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Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit
“There is so much bullshit that one hardly knows where to begin...”
Taking no prisoners, author Laura Penny dissects—no, disembowels—the culture of globalized, supersized, consumerized bullshit, from Bush’s White House, with its “wallpaper of phony populist sloganeering,” to Big Pharma, with its “gateway prescription drugs.” With vinegar and wit, she shows us how this smorgasbord of phoniness alienates us from one another, breeds apathy, and makes us just plain stupid.
Decoding the A Few Choice Phrases
• the fabrication of phony grassroots concern by PR firms
• see Tom DeLay’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington spin on his conversion to politics from his previous calling (bug murderer)
•increased business-speak for getting rid of the people who produce things
• government by the worst citizens; see also plutocracy, Republican Revolution
•the Lady the recorded female voice that says things like “Your call is important to us”
• the ultimate equal-opportunity piety; see No Child Left Behind Act
•The War on Some the prohibition of venerable old substances for the benefit of the manufacturers of newfangled patented ones
Taking no prisoners, author Laura Penny dissects—no, disembowels—the culture of globalized, supersized, consumerized bullshit, from Bush’s White House, with its “wallpaper of phony populist sloganeering,” to Big Pharma, with its “gateway prescription drugs.” With vinegar and wit, she shows us how this smorgasbord of phoniness alienates us from one another, breeds apathy, and makes us just plain stupid.
Decoding the A Few Choice Phrases
• the fabrication of phony grassroots concern by PR firms
• see Tom DeLay’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington spin on his conversion to politics from his previous calling (bug murderer)
•increased business-speak for getting rid of the people who produce things
• government by the worst citizens; see also plutocracy, Republican Revolution
•the Lady the recorded female voice that says things like “Your call is important to us”
• the ultimate equal-opportunity piety; see No Child Left Behind Act
•The War on Some the prohibition of venerable old substances for the benefit of the manufacturers of newfangled patented ones
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
10 people are currently reading
607 people want to read
About the author
Laura Penny
3 books11 followersLAURA PENNY has a PhD in Comparative Literature, a MA in Theory and Criticism, and a BA in Contemporary Studies and English. She has worked as a bookstore clerk, a student activist, a union organizer, a university instructor, and her writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Saturday Night, and Toronto Life. She lives in Halifax, where she teaches at Mount Saint Vincent University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 12, 2017
Upon starting this book I thought, "wouldn't it be ironic if this book itself turned out to be bullshit"? Alas, despite my high hopes going in, that's exactly what it is.
To start with, there are the small issues, such as the fact that, having been written in 2005, most of the content and especially tone of this book is hopelessly dated by today's standards - anything bitching about the Bush administration is just hopelessly passe these days, and the fact that the author didn't like the bullshit-laden cynicism of that administration seems to be pretty much the entire point of this book, at a time when such sentiments were hardly unique. With the exception of a few mildly interesting "organization of knowledge" type ideas about the nature of bullshit in the first few pages, there isn't a single thought in this book that someone else hadn't already thought of by 2005. This would be fine if not for Penny's annoying habit of turning every. single. sentence. into a series of rhetorical flourishes in a tone that screams "look at how clever and edgy I am", but mostly just succeeds in conveying that she's trying too hard to be clever and edgy. This makes her writing not only difficult to scan but tiresome to actually read.
