018. Check back in in 90 days to 6 months to see how it goes (fingers crossed!)
Time for a little, possibly controversial, discussion about the book. Penn is a very outspoken Atheist. As some of you have seen with a couple of my reviews, I am Christian. Some may automatically think that this would bother me. It does not! Penn is his own person and I am mine. He talks a lot about atheism and makes jokes about Christians, but he is a comedian – he makes jokes about everyone! He talks about how some of his friends are Christians and how they make fun of each other. It is a very live and let live attitude and I dig that. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from the book is (and this may be a little paraphrased) “I have many friends who are not Atheists, but they all have a great sense of humor”. To this I say “AMEN!” HA!
If you are not a Penn fan, have no interest in hearing about some wacky weight loss ideas, and/or prefer your comedy a bit on the mellow side, this may not be the book for you. But, if you are ready for some crazy, irreverent fun that might inspire you to make some lifestyle changes while, at the same time, laughing you butt off, GO FOR IT!
This book is primarily about Penn’s recent weight loss. While there are some anecdotes about other things in his life, it comes down basically to the crazy changes he made to his diet and lifestyle to make sure he would feel better and not die at an early age. The stories of the pain he was dealing with, the medication he was on, and the things he couldn’t do are heartbreaking. The revelations about how he could stop the medications, feel better, and have so much energy by having the willpower to make changes and lose weight are inspiring. And, as always, with Penn, it is a hilarious ride the whole way.
Over the years, my own weight has fluctuated a lot. I have been as high as 235 and as low as 180. At one point I trained for a marathon, but with kids and work I have become somewhat lazy again. I am back up to 235, but listening to this book has inspired me to try again and maybe make a few crazy changes to how I eat so that I can feel better and live a long time to see my kids grow up and still be able to keep up with them and their children (which will definitely be a long time from now). I am looking at some options and planning to go whole hog starting on 11/4/2018. Check back in in 90 days to 6 months to see how it goes (fingers crossed!)
Time for a little, possibly controversial, discussion about the book. Penn is a very outspoken Atheist. As some of you have seen with a couple of my reviews, I am Christian. Some may automatically think that this would bother me. It does not! Penn is his own person and I am mine. He talks a lot about atheism and makes jokes about Christians, but he is a comedian – he makes jokes about everyone! He talks about how some of his friends are Christians and how they make fun of each other. It is a very live and let live attitude and I dig that. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from the book is (and this may be a little paraphrased) “I have many friends who are not Atheists, but they all have a great sense of humor”. To this I say “AMEN!” HA!
If you are not a Penn fan, have no interest in hearing about some wacky weight loss ideas, and/or prefer your comedy a bit on the mellow side, this may not be the book for you. But, if you are ready for some crazy, irreverent fun that might inspire you to make some lifestyle changes while, at the same time, laughing you butt off, GO FOR IT!
September 17, 2016
Want dieting advice from Penn Jillette? Here's the most useful piece of advice you'll find in Presto!:
"Don't take dieting advice from a juggler."
Seriously, though. If you approach this book as a dieting/lifestyle book (which I did, silly me), you're gonna have a bad time. It's not that I expected Penn's journey to health to be filled with well-researched facts and sound medical advice, but this... This is worse than I thought.
It's pretty tragic to see a man who values facts and rational thought so much get taken in by bullshit lifestyle coaching. Ray Cronise (whom Penn unironically calls "CrayRay") is one of those "lifestyle hackers" who harbor a customary disdain for conventional wisdom and love to reinvent the wheel in pursuit of lifestyle change as a form of instant gratification. A lot of his dieting advice to Penn is downright pseudoscientific, and often verges on the bloody dangerous - for instance, Penn often felt lightheaded throughout his diet, and once almost fainted on stage. He also lost some of his hair. If Bullshit was still on, you can bet Penn would be making fun of this sort of dieting advice.
So yeah, it worked really well for Penn. He shed the pounds and seems to be keeping them off. But Penn is a self-admitted nut job, and if anything it's a testament to his free-thinking, oddball self that this diet worked. In itself, though, it's pretty hard to recommend it to anyone. It's essentially a crash diet that forces a low-calorie count on the dieter by telling them to avoid any animal product and refined grains, and then stick to a five-hour fed window. Good luck getting in enough calories to get fat in that time... Then there's the gimmick of eating only potatoes for two weeks, and taking cold showers because somehow you're supposed to remind your body it's winter... Yeah.
All that being said, I'm happy for Penn. Some of the best moments in this book were when he expressed unadulterated joy at his improved health, especially when it comes to enjoying his renewed time with his children. That part, at the very least, was very inspiring. It's so great to see someone succeed at a radical lifestyle change and reap happiness as a reward.
Once you take away the dieting advice part, what's left is Penn's usual hilarious, rambling storytelling style. It's clear he was asked to do a book about his dieting experience, and made a big effort to fill in 300+ pages. The result is meandering, not always so interesting, but still hilarious in parts. I didn't walk away from it any wiser than I am from listening to Penn's Sunday School, however. In both cases, the result is entertaining and sometimes thought provoking, but hardly deep or life-changing at all.
In short, read this if you enjoy Penn's brand of showbiz storytelling. But if you're looking for dieting advice, stay well away from this pseudoscientific, borderline insane piece of n0n-advice. It worked for Penn, sure, but that says more about Penn's weirdness than about the efficiency of this new celebrity fad crash diet.
"Don't take dieting advice from a juggler."
Seriously, though. If you approach this book as a dieting/lifestyle book (which I did, silly me), you're gonna have a bad time. It's not that I expected Penn's journey to health to be filled with well-researched facts and sound medical advice, but this... This is worse than I thought.
It's pretty tragic to see a man who values facts and rational thought so much get taken in by bullshit lifestyle coaching. Ray Cronise (whom Penn unironically calls "CrayRay") is one of those "lifestyle hackers" who harbor a customary disdain for conventional wisdom and love to reinvent the wheel in pursuit of lifestyle change as a form of instant gratification. A lot of his dieting advice to Penn is downright pseudoscientific, and often verges on the bloody dangerous - for instance, Penn often felt lightheaded throughout his diet, and once almost fainted on stage. He also lost some of his hair. If Bullshit was still on, you can bet Penn would be making fun of this sort of dieting advice.
So yeah, it worked really well for Penn. He shed the pounds and seems to be keeping them off. But Penn is a self-admitted nut job, and if anything it's a testament to his free-thinking, oddball self that this diet worked. In itself, though, it's pretty hard to recommend it to anyone. It's essentially a crash diet that forces a low-calorie count on the dieter by telling them to avoid any animal product and refined grains, and then stick to a five-hour fed window. Good luck getting in enough calories to get fat in that time... Then there's the gimmick of eating only potatoes for two weeks, and taking cold showers because somehow you're supposed to remind your body it's winter... Yeah.
All that being said, I'm happy for Penn. Some of the best moments in this book were when he expressed unadulterated joy at his improved health, especially when it comes to enjoying his renewed time with his children. That part, at the very least, was very inspiring. It's so great to see someone succeed at a radical lifestyle change and reap happiness as a reward.
Once you take away the dieting advice part, what's left is Penn's usual hilarious, rambling storytelling style. It's clear he was asked to do a book about his dieting experience, and made a big effort to fill in 300+ pages. The result is meandering, not always so interesting, but still hilarious in parts. I didn't walk away from it any wiser than I am from listening to Penn's Sunday School, however. In both cases, the result is entertaining and sometimes thought provoking, but hardly deep or life-changing at all.
