None of My Business, by P.J. O'Rourke

If there's anyone we can count on for hilarious and insightful political and economic commentary, it's P.J. O'Rourke.  How can anyone speak so much truth and make me laugh out loud so much?  His latest collection of wisdom and laughs is None of My Business: P.J. Explains Money, Banking, Debt, Equity, Assets, Liabilities and Why He'sNot Rich and Neither Are You.

Some of O'Rourke's stories, and certainly his ideas, will be familiar to O'Rourke's readers.  He is a libertarian/conservative, but most of all he's full of common sense (but I repeat myself).  Besides his lucid take on economics and economic policy, his perfectly placed one-liners set his work apart.  For instance, after comparing the cost of living for a middle class family today to the years of his youth, he writes, "What the math tells us is . . . In order to live an ordinary middle-class life, you have to be rich." I can relate to that. 

On a more practical level, he raises legitimate considerations for the charitably inclined.  "The . . . problem with charity is that you have to be careful when you try to make the world a better place.  When you try to make the world a better place, you're assuming that you know what the world needs, that you know what the world should be doing, that you know what everyone in the world wants.  I don't even know what I want."  Humbling and true.  Same goes for government efforts as well.

On the media, O'Rourke says "a significant American consumer trend is a bull (not to say bullsh-t) market in shallow, sensationalist, and often erroneous news stories."  He's not a Trump lover or hater, but he sees the bias in the news: "You'll never see a headline about how good things are.  Especially not involving President Trump." 

None of My Business is a breath of fresh air.  O'Rourke's unique perspective is decidedly on the right, but with enough good will and truth that surely those on the left can appreciate his writing.  May his pen never run out of ink.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!