I would've been willing to forgive this transgression, though, if not for the much larger issue that Penny makes no effort whatsoever to be anything but derivative of all of the other anti-Bush screeds circulating at the time, or to actually show that she is capable of using her education in any way other than appealing to that laziest common denominator of Bush-era liberal discontent. Absolutely no attempt is made at any time to cite any actual facts or to make any original contribution beyond the first few pages. It should therefore come as no surprise that Penny's argument is riddled with factual errors. At first, it's just minor, annoying things such as referring to her disdain for commercials featuring a nonexistent SUV called the "Chevrolet Tacoma", but as the book goes on she starts misquoting history in ways that undermine her argument (e.g. misidentifying both Jamestown and New England as being essentially corporate constructions from the beginning, when New England was no such thing.) and assuming that the reader has never heard of and apparently will never hear of James Comey, who as of this writing is head of the FBI. [May 2017 update: No one will ever hear of James Comey? Never ever? Hoo boy...]If Penny had made errors like this once or twice it would be forgivable, but she does it so often that it undermines her credibility, since mostly these are errors that would require about a minute of Google time in order to fix. Dude, if Al Franken could cite his sources for the anti-Bush screeds he produced during this period, so can you.
That this sort of shoddy, mass-produced work should appear in a one-dimensional liberal screed about how shoddy and mass-produced our culture has become is as ironic as it is sad, because it doesn't challenge the premise that even our "intellectual" polemics in opposition to mass-produced bullshit have to be mass-produced bullshit in and of themselves. Despite its initial intentions, this book is ultimately a product of the very same corporate profiteering and societal attention span issues that Penny herself is railing against. It exists not because Penny is a brilliant, or even coherent author, but simply because there was a market for this sort of writing in 2005, so someone published it to cash in, seeing the potential market of 59,028,444 (John Kerry's share of the 2004 electorate) US citizens alone who were dissatisfied with the then-present administration.
Penny's failure to recognize this, as well as the unfortunately dated nature of many of these observations, is really what makes this book so insufferable. It also explains why, when I bought this book shortly after Obama took office, it was out of a stack of about two dozen remainders. It's a shame, because there are some good ideas recycled here, and even a handful of entertaining witticisms, but ultimately this is just not a book that will appeal to most people this far after the fact, at least if you want anything more than superficial affirmation that your dislike of George W. Bush ten years ago was probably justified for one reason or another. As if evidence of that fact wasn't painfully obvious today in too many other ways.
To start with, there are the small issues, such as the fact that, having been written in 2005, most of the content and especially tone of this book is hopelessly dated by today's standards - anything bitching about the Bush administration is just hopelessly passe these days, and the fact that the author didn't like the bullshit-laden cynicism of that administration seems to be pretty much the entire point of this book, at a time when such sentiments were hardly unique. With the exception of a few mildly interesting "organization of knowledge" type ideas about the nature of bullshit in the first few pages, there isn't a single thought in this book that someone else hadn't already thought of by 2005. This would be fine if not for Penny's annoying habit of turning every. single. sentence. into a series of rhetorical flourishes in a tone that screams "look at how clever and edgy I am", but mostly just succeeds in conveying that she's trying too hard to be clever and edgy. This makes her writing not only difficult to scan but tiresome to actually read.
I would've been willing to forgive this transgression, though, if not for the much larger issue that Penny makes no effort whatsoever to be anything but derivative of all of the other anti-Bush screeds circulating at the time, or to actually show that she is capable of using her education in any way other than appealing to that laziest common denominator of Bush-era liberal discontent. Absolutely no attempt is made at any time to cite any actual facts or to make any original contribution beyond the first few pages. It should therefore come as no surprise that Penny's argument is riddled with factual errors. At first, it's just minor, annoying things such as referring to her disdain for commercials featuring a nonexistent SUV called the "Chevrolet Tacoma", but as the book goes on she starts misquoting history in ways that undermine her argument (e.g. misidentifying both Jamestown and New England as being essentially corporate constructions from the beginning, when New England was no such thing.) and assuming that the reader has never heard of and apparently will never hear of James Comey, who as of this writing is head of the FBI. [May 2017 update: No one will ever hear of James Comey? Never ever? Hoo boy...]If Penny had made errors like this once or twice it would be forgivable, but she does it so often that it undermines her credibility, since mostly these are errors that would require about a minute of Google time in order to fix. Dude, if Al Franken could cite his sources for the anti-Bush screeds he produced during this period, so can you.