In short, read this if you enjoy Penn's brand of showbiz storytelling. But if you're looking for dieting advice, stay well away from this pseudoscientific, borderline insane piece of n0n-advice. It worked for Penn, sure, but that says more about Penn's weirdness than about the efficiency of this new celebrity fad crash diet.
July 1, 2020
I always liked Penn & Teller. They were often on the late-night talk shows when I was a teenager; they were funny and they were great magicians. Then, in the '90s, I started hearing Penn Jillette spouting stupid, right-wing beliefs, and I became disenchanted with him. He's a big libertarian, and I came to see that, although usually fun to have a discussion with, most libertarians were just Republican Lite. That being said, I have to say that this book won me over. Penn still has some stupid small-government right-wing-flavored beliefs, but he also admits he's had a change of heart over the years regarding some of them.
This was a really fun read. I would've liked it better had it been 70 to 100 pages shorter--the book should've gone on a diet--but Penn is an entertaining writer, so it wasn't as painful as too-long books usually are for me.
This is about how he quickly lost more than 74 pounds in 82 days following his scientist friend's diet: potatoes only, as many potatoes as he wanted at any time, no spices or fats added, and no exercise. Boom, the weight came off like magic. He did this diet instead of doing the gastric-bypass surgery recommended by his heart doctor in order to save his life. Penn talks about how this diet reset his taste-buds and eliminated his craving for Standard American Diet (SAD) junk food. The diet lowered his blood pressure so quickly that he had to constantly monitor it so his doctor could little-by-little take him off all the blood-pressure medications that were now making his blood pressure go too low because he was getting too healthy too fast.
Like I said, this book was very entertaining. Here's an entry I liked:
"In 2012 I went on The Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump, who has hair that looks like cotton candy made of piss. Before the show was over I published my previous book, Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday!, which stated that Donny's hair looked like cotton candy made of piss. I created the most perfect description of Donald Trump's hair ever given by anyone. 'Hair like cotton candy made of piss' is also the phrase that Trumpy said was his reason for my coming in second a year later on All-Star Celebrity Apprentice. I love that about Trump. He comes out and admits crazy shit like that. He doesn't pretend he's not being arbitrary and petty. His charm is arbitrary and petty. It's supposed to be my job, as bitter loser, to claim that his real reasons were arbitrary and petty, but Trump fucked me on that. He's enough of a real, inspired nut that he just says outright what I would have to claim, and after he does that, all I can do is lie more and write that it was just that one joke, which it wasn't. Trump is the hero here, and I'm the bitter loser liar. He just made it easy for me.
"Part of the final challenge was coming up with an ice cream flavor. If Trump had said that my competitor's ice cream really was better, which it wasn't, I'd have a beef; but nope, he was straightforward and honest, and I'm the weasel. My hair doesn't look like cotton candy made of piss, but it does look like the tail of a pathetic, aging roadkill raccoon. And if you said that to me, I wouldn't let you win a game I was running even if your ice cream made me cum, but I wouldn't cop to the real reason like Trump did. Trump was a better man than I ... in this one very specific instance, on his show, with me, on that exact day. I'm as aware as everyone else that, since that one day with me, there is ample evidence that in general he is at very best the worst person who ever lived, and the best thing about him is that his hair looks like cotton candy made of piss. Believe me, I'm as horrified as you are."
Anyway, there's lots more I could say about Penn and this book, but this is already too long. Here are two things: 1. I got this book at The Dollar Tree. 2. Penn introduced me to the 7-minute Workout, which I had not been aware of before. I started doing this workout, and I already feel stronger and better. This book has literally changed my life. Thank you, Penn Jillette! If you would only quit dissing democratic socialism, you would be damn near perfect.
This was a really fun read. I would've liked it better had it been 70 to 100 pages shorter--the book should've gone on a diet--but Penn is an entertaining writer, so it wasn't as painful as too-long books usually are for me.
This is about how he quickly lost more than 74 pounds in 82 days following his scientist friend's diet: potatoes only, as many potatoes as he wanted at any time, no spices or fats added, and no exercise. Boom, the weight came off like magic. He did this diet instead of doing the gastric-bypass surgery recommended by his heart doctor in order to save his life. Penn talks about how this diet reset his taste-buds and eliminated his craving for Standard American Diet (SAD) junk food. The diet lowered his blood pressure so quickly that he had to constantly monitor it so his doctor could little-by-little take him off all the blood-pressure medications that were now making his blood pressure go too low because he was getting too healthy too fast.
Like I said, this book was very entertaining. Here's an entry I liked:
"In 2012 I went on The Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump, who has hair that looks like cotton candy made of piss. Before the show was over I published my previous book, Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday!, which stated that Donny's hair looked like cotton candy made of piss. I created the most perfect description of Donald Trump's hair ever given by anyone. 'Hair like cotton candy made of piss' is also the phrase that Trumpy said was his reason for my coming in second a year later on All-Star Celebrity Apprentice. I love that about Trump. He comes out and admits crazy shit like that. He doesn't pretend he's not being arbitrary and petty. His charm is arbitrary and petty. It's supposed to be my job, as bitter loser, to claim that his real reasons were arbitrary and petty, but Trump fucked me on that. He's enough of a real, inspired nut that he just says outright what I would have to claim, and after he does that, all I can do is lie more and write that it was just that one joke, which it wasn't. Trump is the hero here, and I'm the bitter loser liar. He just made it easy for me.
"Part of the final challenge was coming up with an ice cream flavor. If Trump had said that my competitor's ice cream really was better, which it wasn't, I'd have a beef; but nope, he was straightforward and honest, and I'm the weasel. My hair doesn't look like cotton candy made of piss, but it does look like the tail of a pathetic, aging roadkill raccoon. And if you said that to me, I wouldn't let you win a game I was running even if your ice cream made me cum, but I wouldn't cop to the real reason like Trump did. Trump was a better man than I ... in this one very specific instance, on his show, with me, on that exact day. I'm as aware as everyone else that, since that one day with me, there is ample evidence that in general he is at very best the worst person who ever lived, and the best thing about him is that his hair looks like cotton candy made of piss. Believe me, I'm as horrified as you are."
Anyway, there's lots more I could say about Penn and this book, but this is already too long. Here are two things: 1. I got this book at The Dollar Tree. 2. Penn introduced me to the 7-minute Workout, which I had not been aware of before. I started doing this workout, and I already feel stronger and better. This book has literally changed my life. Thank you, Penn Jillette! If you would only quit dissing democratic socialism, you would be damn near perfect.
December 12, 2016
Despite being unable to spell his last name correctly, I usually enjoy Penn Jillette, but this is a health and diet book like Milli Vanilli were musicians.
I don't consider this a spoiler, so I'm going to condense it for you in one sentence: "If you're pushing 300 pounds and you go on a 1,000 to 1,200 calorie a day diet for 100 days, you'll probably lose 100 pounds."
Is that true? Sure it is. In February of 2016, 3 of my gym pals and I made a bet as to who could lose the most weight. I stuck to 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day for 60 days and lost 63 pounds. And most of those days, I ate 1,000 calories worth of pizza, not 10 baked potatoes as Penn Jillette recommends.
So there's no magical science to this book--it just describes one of several hundred different ways to tell yourself you're not hungry.
