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All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty
by P. J. O'Rourke
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr (1994-10)
ISBN: 0871135809
EAN: 9780871135803
Dewy Decimal #: 818.5402
Hardcover: 340 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: 08027
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Book in good condition
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The author of Parliament of Whores offers a satirical and insightful view of the world's worries, comparing over-population in Bangladesh and in California, multiculturalism in higher education and in Yugoslavia, and other issues. 150,000 first printing.
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Customer Reviews
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As always...
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-02-24
PJ delivers as always, this is very funny at times (for a re-born republican that is... lol)
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Funny as hell
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-07-04
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Some disclosure - I'm a huge PJ O'Rourke Fan. Even so, this book, along with "Eat the Rich" is a classic.
Everytime you hear how messed up the US is, or how bad things are, or any other Chicken Little squawking pick this up. I've read it at least three times and it still cracks me up. It's a great perspective and makes you feel lucky if you live in the US. His books give me some of my best one-liners.
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Humor and logic... two great tastes that taste great together.
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-11-25
4 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
Even those who disagree with P.J. O'Rourke's conclusions will usually tell you that his manner of expressing those conclusions is highly entertaining. O'Rourke's dry wit and bizarely appropriate analogies are absolutely hysterical. I listened to this book at the gym and had several of those "weird guy laughing at nothing" moments that can make you an outcast in a hurry.
But besides being funny, O'Rourke applies sound fundamentals of economics and history to a very logical dissection of the world around us. Being written in 1993, some of this book's examples are dated, but the logic used to analyze them is just as instructive today as it was then, and most of today's issues possess close parrallels in O'Rourke's 90s examples.
The book reads lightly, but O'Rourke traveled to Somalia, Haiti, the Amazon, Vietnam and other hot spots in writing this book - he did serious work and has a serious philosophy underlying his humor.
Give this one a read and see the world the way the politicians would rather we didn't.
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Laugh and Learn
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-10-29
4 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
P.J. O'Rourke is the thinking man's John Stewart. Where Stewart is merely snarky and cutesy, O'Rourke has some actual working knowledge of the world, of history, and of human nature. In this book, he adroitly and hilariously skewers all of the "Henny Penny" sky-is-falling enviro-nazis who's holier-than-thou worship of nature is about to snuff out the human race. If you wonder why ideas like the Kyoto Protocol are so insane and ill-advised, read this book. If you've ever wondered about terrorist groups such as E.L.F., read this book. If you've ever had an unexplainable urge to snicker and hoot with derision whenever some earnest WASPy wannabe rasta mon tie-dyed tree-hugger begins to blather on about alar, read this book. In the midst of all of his cynicism and sarcasm, P.J. actually sheds a lot of light on some of the motivations, emotionalism, and deceptions of the far leftist enviro-whacko movement...how it is based in inaccuracy and ideological lunacy. He presents solid, well-researched facts in a way that is not dry, but delightfully pointed. This book is the archenemy of Al Gore's sci-fi thriller, EARTH IN THE BALANCE, and it blows the ex-Veep's book all to hell, and will leave the reader in tears of laughter. Check it out!
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Funny...but not convincing.
Rating  (2)
Date: 2003-07-08
18 out of 30 customers found this reveiw helpful
Before I go on: Yes, I'm a liberal--I had to read this book in a English Comp II class taught by a libertarian professor.O'Rourke's analysis, while scathingly funny, falls short of the mark due to sheer lack of evidence. His essay skewering environmentalism, for instance, provides NO scientific evidence for his claims (which was also a criticism levied by my professor). The pollution essay provides merely circumstancial evidence, and O'Rourke even admits he gave up trying to write about plague in Hatiti, and goes to talk about his visit to the black market and a voodoo shrine (which, I will admit, is terribly interesting). Look, I think O'Rourke is hysterical. His one-liners are great, and yeah, he makes a few points. But the guy doesn't offer solid evidence, and the way he treats EVERY SINGLE liberal as a communist sympathizer is annoying. Of course, if you do lean to the libertarian/fringe Republican side of the political spectrum then this review won't matter. For the rest of us, I give you fair warning. It is fair to note that the book was last published in 1994, so it is rather out of date, if you are interested in purchasing it.
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