That this sort of shoddy, mass-produced work should appear in a one-dimensional liberal screed about how shoddy and mass-produced our culture has become is as ironic as it is sad, because it doesn't challenge the premise that even our "intellectual" polemics in opposition to mass-produced bullshit have to be mass-produced bullshit in and of themselves. Despite its initial intentions, this book is ultimately a product of the very same corporate profiteering and societal attention span issues that Penny herself is railing against. It exists not because Penny is a brilliant, or even coherent author, but simply because there was a market for this sort of writing in 2005, so someone published it to cash in, seeing the potential market of 59,028,444 (John Kerry's share of the 2004 electorate) US citizens alone who were dissatisfied with the then-present administration.
Penny's failure to recognize this, as well as the unfortunately dated nature of many of these observations, is really what makes this book so insufferable. It also explains why, when I bought this book shortly after Obama took office, it was out of a stack of about two dozen remainders. It's a shame, because there are some good ideas recycled here, and even a handful of entertaining witticisms, but ultimately this is just not a book that will appeal to most people this far after the fact, at least if you want anything more than superficial affirmation that your dislike of George W. Bush ten years ago was probably justified for one reason or another. As if evidence of that fact wasn't painfully obvious today in too many other ways.
April 19, 2009
"If the minimum wage had inflated as much as CEO pay or margin debt, cashiers and rib-joint ladies would be making hundreds of dollars an hour."
"In 1980, CEOs made 42 times the average worker's pay; by 1990,it had doubled; by 2000 their compensation had increased to 531 times the average salary."
Interesting stuff - a must read!
"In 1980, CEOs made 42 times the average worker's pay; by 1990,it had doubled; by 2000 their compensation had increased to 531 times the average salary."
Interesting stuff - a must read!
February 5, 2017
I hoped this would be an in-depth look at marketing and customer service tactics. Instead it was mostly a now-dated rant about the Bush administration.
February 21, 2024
Not what I expected
July 10, 2015
A self-styled rant about the frustrations of modern society
11 October 2013
There is not all that much that sets this book apart from all of the other anti-corporate books that have been released, except that at the end the writer says that this is not so much a book to help us look for a way forward and a way to get out of this mess that we have found ourselves in, but rather as a means to vent her frustration over the ever encroaching corporate and technocratic domination of our lives. The thing is that Penny doesn't actually say anything new in this book, and does not really point out anything that we don't already know, and there are much better books out there that do just that (such as Naomi Klein's No Logo).
The thing about the corporation is that there are two sides to every issue. Corporations are able to raise huge amounts of capital to be able to produce things that normal people like us are not able. They are also able to make life easier and to provide avenues for us to be able to get things that we like and need. Without the corporation we would not have supermarkets, or multiplex cinemas, or even the vehicle to get you to these places.
On the flip side, they have what is effectively unfettered power of control. Corporations control what we see and what we do. With the amount of money they are able to raise they are able to influence governments and elections. We have seen this recently in Australia where one media company pretty much dictated the election result by printing newspaper articles with views that they wanted people to see. For instance, opposition leader was pictured as the saviour that Australia needed while every move that the government made was plastered everywhere, and was given a negative twist (while this has been the case for a long time with elections, it has never been to this extent previously in Australia). Now, what we have is a government that is effectively secret and media shy, and bowing to corporate interests for what they believe is in the best interests of the country.
There is one thing that I have noticed that is coming out of this recent election and that is a law banning boycotts. This law is clearly aimed at promoting and protecting corporate interests and denying the citizens of Australia the right to freedom of speech. The question is how is this law going to be implemented. Am I going to be forced to eat at McDonalds, and am I going to be forced to do all of my shopping at one of the major supermarkets because if I don't it will be considered a boycott. Or is this law going to fall flat on its face because there is no way to actually determine whether a consumer's buying behaviour is a boycott or simply choice.