What's getting old to me is Penn Jillette's infantile, repetitive humor. He now follows the Fuhrman Diet developed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman--and he delights in calling the man "Fuhrburger" over and over and over again. That's something we used to say in high school... and it wasn't funny then. He takes a lot of advice from a guy named Ray Cronise, an ex-NASA "scientist" he insists on calling "CrayRay" over and over and over again... and it wasn't funny the first time. Also, when you see the word "fuck" 448 times in a 300 page book, I'd call that overkill. I mean, I'm no prude. Stephen King's The Stand is the longest book ever published at 1,152 pages and the word "fuck" is only in it 251 times. But Jillette seems to think it makes him the bad boy of comedy so he'll throw it in the middle of a story about little kids in the playground five or six times.
Another road bump I found is that Jillette is shilling throughout the book for readers to buy a book written by Ray Cronise (CrayRay--haha) when, in fact, Ray Cronise hasn't even written a book. He's got a "kickstarter" campaign up on the internet to fund him writing a book because "there's a lot research and study that has to be done" first.
That's not the way a real scientist writes a book.
Now I'm not saying it wasn't a good read or that it wasn't enjoyable or that the side stories weren't funny and entertaining. I'm just saying...
Penn Jillette is a magician; an illusionist. He works very hard at it, he's very good at it, and he's very successful at it. This "program" he did wasn't a diet; it was an illusion--he worked very hard at it, was very good at it, and was very successful with it. But now, as I write this, he eats like a healthy human being with a pre-planned lapse every 2 weeks or so to "give himself something to look forward to."
So it's all about deprivation. It always has been. Penn deprived himself a lot for 100 days and lost 100 pounds. Great. He needed to. But now he deprives himself a bit for 14 days, goes insane at Burger King and Ruth's Chris on day 15, and then gets back on the deprivation train and starts all over again for another 14 days. And I'm not putting him down for this--it's an achievement. I wish him the best. I'm trying to do what he did and it's like having teeth pulled.
But just like the rest of the diet books out there, this isn't the "ah-ha!" moment. If you want to do Penn Jillette's magic diet, eat plain potatoes for 2 weeks, don't exercise, take cold showers, switch to Dr. Joel Fuhrman's "Eat To Live" diet until you're at your goal weight, and then go crazy every 2 weeks. Or just make up your own Penn Jillette-style diet: a few insane rules like "every morning take 2 laps around the bathroom, put an ice cube in your right hand, limit yourself to 1,000 calories a day until you're at your goal weight, and then go crazy every 2 weeks."
The results will be identical.
Everybody's always saying it should be a "lifestyle change" and of course that's true. Nobody wants to hear it, but it's always been true.
However, deprivation can be a lifestyle just as much as moderation or over-indulgence.
I don't consider this a spoiler, so I'm going to condense it for you in one sentence: "If you're pushing 300 pounds and you go on a 1,000 to 1,200 calorie a day diet for 100 days, you'll probably lose 100 pounds."
Is that true? Sure it is. In February of 2016, 3 of my gym pals and I made a bet as to who could lose the most weight. I stuck to 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day for 60 days and lost 63 pounds. And most of those days, I ate 1,000 calories worth of pizza, not 10 baked potatoes as Penn Jillette recommends.
So there's no magical science to this book--it just describes one of several hundred different ways to tell yourself you're not hungry.
What's getting old to me is Penn Jillette's infantile, repetitive humor. He now follows the Fuhrman Diet developed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman--and he delights in calling the man "Fuhrburger" over and over and over again. That's something we used to say in high school... and it wasn't funny then. He takes a lot of advice from a guy named Ray Cronise, an ex-NASA "scientist" he insists on calling "CrayRay" over and over and over again... and it wasn't funny the first time. Also, when you see the word "fuck" 448 times in a 300 page book, I'd call that overkill. I mean, I'm no prude. Stephen King's The Stand is the longest book ever published at 1,152 pages and the word "fuck" is only in it 251 times. But Jillette seems to think it makes him the bad boy of comedy so he'll throw it in the middle of a story about little kids in the playground five or six times.
Another road bump I found is that Jillette is shilling throughout the book for readers to buy a book written by Ray Cronise (CrayRay--haha) when, in fact, Ray Cronise hasn't even written a book. He's got a "kickstarter" campaign up on the internet to fund him writing a book because "there's a lot research and study that has to be done" first.
That's not the way a real scientist writes a book.
Now I'm not saying it wasn't a good read or that it wasn't enjoyable or that the side stories weren't funny and entertaining. I'm just saying...
Penn Jillette is a magician; an illusionist. He works very hard at it, he's very good at it, and he's very successful at it. This "program" he did wasn't a diet; it was an illusion--he worked very hard at it, was very good at it, and was very successful with it. But now, as I write this, he eats like a healthy human being with a pre-planned lapse every 2 weeks or so to "give himself something to look forward to."
So it's all about deprivation. It always has been. Penn deprived himself a lot for 100 days and lost 100 pounds. Great. He needed to. But now he deprives himself a bit for 14 days, goes insane at Burger King and Ruth's Chris on day 15, and then gets back on the deprivation train and starts all over again for another 14 days. And I'm not putting him down for this--it's an achievement. I wish him the best. I'm trying to do what he did and it's like having teeth pulled.
But just like the rest of the diet books out there, this isn't the "ah-ha!" moment. If you want to do Penn Jillette's magic diet, eat plain potatoes for 2 weeks, don't exercise, take cold showers, switch to Dr. Joel Fuhrman's "Eat To Live" diet until you're at your goal weight, and then go crazy every 2 weeks. Or just make up your own Penn Jillette-style diet: a few insane rules like "every morning take 2 laps around the bathroom, put an ice cube in your right hand, limit yourself to 1,000 calories a day until you're at your goal weight, and then go crazy every 2 weeks."
The results will be identical.
Everybody's always saying it should be a "lifestyle change" and of course that's true. Nobody wants to hear it, but it's always been true.
However, deprivation can be a lifestyle just as much as moderation or over-indulgence.
August 15, 2016
I am pretty sure I like this book. I mean, the jokes are pretty familiar if you listen to Penn's podcast, and there are allusions to stories in previous books that will go over the heads of newcomers. But that's not really why anyone's buying this book, right? We all want to see how he did it, how he lost all that weight.
Before I even get into it, this is not the "potato diet," no matter how many nearly identical book reviews that shows up in. (Seriously, is there no originality in American newspapers anymore?) Do not eat nothing but potatoes and expect to stay healthy. Yes, potatoes play a large role here, but they are not the diet.
With all that out of the way, let's get into the real question. How well did Penn describe the diet to a bunch of obese people desperate to stop being obese? The honest answer is I don't know. He wasn't writing an instructional book. He was chronicling his experience. Because of that, there isn't really a detailed list of what he did. It wasn't terribly difficult to extract the relevant information, but it feels like he was describing making a bomb, like he put in a lot of detail but left out some key points to keep this all from blowing up in our faces.
Penn does say that only an asshole would take medical advice from a juggler, but with Ray Cronise (the diet's creator) seemingly nowhere near publishing his book, I'd rather be an asshole that keep being a fat fuck.
This will be four stars for now, because I feel like I know what's going on, but I'll come back and up the rating (and share my weight loss) if it actually works. Everyone cross your fingers for me.
Before I even get into it, this is not the "potato diet," no matter how many nearly identical book reviews that shows up in. (Seriously, is there no originality in American newspapers anymore?) Do not eat nothing but potatoes and expect to stay healthy. Yes, potatoes play a large role here, but they are not the diet.
