"America" the book by Jon Stewart & Daily Show

Cafe Society
1

I don’t think any threads have been started about this yet. I bought the book a couple of days ago, and it has been hilarious and well worth the price. Borders has a sale on it, and I’m a member of their club so I got it on the cheap.

There are a couple of things I don’t like about it. Of course, there always are; but this book is such a bestseller that I thought I’d share.

  1. Facts are mixed with comedy in such a way it’s hard to distinguish which is which. Even though I am studying to be a lawyer and hopefully know about the Democratic process and all, I do get tripped up on occasion. I have taken to the internet on occasion to verify a fact and occasionally foray on LexisNexis to be sure what I found on the internet is really true.

I think this is dangerous. Not everyone is as well-informed as I am, or as willing to track down facts (I’m not being arrogant here, it’s a fact). There are probably alot of people who will swallow pretty much everything in the book and will have a strange picture of what actually goes on in the government.

  1. The Supreme Court Justices page. If you’ve read the book you know what I’m talking about. shudder

  2. Not enough substance! Too many empty humor figures and charts!

So what do you all think?

2

I thought it presented the right amount of humor for a satirical joke book. Reminds me in effect if not in content of 1066 and All That.

3

I can’t recommend this book highly enough- it’s the best $20 you’ll spend this year in terms of laugh value. From the foreward by Thomas Jefferson to the open letter to Sean Penn at the end it is just friggulatin’ hysterical.

(One true piece of trivia it gives is the first sentence ever broadcast on radio: “One two three four… is it snowing where you are,[Mr. Thiessen]?”; most of the other “trivia” is bogus.

4

I love 1066 And All That, even though I labor under the slight handicap of being American. (I blame Monty Python.) I like John Stewart on The Daily Show, and I respect him for what he said on Crossfire.

Yep, I’m gonna buy that book.

5

Yeah…that justices page has to go. AVOID PAGE 99!

Other than that, pretty funny, although sophmoric in a few parts. Love that negative ad page.

6

I heard that Wal-Mart isn’t selling the book in its stores because of that picture. But you can still get it at their website if you want.

7

The audiobooks starts with an introduction by Jon Stewart: “Welcome non-reader!”

8

I love it! I think the best bit is…

…okay, I can’t decide. Maybe the blurb from Ayn Rand on the back. Or the caption under Ralph Nader’s or Ronald Reagan’s pictures. Or the Best of Middle Eastern Humor. Or…

9

Comedy and facts often go together, such as Castro and Bush’s recent falls from grace.

10

You heard right. “The material is not appropriate for our customers,” or some such.

From the tone of their statement, you’d think the picture had Tony and Clarence fingercuffing Ruth or something.

11

I liked the “false start” on the media chapter before they tried again and started the chapter for real. It coincides well with Stewart’s recent appearance on Crossfire.

Some of my favorite parts are the ends of the chapters where they have the discussion questions. I wish they didn’t interrupt the chapters so much though. I often get lost trying to make my way through the chapter and all those full-page interludes.

12

People who are not willing to track down facts are probably going to be ignorant and misinformed whether they read this book or not. So feel free to love this book without reservation!

13

I disagree with this pretty strongly. First, I have a knee-jerk aversion to the idea of “dumbing down” anything. A person dumb enough to take their history lessons from a book called “America: Democracy Inaction” is not the sort of person who can be taught anything, anyway.

Better yet, though, is that at least some people (such as yourself) will recognize that they’re mixing fact and fiction, and will be inspired to find out for themselves which is which. This is a good thing.

Lastly, that deadpan delivery is precisely what makes the book (and The Daily Show, for that matter) so great. Making the book more obvious would almost certainly also render it less funny.