Another thing this book raises is the idea of the phone maze. I work in a glorified call center (meaning that we need to have decent training to be able to work where we are working) and the idea of the phone maze is to try and direct us to where we want to go. With the number of calls I make out, I encounter either the switchboard, or the phone maze. Having navigated lots of phone mazes, one becomes proficient in getting to where you want to go, or at least working out how to speak to a person because a computer simply has no intelligence and only responds to commands. Otherwise you hit the switchboard which, unless you are ultra-specific, they end up sending you to the wrong department anyway.
One thing that I notice in my workplace is how people are being forced to specialise. The work duties are slowly being narrowed down in the same way that the manufacturing sector has narrowed down the tasks that the workers perform. Before the industrial revolution, blacksmiths used to be multi-skilled, however now all you do is the same repetitive task day in and day out. The same is the case with office work, and with file management, as the specific tasks on each file are farmed out to specialists. Being somebody who likes variety in my work, and to be able to be challenged from multiple different sectors, this is something that I do not particularly like.
11 October 2013
There is not all that much that sets this book apart from all of the other anti-corporate books that have been released, except that at the end the writer says that this is not so much a book to help us look for a way forward and a way to get out of this mess that we have found ourselves in, but rather as a means to vent her frustration over the ever encroaching corporate and technocratic domination of our lives. The thing is that Penny doesn't actually say anything new in this book, and does not really point out anything that we don't already know, and there are much better books out there that do just that (such as Naomi Klein's No Logo).
The thing about the corporation is that there are two sides to every issue. Corporations are able to raise huge amounts of capital to be able to produce things that normal people like us are not able. They are also able to make life easier and to provide avenues for us to be able to get things that we like and need. Without the corporation we would not have supermarkets, or multiplex cinemas, or even the vehicle to get you to these places.
On the flip side, they have what is effectively unfettered power of control. Corporations control what we see and what we do. With the amount of money they are able to raise they are able to influence governments and elections. We have seen this recently in Australia where one media company pretty much dictated the election result by printing newspaper articles with views that they wanted people to see. For instance, opposition leader was pictured as the saviour that Australia needed while every move that the government made was plastered everywhere, and was given a negative twist (while this has been the case for a long time with elections, it has never been to this extent previously in Australia). Now, what we have is a government that is effectively secret and media shy, and bowing to corporate interests for what they believe is in the best interests of the country.
There is one thing that I have noticed that is coming out of this recent election and that is a law banning boycotts. This law is clearly aimed at promoting and protecting corporate interests and denying the citizens of Australia the right to freedom of speech. The question is how is this law going to be implemented. Am I going to be forced to eat at McDonalds, and am I going to be forced to do all of my shopping at one of the major supermarkets because if I don't it will be considered a boycott. Or is this law going to fall flat on its face because there is no way to actually determine whether a consumer's buying behaviour is a boycott or simply choice.
Another thing this book raises is the idea of the phone maze. I work in a glorified call center (meaning that we need to have decent training to be able to work where we are working) and the idea of the phone maze is to try and direct us to where we want to go. With the number of calls I make out, I encounter either the switchboard, or the phone maze. Having navigated lots of phone mazes, one becomes proficient in getting to where you want to go, or at least working out how to speak to a person because a computer simply has no intelligence and only responds to commands. Otherwise you hit the switchboard which, unless you are ultra-specific, they end up sending you to the wrong department anyway.
One thing that I notice in my workplace is how people are being forced to specialise. The work duties are slowly being narrowed down in the same way that the manufacturing sector has narrowed down the tasks that the workers perform. Before the industrial revolution, blacksmiths used to be multi-skilled, however now all you do is the same repetitive task day in and day out. The same is the case with office work, and with file management, as the specific tasks on each file are farmed out to specialists. Being somebody who likes variety in my work, and to be able to be challenged from multiple different sectors, this is something that I do not particularly like.