With all that out of the way, let's get into the real question. How well did Penn describe the diet to a bunch of obese people desperate to stop being obese? The honest answer is I don't know. He wasn't writing an instructional book. He was chronicling his experience. Because of that, there isn't really a detailed list of what he did. It wasn't terribly difficult to extract the relevant information, but it feels like he was describing making a bomb, like he put in a lot of detail but left out some key points to keep this all from blowing up in our faces.
Penn does say that only an asshole would take medical advice from a juggler, but with Ray Cronise (the diet's creator) seemingly nowhere near publishing his book, I'd rather be an asshole that keep being a fat fuck.
This will be four stars for now, because I feel like I know what's going on, but I'll come back and up the rating (and share my weight loss) if it actually works. Everyone cross your fingers for me.
November 19, 2016
I have a soft spot for Penn Jillette. I've read many of his books and almost always enjoy them tremendously. He is completely irreverent and self-deprecatory while at the same time he goes to extremes praising the things and the people who make him happy. In that way, he reminds me of me. People are always telling me I say 'I hate this' and 'I love that' all the time, that's there's no middle ground. Jillette is like that too. In this particular book I truly enjoyed hearing the story of how he lost over 100 pounds. I know it sounds crazy but his story was inspirational despite his constant refrain that no one should do what he does/did. I think sometimes it's easier to hear a fat person tell you his story than to listen to a nutritionist or doctor tell you what you should be doing. I know what I should do, but it's interesting and helpful to read the story of someone who really struggled and succeeded. And no spoiler alert: I'm not going to tell you what he did! You have to read the book (or, duh--go online) to find out.
PS: I forgot to add one of my favorite parts. He's on a rant about fresh fruit and I have always said this but never so well: "Pears are the worst. Pears will always fuck you. You get a nice ripe pear, sweet and firm, and you bite in and you think, ' I'm going to eat nothing but pears for the rest of my life,' and then the next one you bite into is mealy or hard or just. . .an asshole. Pears always fuck you in a way that a sour apple Jolly Rancher never will. You can trust a Jolly Rancher. You can't trust a pear."
PS: I forgot to add one of my favorite parts. He's on a rant about fresh fruit and I have always said this but never so well: "Pears are the worst. Pears will always fuck you. You get a nice ripe pear, sweet and firm, and you bite in and you think, ' I'm going to eat nothing but pears for the rest of my life,' and then the next one you bite into is mealy or hard or just. . .an asshole. Pears always fuck you in a way that a sour apple Jolly Rancher never will. You can trust a Jolly Rancher. You can't trust a pear."
October 9, 2016
There's a point (toward the very end) at which he says--for probably the 5th or 10th time--"I don't drink or do recreational drugs" then admit that he says it a lot, then says it's because what he writes, like Three Stooges shorts, wasn't meant to be consumed back-to-back. Well Penn, the problem is...you wrote and published a book, which IS meant to be read front to back.
That kind of sums up my reaction to this book. I like Penn Jillette, probably agree with him 80% of the time (he loses me with the hardcore libertarian stuff), and admire the hell out of him for taking control of his health and losing 100+ pounds, regardless of how he did it. I've enjoyed his writing in the past. But Every Day is an Atheist Holiday was his entertaining take on a wide variety of topics; here, 200+ pages on one topic just felt long and repetitive, and there weren't enough sharply written bits (e.g., his take on bell peppers) to compensate for the overall length. The first time he talked about pears: great! The second time just felt like going back to the well...did he not remember he did the pears bit 100 pages back? My friendly advice would have been to edit this down to 40-60 pages--removing all the shout-outs to his brilliant genius friends would have cut 10-20 pages, easy--and include it in a book alongside essays on other topics.
(And by the way, Eddie Izzard had basically the same bit on pears 15-20 years ago, IIRC, in his Definite Article show.)
That kind of sums up my reaction to this book. I like Penn Jillette, probably agree with him 80% of the time (he loses me with the hardcore libertarian stuff), and admire the hell out of him for taking control of his health and losing 100+ pounds, regardless of how he did it. I've enjoyed his writing in the past. But Every Day is an Atheist Holiday was his entertaining take on a wide variety of topics; here, 200+ pages on one topic just felt long and repetitive, and there weren't enough sharply written bits (e.g., his take on bell peppers) to compensate for the overall length. The first time he talked about pears: great! The second time just felt like going back to the well...did he not remember he did the pears bit 100 pages back? My friendly advice would have been to edit this down to 40-60 pages--removing all the shout-outs to his brilliant genius friends would have cut 10-20 pages, easy--and include it in a book alongside essays on other topics.
(And by the way, Eddie Izzard had basically the same bit on pears 15-20 years ago, IIRC, in his Definite Article show.)
August 7, 2016
It's a book by Penn about psuedoscience. Not him busting it, but partaking in it. He openly admits to not be a doctor and discourages the reader from following his diet. And rightly so, the rapid weight loss he experienced had to be managed by a doctor or his medication might have killed him.
So, the book mostly focuses on the journey and philosophy. Penn is prone to digressions and rants, as well. The journey makes for a decent read but the interspersing of tangents and philosophy make the book seem unfocused. As though he was offered a lot of money to DO the book but had no real idea how to go about it without compromising his morals (He couldn't sell the diet as it has a high danger potential).
The book is not his best but I wouldn't call it bad. It is sometimes perplexing but never degrades into being a chore to read.
So, the book mostly focuses on the journey and philosophy. Penn is prone to digressions and rants, as well. The journey makes for a decent read but the interspersing of tangents and philosophy make the book seem unfocused. As though he was offered a lot of money to DO the book but had no real idea how to go about it without compromising his morals (He couldn't sell the diet as it has a high danger potential).
The book is not his best but I wouldn't call it bad. It is sometimes perplexing but never degrades into being a chore to read.
July 18, 2019
When a scientist produces startling, reproducible results, the world should take notice. In this case, the scientist is Ray Cronise, who combined a swath of emerging evidence (some relatively well established, some premature) to form a diet plan that successfully enabled Penn Jillette to lose 100 pounds in three months. And several of Jillette's close personal friends, and Kevin Smith, and other formerly morbidly obese celebrities. But this is not Cronise's book.
This book is one very long first-person anecdote about how Jillette changed his relationship with food. His testimony is powerful, interesting stuff but never claims to be a scientific experiment, or to answer the question of why any of this worked. Jillette was just following the instruction of Cronise, who in turn was mostly relaying the dietary advice of Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Ray Cronise is actually not a doctor nor a dietitian; he is a former NASA and Huntsville Alabama (read: strategic missile defense) guy. So he's outside the nutritional establishment, to say the least, but so is Dr. Fuhrman. Furhman has his MD from UPenn, but is (at a glance) an alternative medicine anti-vax quack with "anti-cancer" food recipes and the like. So we're off to an interesting start already, for a self-styled skeptic and militant atheist like Penn Jillette. But he did lose that weight, so let's hear him out and try to reverse-engineer the reason why this worked.
Cronise's innovation on the Fuhrman diet plan was to begin with a monodiet: for two weeks, you only eat one kind of whole-plant unprocessed food. It could be corn, or apples, but in Jillette's case he chose potatoes. This is all that most people know about Jillette's weight loss book: that it's about how to lose 100 pounds eating as many potatoes as you want, but just potatoes. But that's not really the diet, that's just the first two weeks. After that, other plant foods are slowly reintroduced, but with a draconian set of restrictions that forever forbids any animal products, salt, oil, bread, or the like. It's basically gluten-free vegan, but you're also not allowed to have salt on your dark chocolate gluten-free vegan cookie.
