"Book" Reviews

If you're having a humor shortage one day, try surfing Amazon.com for book reviews on politically themed non-fiction. An Ann Coulter book, an Al Franken book, a Bill O'Reilly book, a Michael Moore book. The customer reviews for these kinds of books are basically always either "five stars" from the people who agree with the author's line of political thought, or "one star" from those who don't. Usually, those in the latter category will include a line in their review like "I'm giving it one star only because I'm not able to give it no stars." Oh, and "I haven't read this book, but..." is a popular line as well.

No, they may not be objective, useful reviews of the skills of the writer. But they are usually good for a laugh. Case in point, one of the "spotlight reviews" for a Bill Frist book:

This is a fascinating study of the extraordinary mix of in-breeding, animal sacrifice, and corruption required to produce the world's worst human being. Coming from a family of mildly despicable cheats, the Frists had a leg up on normal human beings...but it still took an enormous amount of laboratory work and careful training to produce not just a self-involved twit but an unspeakable monster.

This book is Frankenstein of our century, a marvellous account of the line between science and morality, and the "Dr. Frist" character is a chilling reminder of the true evil inherent in all humanity...even if readers will find Dr. Frist himself an impossibly overdrawn character. Surely, no actual human could be so evil. Neverthless, he stands like Shelley's monster as an emblem of the path we as a species must never take.

By damning this "Dr. Frist" character and the bizarre process that created him, this sterling work serves as a moral guide, a hope for the future.