November 21, 2008
With the Western world choking on its own bullshit, watching things fall apart because we've believed our own lines, Laura Penny rides to the rescue, shovel in hand, to help us dig ourselves out. Compared to that other book, "On Bullshit," Penny's book is a breath of fresh air. No intimidating philosophical trappings, no faux-analytical setup, no nonsense. Compared to this book, "On Bullshit" is full of, um, shit.
She trains her sights on big drug companies, big business, big government, and all the other peddlers of insincerity, mendacity and falseness. And she does it in a way that's approachable and fun.
More on that "fun": Lots of social critics have tried using a sort of streetwise swagger in their language (see John Dicker's "United States of Wal-Mart" for an example with mixed results). But Penny pulls it off. Why? Perhaps it's because she does it all with a knowing smile. Criticizing the president by starting a sentence, "Dude's ..." or using offhand slang to mix it up when discussing Big Pharma. It comes off as fun, not forced, plain-speaking, not pretension. It's harder to do than most think. I really liked the book a lot. (It doesn't hurt that she's youngish, cute and Canadian.)
She trains her sights on big drug companies, big business, big government, and all the other peddlers of insincerity, mendacity and falseness. And she does it in a way that's approachable and fun.
More on that "fun": Lots of social critics have tried using a sort of streetwise swagger in their language (see John Dicker's "United States of Wal-Mart" for an example with mixed results). But Penny pulls it off. Why? Perhaps it's because she does it all with a knowing smile. Criticizing the president by starting a sentence, "Dude's ..." or using offhand slang to mix it up when discussing Big Pharma. It comes off as fun, not forced, plain-speaking, not pretension. It's harder to do than most think. I really liked the book a lot. (It doesn't hurt that she's youngish, cute and Canadian.)
March 6, 2010
Bone up on how bullshit works, and begin to inoculate yourself. A small, hilarious, and easy to read book.
Not only is Laura Penny extremely funny, clever, and topical but every one of her chosen subjects have direct and genuine relevance for all of us living in a culture which is profoundly saturated with state of the art commercial propaganda and playground to entire industries devoted to the subtle manipulation of the public mind (that's you, cowboy and cowgirl American - your so-called Rugged Individualist mentality was, paradoxically for you, formed within your culture -- and besides, this mentality is largely based on misunderstandings since we are hardly Self-Interest Maximizing Agents but rather social animals evolved to help each other).
Excellent all around.
Not only is Laura Penny extremely funny, clever, and topical but every one of her chosen subjects have direct and genuine relevance for all of us living in a culture which is profoundly saturated with state of the art commercial propaganda and playground to entire industries devoted to the subtle manipulation of the public mind (that's you, cowboy and cowgirl American - your so-called Rugged Individualist mentality was, paradoxically for you, formed within your culture -- and besides, this mentality is largely based on misunderstandings since we are hardly Self-Interest Maximizing Agents but rather social animals evolved to help each other).
Excellent all around.
June 19, 2008
So, yeah, there is a lot of bullshit out there, and this book only skims the surface. She could have expanded on a lot of the topics, but the fact that she didn't does kind of give it more readability. She talks about PR, insurance companies (those fuckers!), the media, advertisement, and of course the Bush administration. There wasn't a whole lot in there that surprised me but it was enjoyable and I did pick up some interesting nuggets. Plus it was pretty funny! I read some of it to my boyfriend and he was laughing and going, "Wow...really?!?!" too.
I didn't really think she was pretentious... actually cussing pot smokers are usually the least pretentious people I know. :P
I didn't really think she was pretentious... actually cussing pot smokers are usually the least pretentious people I know. :P
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August 9, 2011This book pretty much summed up how I feel on my cynical days. An interesting overview that collects examples of bullshit from the insurance, PR, big pharma, government, advertising etc. sectors. I recommend it if you like to gripe about that sort of thing. It doesn't really offer any suggestions (and doesn't pretend to) but awareness is the first step to making things better right? Also, the book is about 5 years old so occasionally comes off a bit dated (talking about "the current Bush administration" and "Prime Minister Paul Martin" for example) but is still relevant for the most part. Plus, the writer is Nova Scotian and works at a local university so that's an added bonus!