Anyone who knows anything about diets knows that almost nobody can keep the weight off, and certainly they have no hope of keeping it off if they return to the food that made them fat in the first place. Lifelong weight maintenance requires a permanent dietary change, but food is habit. Food is culture, it's social. Bad food is readily available and heavily advertised; good food is expensive and preparing it is time-consuming. The deck is stacked against you.
My theory is that Jillette — and others who followed the Cronise plan — achieved their results with a combination of factors:
1) a gut bacteria reset during the monodiet. Followers call it a palette cleanse, but it's also an elimination of food cravings that originate in the gut. The bacteria in your gut that demanded you eat meat with every meal are dead, replaced by bacteria that demand you eat more plants.
2) enough food superstitions to give the dieter a case of orthorexia nervosa, which, if you have to have an eating disorder, is a lot better than morbid obesity. And it's just as sustainable, if the diet is nutritionally complete.
3) a new dietary identity to replace the food culture they left behind. Whether it's a cult or a trend or a new food religion doesn't matter, but in-group belonging is a powerful force to direct human behavior. Jillette is clearly motivated by anti-establishmentarianism in all facets of life; once it was his justification for defying basic dietary cuckolds, now it is his justification for his fringe diet. The important thing is not his powerful ability to rationalize his behavior, but that the diet and his identity are in alignment.
The Cronise dietary plan is also: no exercise until you reach the target weight; restrict eating to the smallest window of the day possible (Jillette managed a 7-hour window); occasional fasting (i.e. Intermittent Fasting); light cold stress (sleeping without a blanket, taking cold showers, etc). I can't say for sure that none of these things contribute, but my guess is that they were insignificant contributors to the weight loss except in supporting #2, above.
Although Jillette never cites any sources (primary or otherwise), he relays a lot of strong assertions about diet and human nutrition. I derived immense satisfaction from the (still) contrarian thought in this book, much of which aligns with my own:
* counting calories is bullshit
* exercising to lose weight is bullshit
* counting grams of protein is bullshit
* counting carbs is bullshit
* paleo is mostly bullshit
* moderation is bullshit; eliminate foods entirely until you don't crave them anymore
* animal products make you fat
* you can eat to complete satiety and never gain weight, if you eat plants
* you can eat a giant bowl of whole fruit with more sugar than 7 sodas because the fiber protects you
* healthy gut bacteria by any means necessary is the central most important thing in weight management
* sugar, fat, and salt have all of the hallmarks of addictions and have to be managed like addictions: cold turkey detox, and replaced with something else
Food beliefs are like religious beliefs, and I've learned not to talk about mine unless someone asks. If someone solicits a group for advice, I'll only offer the least controversial of my beliefs, because the complete set is sure to cause an argument. I'm content to be ignored or even looked down upon or mocked for ordering the vegan option. Because friends, I'm not the one who needs to lose 100 pounds. I read this book out of curiosity. I had to understand what this all-potato diet was all about. In the end, that's just the hook.
As riveting as it was for me to read, this is not a well-structured book. Jillette repeats himself and his points, goes on endless tangents about personal favorite topics like libertarianism or stage performers he has worked with or how proud he is to never have had a drug or a drink, or his dick (he mentions his dick no less than ten times). The editor, if there was one, did not organize or de-duplicate Jillette's ideas, or make him cut any material. This could have been a significantly more concise book and it would have been better for it. But if you have the patience for Jillette being Jillette, he does add a lot of color to what would otherwise be a weight-loss diary.
This book is one very long first-person anecdote about how Jillette changed his relationship with food. His testimony is powerful, interesting stuff but never claims to be a scientific experiment, or to answer the question of why any of this worked. Jillette was just following the instruction of Cronise, who in turn was mostly relaying the dietary advice of Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Ray Cronise is actually not a doctor nor a dietitian; he is a former NASA and Huntsville Alabama (read: strategic missile defense) guy. So he's outside the nutritional establishment, to say the least, but so is Dr. Fuhrman. Furhman has his MD from UPenn, but is (at a glance) an alternative medicine anti-vax quack with "anti-cancer" food recipes and the like. So we're off to an interesting start already, for a self-styled skeptic and militant atheist like Penn Jillette. But he did lose that weight, so let's hear him out and try to reverse-engineer the reason why this worked.
Cronise's innovation on the Fuhrman diet plan was to begin with a monodiet: for two weeks, you only eat one kind of whole-plant unprocessed food. It could be corn, or apples, but in Jillette's case he chose potatoes. This is all that most people know about Jillette's weight loss book: that it's about how to lose 100 pounds eating as many potatoes as you want, but just potatoes. But that's not really the diet, that's just the first two weeks. After that, other plant foods are slowly reintroduced, but with a draconian set of restrictions that forever forbids any animal products, salt, oil, bread, or the like. It's basically gluten-free vegan, but you're also not allowed to have salt on your dark chocolate gluten-free vegan cookie.
Anyone who knows anything about diets knows that almost nobody can keep the weight off, and certainly they have no hope of keeping it off if they return to the food that made them fat in the first place. Lifelong weight maintenance requires a permanent dietary change, but food is habit. Food is culture, it's social. Bad food is readily available and heavily advertised; good food is expensive and preparing it is time-consuming. The deck is stacked against you.
My theory is that Jillette — and others who followed the Cronise plan — achieved their results with a combination of factors:
1) a gut bacteria reset during the monodiet. Followers call it a palette cleanse, but it's also an elimination of food cravings that originate in the gut. The bacteria in your gut that demanded you eat meat with every meal are dead, replaced by bacteria that demand you eat more plants.
2) enough food superstitions to give the dieter a case of orthorexia nervosa, which, if you have to have an eating disorder, is a lot better than morbid obesity. And it's just as sustainable, if the diet is nutritionally complete.
3) a new dietary identity to replace the food culture they left behind. Whether it's a cult or a trend or a new food religion doesn't matter, but in-group belonging is a powerful force to direct human behavior. Jillette is clearly motivated by anti-establishmentarianism in all facets of life; once it was his justification for defying basic dietary cuckolds, now it is his justification for his fringe diet. The important thing is not his powerful ability to rationalize his behavior, but that the diet and his identity are in alignment.
The Cronise dietary plan is also: no exercise until you reach the target weight; restrict eating to the smallest window of the day possible (Jillette managed a 7-hour window); occasional fasting (i.e. Intermittent Fasting); light cold stress (sleeping without a blanket, taking cold showers, etc). I can't say for sure that none of these things contribute, but my guess is that they were insignificant contributors to the weight loss except in supporting #2, above.
Although Jillette never cites any sources (primary or otherwise), he relays a lot of strong assertions about diet and human nutrition. I derived immense satisfaction from the (still) contrarian thought in this book, much of which aligns with my own:
* counting calories is bullshit
* exercising to lose weight is bullshit
* counting grams of protein is bullshit
* counting carbs is bullshit
* paleo is mostly bullshit
* moderation is bullshit; eliminate foods entirely until you don't crave them anymore
* animal products make you fat
* you can eat to complete satiety and never gain weight, if you eat plants
* you can eat a giant bowl of whole fruit with more sugar than 7 sodas because the fiber protects you
* healthy gut bacteria by any means necessary is the central most important thing in weight management
* sugar, fat, and salt have all of the hallmarks of addictions and have to be managed like addictions: cold turkey detox, and replaced with something else
Food beliefs are like religious beliefs, and I've learned not to talk about mine unless someone asks. If someone solicits a group for advice, I'll only offer the least controversial of my beliefs, because the complete set is sure to cause an argument. I'm content to be ignored or even looked down upon or mocked for ordering the vegan option. Because friends, I'm not the one who needs to lose 100 pounds. I read this book out of curiosity. I had to understand what this all-potato diet was all about. In the end, that's just the hook.