March 16, 2014
Makes one even more cynical of the world. Definitely eye opening. Laura Penny communicates her message clearly. There are two forms of bullshit: simple and complex. And bullshit is not the same as lying. Lies can be proven. Bullshit is intricately woven, eloquently spoken.
I think she could have used a more "professor"-like tone in her writing, since she is one, but the provocative title and manner of the book probably fueled it's popularity, so much so that the book was featured as a segment on "60 Minutes". Would like to read "On Bullshit" by Harry Frankfurt just to compare.
I think she could have used a more "professor"-like tone in her writing, since she is one, but the provocative title and manner of the book probably fueled it's popularity, so much so that the book was featured as a segment on "60 Minutes". Would like to read "On Bullshit" by Harry Frankfurt just to compare.
February 23, 2012
This is one of the worst books I have ever read, bar none.
February 28, 2019
Maybe it's because I thought this was going to be about the psychology of bullshit, which it is not, but I really didn't think this was worth reading. It's just the author ranting about how American government, media, the economy, and the pharmaceutical industry are basically lying constantly (though technically bullshitting isn't lying as much as just making stuff up), and then she attempts to refute it, partially through facts, and partially through her opinions, which are hardly more accurate than what she is complaining about (i.e. mental disorders that didn't exist until the makers of Prozac "invented" them to sell more drugs... zero facts to back up that claim, just her ranting about it). Some of the points she makes are good, but not worth reading the book for.
July 19, 2021
Dated and confined to the time period in some ways. 2005
In other ways, a timeless ode (but not to bullshit). To corruption and maleficence.
The edition/printing I have is full of typos. Fire the editor and/or typesetter.
About 33% too verbose and repetitive, especially about the minutia of American politics. Could have been three times as good! Instead, amazingly mediocre.
In other ways, a timeless ode (but not to bullshit). To corruption and maleficence.
The edition/printing I have is full of typos. Fire the editor and/or typesetter.
About 33% too verbose and repetitive, especially about the minutia of American politics. Could have been three times as good! Instead, amazingly mediocre.
June 14, 2017
This was published in 2006 but the political bullshit discussed resonates today. It makes me nostalgic for when we talked about how terrible a president George Jr. was. :(
December 18, 2017
Though a few years old -2004- still relevant esp when talking about the way politicians use language to manipulate and influence.
Funny and unbridled.
Funny and unbridled.
April 26, 2015
This book wasn't what I thought it was. Likely for the time it was written, it was an eye-opener. However, since Facebook and Occupy and similar movements have shaken many of us awake ten years on, this wasn't a book worth the effort. Maybe I just came too late? Anyway, besides the final implication that the author is, in fact, Jesus Christ, and sent to earth to remove the money-changers from the temple... she has an annoying appetite for alliteration. And though she cries foul on sound bytes, she tends to use a lot of them. Please, we know you're Canadian. But stop with the pseudo-French. We don't need to read "beaucoup de Something in English Now" because that's lazy. We know our presidents are idiots... fast-forwarding a few years from publishing date will net you a somewhat better one, but not by too much (at least he's intelligent. And not white. Although why that should matter...) I was sort-of expecting something a little more biting towards, you know, annoying hold times on the phone, as per the title of the book. I guess I'd better gawk at the comedy section of the library next time, because obviously that's not at all important to take seriously! What I didn't expect was yet one more row at Walmart. We ALL of us know that Walmart is the root of all evil. Or how Microsoft is Satan's blister (written on a Mac by someone blissfully unaware of all the egregious human rights violations they are party to? or perhaps just ignoring the fact that she wrote this book by Googling everything through a psychic connection to the Akashic records or something? Who knows.) One could say that if you read this a decade ago, you could've seen the "Great Recession" coming a long way off. If not, then this author is a true prophetess. Sign me up - as long as there isn't any goat-slaughtering to do. Otherwise give this one a pass and go march on your local Chase Bank branch... and tell 'em you want to save a Penny.