As riveting as it was for me to read, this is not a well-structured book. Jillette repeats himself and his points, goes on endless tangents about personal favorite topics like libertarianism or stage performers he has worked with or how proud he is to never have had a drug or a drink, or his dick (he mentions his dick no less than ten times). The editor, if there was one, did not organize or de-duplicate Jillette's ideas, or make him cut any material. This could have been a significantly more concise book and it would have been better for it. But if you have the patience for Jillette being Jillette, he does add a lot of color to what would otherwise be a weight-loss diary.
March 6, 2019
i am a fat fuck. i had to put this book down a couple times because it made me feel bad for being a fat fuck. so, if you are a fat fuck with a lot of self-loathing around that issue, i would maybe avoid this book.
i like how jillette writes, but the last 1/3 of the book was pretty repetitive and i could have done without it.
i like how jillette writes, but the last 1/3 of the book was pretty repetitive and i could have done without it.
December 7, 2016
This guy is crazy--he admits it and is proud of it but he shouldn't be. He's just nuts in how he thinks, his approach to life, his relationships, his denial of reality, and his weight loss. Nothing wrong with sharing your philosophy with the public, but this should have been a long magazine article, not a 300+ page book. The whole thing basically gets down to this: he met some fellow crazy who talked him into going on a potato diet. Nothing but potatoes for two weeks. Seriously. (Even that's kind of a lie, he was allowed to pepper the potato but no salt!). Then he gradually introduces other foods for a vegan style diet.
This is supposed to be fascinating enough to fill a large book? It's not. Plus Jillette insists on using a lot of profanity and mentions a lot of sex throughout. Sex may sell, but it makes no sense in this book.
The biggest flaws are that he doesn't truly reveal what the diet was like--he makes it sound easy and perfect, except for a little "light headedness" when he performed in Vegas each night. He doesn't spend much time on bowel issues, the damage he could be doing to his body (though he admits he won't know for years if this truly worked in a positive way), or if there wouldn't be healthier ways to lose the weight.
This comes across as propaganda from a cult-like leader. There are some humanizing moments that surprise us (he does pray!) but overall he seems incredibly lost--mentally, physically, and spiritually. Nothing magic about this book.
This is supposed to be fascinating enough to fill a large book? It's not. Plus Jillette insists on using a lot of profanity and mentions a lot of sex throughout. Sex may sell, but it makes no sense in this book.
The biggest flaws are that he doesn't truly reveal what the diet was like--he makes it sound easy and perfect, except for a little "light headedness" when he performed in Vegas each night. He doesn't spend much time on bowel issues, the damage he could be doing to his body (though he admits he won't know for years if this truly worked in a positive way), or if there wouldn't be healthier ways to lose the weight.
This comes across as propaganda from a cult-like leader. There are some humanizing moments that surprise us (he does pray!) but overall he seems incredibly lost--mentally, physically, and spiritually. Nothing magic about this book.
Read
August 2, 2019I disagree with many of his conclusions and beliefs, but very much enjoyed the book—very funny, and a terrific portrait for how a Rebel can embrace habit change, to adopt a very specific way of eating.
July 26, 2021
Read this one for entertainment purposes only. This is not a diet guide. The story was only somewhat enjoyable if you like Penn & Teller.
July 17, 2017
Interesting diet ideas if you can stand the super bad language. I had to skip over some stuff near the end. He eats mushrooms but I read in Dr. Wallace's book that if you have an autoimmune disorder you had better avoid mushrooms.
As someone mentioned in their review this diet probably saved his life. I do agree with that thought as his blood pressure was unreal. He did get off all 6 blood pressure medications which speaks volumes IMO.
As someone mentioned in their review this diet probably saved his life. I do agree with that thought as his blood pressure was unreal. He did get off all 6 blood pressure medications which speaks volumes IMO.
August 21, 2016
I love Penn. I love that he's lost a bunch of weight and will be healthy and around longer. I love his funny anecdotes. I love his fiction. I love how he did some bug nutty stuff to lose weight. And I thought this book was really good. But amongst all his stuff perhaps this wasn't the most entertaining of books. But still good. And a big thumbs up for getting healthy.
June 18, 2018
Maybe not the book for those looking for a dieting guide, but PJ knows how to tell a story and chronicles his journey of losing weight very well. I mostly read this book because I like reading his stuff, but to me, it was another example of different diets working for different people. There is no one diet for all. I also like how he talks not only about his diet but his relationship with food and how it has changed. In the end, the guy wanted to lose weight because his health was deteriorating and he wanted to live longer to spend more time with his children, and that’s good a reason as any to do it.
July 31, 2018
Penn has a lot of good things to say on the subject of his personal weight loss. He's funny, foul, and truthful *about this issue* in ways that are hard for most people to say.
His snide political shit (he goes after both Trump and Hillary) got real old, real fast, because it wasn't germane to the subject of the book.
From a personal standpoint, I don't know if his potato fast and whole plant only diet (ok, not his, but the one he adopted) would work out for me... but I do know that I'm a fat fuck (his words) and need to deal with that. So I am. No more excuses.
His snide political shit (he goes after both Trump and Hillary) got real old, real fast, because it wasn't germane to the subject of the book.
From a personal standpoint, I don't know if his potato fast and whole plant only diet (ok, not his, but the one he adopted) would work out for me... but I do know that I'm a fat fuck (his words) and need to deal with that. So I am. No more excuses.
April 1, 2020
Penn reading his own books are great. I think the only downside for me was that very little was new or different for me since much of the content was covered on his podcast or other media.
August 29, 2017
Enjoyed this memoir by Penn Jillette recounting his weight-loss journey from weighing over 300 lbs. (Wow, even at 6'7" that is heavy!) to reaching his goal of around 230 lbs. Happy for his success . . . Live long & prosper, Penn. 🖖
June 9, 2016
Carny, magician, comedian, writer and master bullshitter Penn Jillette has now written a book chronicling his massive weight loss of over 100 pounds in roughly 4 months. He then goes on to describe how he has kept the weight off for a year. He's healthy, and happy and still performing at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Penn did not do this alone, he was under a doctor's care every minute and monitored by a blood pressure cuff. It was his bp that forced him to realize that the weight had to go - or he was probably not going to see his small children grow up. So rather than have his doctor insert a sleeve in his stomach, he chose "the hard way". He would lose the weight himself and get his blood pressure down to normal within the three month time limit put in place by his doctor.
With his friend CrayRay's help, it worked. CrayRay is a former NASA scientist, with a book of his own. You'll have to read Penn's book for details!
Lest you think that Penn wrote a boring diet book, let me disabuse of that notion now! Penn has so many stories and goes off track so often I was wondering at times where the diet went. I kept laughing out loud and my husband would look at me and ask "that funny, huh?" Yes, it was. I love Penn and Teller. I watch Penn on Food Network shows whenever I know he'll be on. This new book was a fascinating look inside his life and the way he really views his world.