December 3, 2014
Penny's book is not as much as a non-fiction account your current society as much as a very well-researched rant. Her premise is that our society rests on a base of bright, shiny gossamer thin bullshit. She differentiates "bullshit" and "lies" by stating the liars still know the truth and care enough about it that they are trying to obfuscate around it. Bullshitters just don't care. Whatever works for them at the moment will do. Our economy and government are castles in the sky, created by the fuming puffs of meaningless hot-air emitted from politicians, PR firms, advertisers and CEOs. For all the words we hear, very few have any depth or real meaning.
Now, none of this is any news to me, nor I doubt to you. However, Penny's writing style is what makes this book so delightful. No calm and journalistic phraseology here, no sirree bob. She rips into our culture with a language born of Gen-X, television and a society of distrustful cynics.
"When I was rooting around for exemplary Republicans, and began looking at DeLay, I liked him for a number of reasons. He and all the lesser Tom Delays, who share his Christ-and-Mammon creed but lack his diabolical skills, are loving proof that I am not paranoid. My most tinfoil-hatted fantasies pale in comparison to the things right-wing radical like Delay and his ilk actually say and do."
And for you SNC grads, there's even a chapter entitled "painting the lawn green."
Now, none of this is any news to me, nor I doubt to you. However, Penny's writing style is what makes this book so delightful. No calm and journalistic phraseology here, no sirree bob. She rips into our culture with a language born of Gen-X, television and a society of distrustful cynics.
"When I was rooting around for exemplary Republicans, and began looking at DeLay, I liked him for a number of reasons. He and all the lesser Tom Delays, who share his Christ-and-Mammon creed but lack his diabolical skills, are loving proof that I am not paranoid. My most tinfoil-hatted fantasies pale in comparison to the things right-wing radical like Delay and his ilk actually say and do."
And for you SNC grads, there's even a chapter entitled "painting the lawn green."
October 5, 2012
A noble endeavor by someone who deep down is sincere and concerned about the consequences of BS in public policy and advertising. Good for a cursory overview and might even get some people worked up enough to pay more attention. However, this book is written with very little in-depth information and a lot of BS. The tone of the book is a serious problem. The author complains about the dumbing down of information, but spends half the book trying to be cute/funny. Example: on the rise of mutual funds: "Throughout the nineties, people looked at their lazy-ass money, snoozing away in their savings accounts, and told that money to get off the couch, quit eating bonbons, and get to work." Another example of BS: a Latin error on pg. 78: "there is a lovely Latin term in corporate law, ultra vires, beyond men, that refers to actions beyond the power granted by the corporate charter." No. "ultra vires" means "beyond one's power/strength." This is a common first-year Latin error. It was unnecessary to translate "ultra vires" at all: she could have just said "ultra vires in corporate law refers to actions" etc., but the decision to include a very poorly researched translation (for what purpose? to appear smarter? Harry Frankfurt would call this BS) corrodes for me the reliability of the rest of this text.
July 20, 2015
- hilarious and entertaining...and yet intelligent and well-reasoned...Penny is a University Professor with a refreshingly youthful edge as she uses the word "ginormous" and writes sentences like "Dude wasn't even trying."
- a bit like Rick Mercer's ('This Hour Has 22 Minutes') Rants, but in greater depth and casting a wider net
- fun quote: "The media is a critical line of defence against, and a great disseminator of, bullshit. They have the power to make shit up, let shit slide, or make sure that the shit hits the fan."
- regarding U.S./Canada relations: "Sometimes I think this bond is a sibling rivalry. Canada thinks America is loud and dumb, and America thinks that Canada is lame and boring, but they are still brothers..."