As diet books go, this may not work for everyone, but it still is a must read. It will hopefully change your thinking about how our bodies work. I recommend it whether you need to lose weight or not.
Simon and Schuster gave me an advance copy of Presto! by Penn Jillette. It is expected to be released in August 2016.
Penn did not do this alone, he was under a doctor's care every minute and monitored by a blood pressure cuff. It was his bp that forced him to realize that the weight had to go - or he was probably not going to see his small children grow up. So rather than have his doctor insert a sleeve in his stomach, he chose "the hard way". He would lose the weight himself and get his blood pressure down to normal within the three month time limit put in place by his doctor.
With his friend CrayRay's help, it worked. CrayRay is a former NASA scientist, with a book of his own. You'll have to read Penn's book for details!
Lest you think that Penn wrote a boring diet book, let me disabuse of that notion now! Penn has so many stories and goes off track so often I was wondering at times where the diet went. I kept laughing out loud and my husband would look at me and ask "that funny, huh?" Yes, it was. I love Penn and Teller. I watch Penn on Food Network shows whenever I know he'll be on. This new book was a fascinating look inside his life and the way he really views his world.
As diet books go, this may not work for everyone, but it still is a must read. It will hopefully change your thinking about how our bodies work. I recommend it whether you need to lose weight or not.
Simon and Schuster gave me an advance copy of Presto! by Penn Jillette. It is expected to be released in August 2016.
January 26, 2019
I did not read Penn Jillette's PRESTO! to find out how to lose weight. That's not the point of this book. The point of this book is to read the story of how Penn Jillette lost somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred pounds in roughly three months time depending on how you wish to qualify the data. Don't read this as a diet book, read this as a book about one man's diet.
Sure, you can become inspired by Penn's story. That may even be part of the reason he wrote the book. But mostly reading this book is just about enjoying the tale of one man's non-typical diet change and how it changed his health and his life. You can find inspiration in that and then you can go read books on how to actually diet the way Penn did.
The book is also peppered with anecdotes around Penn's life, lifestyle and diet since losing all the weight. He manages to make metaphors to sex with MILFs, atheism and how his fance, expensive, internet capable digital scale is just like banging his girlfriend in high school. Don't read this to lose weight, read this to be entertained (and perhaps find inspiration if you need it.)
I knew this wasn't a diet book going in. I knew what I was getting into. This is about spending time with one of my favorite celebrities, Penn Jillette. And in that way, this book was just perfect. A small chance to feel like I'm hanging out with Penn Jillette, listening to him regale us with tales of the interesting life he leads. Just like on his podcast, which you should also listen to, religiously. It's called Penn's Sunday School. And if you listened to that you would have already known half of the stories in this book.
Sure, you can become inspired by Penn's story. That may even be part of the reason he wrote the book. But mostly reading this book is just about enjoying the tale of one man's non-typical diet change and how it changed his health and his life. You can find inspiration in that and then you can go read books on how to actually diet the way Penn did.
The book is also peppered with anecdotes around Penn's life, lifestyle and diet since losing all the weight. He manages to make metaphors to sex with MILFs, atheism and how his fance, expensive, internet capable digital scale is just like banging his girlfriend in high school. Don't read this to lose weight, read this to be entertained (and perhaps find inspiration if you need it.)
I knew this wasn't a diet book going in. I knew what I was getting into. This is about spending time with one of my favorite celebrities, Penn Jillette. And in that way, this book was just perfect. A small chance to feel like I'm hanging out with Penn Jillette, listening to him regale us with tales of the interesting life he leads. Just like on his podcast, which you should also listen to, religiously. It's called Penn's Sunday School. And if you listened to that you would have already known half of the stories in this book.
August 24, 2016
I've been a fan of Penn & Teller for a long time now, since about the mid-80's or so. Penn's books serve as an extension of his personality, so I'm always happy when a new one comes out. He writes with the same honesty and swagger and intelligence as he speaks. It's always a delight.
So, in this book, he tells of his recent weight loss. Yes, it's a diet book, but unlike others, he's not interested in telling you the "right" way to eat or anything. He's not a medical expert, simply an entertainer, and all he's doing is recounting his own personal experience. He did lose a lot of weight though. After winding up in the hospital with dangerously high blood pressure, his physician recommended surgery to put a band around his stomach to help lose weight. He didn't really look forward to the procedure, and found a different way. I have to admit, I'm tempted. But I should probably heed Penn's advice and not start dieting based solely on what's in this book. Further research and consultation with my regular doctor is the smart way to do it.
In any case, the book was great fun to read. Spending time in the areas of Penn's head that he's willing to grant access to is always a pleasure. I think I liked God No! and Every Day Is An Atheist Holiday marginally better simply because Penn talking about anything and everything is slightly more interesting than Penn staying focused on one topic for an entire book. Or as much as he ever stays focused anyway.
So, in this book, he tells of his recent weight loss. Yes, it's a diet book, but unlike others, he's not interested in telling you the "right" way to eat or anything. He's not a medical expert, simply an entertainer, and all he's doing is recounting his own personal experience. He did lose a lot of weight though. After winding up in the hospital with dangerously high blood pressure, his physician recommended surgery to put a band around his stomach to help lose weight. He didn't really look forward to the procedure, and found a different way. I have to admit, I'm tempted. But I should probably heed Penn's advice and not start dieting based solely on what's in this book. Further research and consultation with my regular doctor is the smart way to do it.
In any case, the book was great fun to read. Spending time in the areas of Penn's head that he's willing to grant access to is always a pleasure. I think I liked God No! and Every Day Is An Atheist Holiday marginally better simply because Penn talking about anything and everything is slightly more interesting than Penn staying focused on one topic for an entire book. Or as much as he ever stays focused anyway.
March 27, 2018
You read this one for the Penn Jillette attitude. It isn’t a how-to on dieting. This is more how an entertainer, bordering on the outrageous, did it, a major weight loss, this once. I enjoyed the author’s over-the-top voice in this audiobook. It was a welcome change of pace from the slower fiction books I’ve been listening to recently. And I enjoyed the stories of potatoes, corn, and cold showers. And I liked the tact Jillette took here. His rapid weight-loss diet was as much about discovery as about loss. He talks about the habits he gave up, but he also described the new things he experienced with relish, like the taste of cocoa powder. For those that have read Jillette’s other books, I suspect this is very similar, despite the more personal topic. He seems the type to want to share what he’s learned or thought. And given Jillette’s personality, the personal is public. But this is also not what you’d expect from Jillette in that you’d expect him to debunk the methodology. But since it worked for him, he’s a real cheerleader here.
March 2, 2018
Penn does Penn. He lost a lot of weight. He has lots of opinions. He knows lots of people.
Just so happens I adore plain baked potatoes so I’m cool with a spud run. There are seeds of truth in the book, colder temps have been known to lift mood, the body needs potassium and most of us eat way too much salt/sugar/fat, calorie restriction does appear to lesson health problems and increase longevity. Bottom line, the man is healthier and happier and that’s pretty great but this is not a diet book. Use it for inspiration to stop being a fat fuck but do talk with doctors before and during any major changes in diet, especially if on medications.
I hope Penn is able to get butts in seats to his shows for many more energetic years.