- a bit like Rick Mercer's ('This Hour Has 22 Minutes') Rants, but in greater depth and casting a wider net
- fun quote: "The media is a critical line of defence against, and a great disseminator of, bullshit. They have the power to make shit up, let shit slide, or make sure that the shit hits the fan."
- regarding U.S./Canada relations: "Sometimes I think this bond is a sibling rivalry. Canada thinks America is loud and dumb, and America thinks that Canada is lame and boring, but they are still brothers..."
October 9, 2014
Laura Penny was one of my profs (or 'tutors' as they are known at the University of King's College). She was the cool prof - the one in funky clothing who would smoke with the other cool kids during our break. She had the most distinctive laugh and could make even the most obscure philosophy relatable. When I heard about this book I was over-the-moon excited, and it did not disappoint. If you have a sense of humour you will laugh yourself silly, but more importantly, it will make you think.
Strongly recommended.
Strongly recommended.
August 12, 2017
(This was my "Title Starting with Y" in my alphabetic tour of the library.)
From the title, I thought this book would be humorous, or at least amusing. It was not.
Instead, I got a 200-plus page rant about the state of First World (mainly American) culture in the year 2005. The author gave her uncensored opinion of advertising, finance, mega-corporations, government, pharmaceuticals, insurance, malls, urban sprawl, telemarketing, and television news.
From the title, I thought this book would be humorous, or at least amusing. It was not.
Instead, I got a 200-plus page rant about the state of First World (mainly American) culture in the year 2005. The author gave her uncensored opinion of advertising, finance, mega-corporations, government, pharmaceuticals, insurance, malls, urban sprawl, telemarketing, and television news.
May 5, 2015
This book is funny and infuriating at the same time. The author speaks to the lies and BS we are fed every day by politicians,commercials, corporations and others. Laura Penny does not mince words and even though the book is ten years old, most of it is still going on today. I found myself getting riled up as I identify with the complaints she makes about the lack of truth we have to live with. A good read.
January 24, 2008
I couldn't get past the first chapter of this book. What I did read came off as totally pretentious. Also, Penny used the word "bullshit" so many times it was mind-numbing (unfortunately, I think she did this in an attempt to show how clever she is). Surely there is a better written book out there on the same topic.
October 6, 2010
very funny book but also sad at how companies have stopped caring about their customers. SprintPCS is one major company that doesn't give a damn about their customers having problems and being allowed to get away with it by the FCC. Although its shocking to read, there are many times you will laugh out loud for it.
February 2, 2013
Your direct, to the point, blatant perspective on mainstream media, news, and politics with a twist of Canadian humor. Laura Penny to me, is a hub of truth for the amateur revolutionist. Her work enlists the necessary focal points of argument in any conversion involving the understanding of economics, intellect, and human behavior in the modern world.
February 8, 2013
Overall, I liked this book; unfortunately it is very USA-centric. It makes you feel lucky that you are not condemned to live in the USA, but I am sure that there is LOTS of BS from all over the world.
There are some sections where I disagree with the contents and with the style of the book, but there are also very nice and striking examples of BS that constitute a real eye-opener.
There are some sections where I disagree with the contents and with the style of the book, but there are also very nice and striking examples of BS that constitute a real eye-opener.
December 12, 2015
A great read, but with several minuses, such as the fact that it uses bullshit to dig up bullshit. I suppose it takes one to know one. Another minus might be the limitation of the themes and their interpretation, but there's only so much one can wright about.
Nevertheless, it is strikingly honest and, even from a Romanian reader, brutally familiar.
Nevertheless, it is strikingly honest and, even from a Romanian reader, brutally familiar.
March 21, 2007
Props to my dad for giving me this book. A quick read and an insightful, if a bit cynical (as we should be and often are), take on contemporary American society through a media-saturated, corporate-sponsored lens.
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