Just so happens I adore plain baked potatoes so I’m cool with a spud run. There are seeds of truth in the book, colder temps have been known to lift mood, the body needs potassium and most of us eat way too much salt/sugar/fat, calorie restriction does appear to lesson health problems and increase longevity. Bottom line, the man is healthier and happier and that’s pretty great but this is not a diet book. Use it for inspiration to stop being a fat fuck but do talk with doctors before and during any major changes in diet, especially if on medications.
I hope Penn is able to get butts in seats to his shows for many more energetic years.
January 9, 2025
Penn Jellette's weight loss story is really interesting. When confronted with the need for heart surgery and the poor healthcare system in Las Vegas, he put his health in the hands of a friend who out him on a very strict plant based diet starting with a potato only diet for the first couple of weeks. It's a story that I kept running across in books and podcasts, so I decided to read his book about his journey. I hesitate to recommend it - It's riddled with over-the-top profanity and he goes off on a tangent for a chapter about how porn is perfectly fine. Ok if that's your opinion, but why is it in a book about weight loss? I blame poor editing.
April 16, 2017
I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Problem was, I had some tablet issues, but once they were resolved I couldn't find the book anywhere. I did manage to find it and here is my review of Presto!
If you're looking for a how to book on dieting you're going to be disappointed by Jillette's book. What we have is the story of a fat fuck (his words not mine) suddenly losing over a hundred pounds, and not a book telling you how to do it because the way in which he did it is batshit insane! I wasn't looking to lose weight anyway, so that part doesn't bother me, but I wanted to see how he lost the weight, so I got what I wanted out of the book. The book is an amusing, vulgar journey so if you're aren't familiar with Penn's style he sometimes comes off crude, but it's funny. Who knew dieting could be so much fun? There are times I felt as if I was reading the ramblings of a lunatic who would have renounced the majority of this on his own show called Bullshit, but it's all real. The new Penn is lean, mean, and could have an unhealthy addiction to Tobasco sauce.
Penn tells you not to follow any diet, including this one without consulting a doctor first and there's a reason for that. This was a fat man losing a great amount of weight in a pretty short time which means that all the medication he was once on to keep him alive were now killing him. He also began to get lightheaded and he started losing his hair, and let's go ahead and talk about the two weeks he only ate potatoes because it seems insane, but Penn lost the weight, so we know for him it worked. As you read it you feel as if he's sitting in the same room talking to you. He's honest and tries to scientifically explain how this all works but he ends up fucking it up.
As a book about one man's journey from fat fuck to skinny it was a great book. I wasn't looking for dieting tips, or a book on dieting so I wasn't pissed off, nor was I offended by Penn's vulgarity or atheism. He doesn't treat you like an idiot. He wants you to read his story, but it's his story so he's presented the only way he knows how. Will I read more books written by Jillete? Hell yeah, he's entertaining as hell even if he eats weird food.
If you're looking for a how to book on dieting you're going to be disappointed by Jillette's book. What we have is the story of a fat fuck (his words not mine) suddenly losing over a hundred pounds, and not a book telling you how to do it because the way in which he did it is batshit insane! I wasn't looking to lose weight anyway, so that part doesn't bother me, but I wanted to see how he lost the weight, so I got what I wanted out of the book. The book is an amusing, vulgar journey so if you're aren't familiar with Penn's style he sometimes comes off crude, but it's funny. Who knew dieting could be so much fun? There are times I felt as if I was reading the ramblings of a lunatic who would have renounced the majority of this on his own show called Bullshit, but it's all real. The new Penn is lean, mean, and could have an unhealthy addiction to Tobasco sauce.
Penn tells you not to follow any diet, including this one without consulting a doctor first and there's a reason for that. This was a fat man losing a great amount of weight in a pretty short time which means that all the medication he was once on to keep him alive were now killing him. He also began to get lightheaded and he started losing his hair, and let's go ahead and talk about the two weeks he only ate potatoes because it seems insane, but Penn lost the weight, so we know for him it worked. As you read it you feel as if he's sitting in the same room talking to you. He's honest and tries to scientifically explain how this all works but he ends up fucking it up.
As a book about one man's journey from fat fuck to skinny it was a great book. I wasn't looking for dieting tips, or a book on dieting so I wasn't pissed off, nor was I offended by Penn's vulgarity or atheism. He doesn't treat you like an idiot. He wants you to read his story, but it's his story so he's presented the only way he knows how. Will I read more books written by Jillete? Hell yeah, he's entertaining as hell even if he eats weird food.
March 15, 2019
Even with the acknowledged writing assistance from others, this is a book very much in Penn's voice, and it carries the legacy of his carny work -- like the routine of a barker or busker, it relies on repetition, a touch (or a bucketfull) of attention-grabbing vulgarity, and the constant assurance that he is *not* trying to sell you anything. It's clear, though, that this book is intended to promote the diet experimentation similar to the methods that Penn used for significant weight loss. I'm mostly okay with this; I agree with Penn's assertion that most of our assumptions about diet, weight, and exercise need to be reconsidered. It's actually quiet entertaining to read about the drastic changes in his eating habits and their impact, although I find it a bit insincere that he skims over the side effects, such as constant light-headedness and significant hair loss. (And that's all *with* a doctor's supervision -- definitely don't try this at home!) I also bristle at some of the science in the book, such as Penn's weird oversimplification of the chemistry of how the body uses salt. The low points are balanced out by his anecdotes about the reality of reality television, particularly cooking shows.
November 9, 2021
Best self-help book i ever read (i don't read them!) Funnier than I expected and not at all preachy while often surprisingly sincere (even with all the f-bombs!)
August 15, 2016
I mostly disliked this book. I did not know much about the author prior other than he was a magician and a tv celebrity. I have been a fan of Ray Cronise and his work for a while on Thermogenex along with other health hackers working on various issues that plague people. I heard about the author's weight loss and how he attributed it to Ray and Dr. Fuhrman' work, so I bought it to read about it.
When the author stayed in the area of his personal experience with health and weight loss it was generally an entertaining read. But when he moved into politics, his atheist beliefs, and his disdain and disgust with Christianity he lost me. The second half of the book in particular is vile and vulgar, and completely grossed me out. If I had spent time doing a bit of research I would never have purchased the book, so that's on me. Avoid it if you don't like reading about the author's sexual proclivities and politics.
When the author stayed in the area of his personal experience with health and weight loss it was generally an entertaining read. But when he moved into politics, his atheist beliefs, and his disdain and disgust with Christianity he lost me. The second half of the book in particular is vile and vulgar, and completely grossed me out. If I had spent time doing a bit of research I would never have purchased the book, so that's on me. Avoid it if you don't like reading about the author's sexual proclivities and politics.
September 1, 2016
Before reading this book, I had the impression that Penn Jillette was an intelligent, interesting gentleman. I had seen him on Celebrity Jeopardy, The Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars, his own show with Teller, Fool Us, and a lengthy interview with a reporter from Reason Magazine. However, this book shocked me with it's LIBERAL use of the f-word and its many variants, as well as prolific crude and vulgar sexual "humor?" that in no way contributed to the topic at hand. The vocabulary seemed more that of a gang of 8th-grade street thugs than of a thinking adult. I was very disillusioned by this illusionist!
Furthermore, the topic at hand was rather bizarre. I'm glad this diet worked for Mr. Jillette, but readers would be wise to heed his warning not to take advice from him. Seriously.
Furthermore, the topic at hand was rather bizarre. I'm glad this diet worked for Mr. Jillette, but readers would be wise to heed his warning not to take advice from him. Seriously.
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