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 Lacks substance and citations Nov 18, 2009
Glenn Beck's popularity or, some would say, notoriety has sky-rocketed since the inception of his Fox News program, a program fueled by a distrust of and disgust with the newly appointed Obama administration. But Beck has had a sizable following prior to this, hosting a successful (though less dramatic) program on Headline News for some time. This book was written during this time and is most likely still representative of Beck's views now, serving as an introduction to and understanding of Beck's thoughts.
The book contains 22 chapters, ranging from topics as important as "America's Oil Dependence: The Peak of Stupidity," in which Beck argues that energy independence is necessary to avoid a catastrophe, to the trivial "Blind Dating: Playing the Powerball of Love," the primary point being that blind or internet based/initiated dating is dumb. Throughout the book, Beck attempts to bombard his readers with attempts at witty humor which are usually annoying, occasionally funny (See his own "online" dating profiles on p.75), sometimes tactless (e.g., making fun of Oprah's weight). The pages are filled with colorful sidebars under titles such as "A.D.D. Moment" and "Liberal Brain Teaser."
Considering that the book doesn't have a core thesis, consisting of a hodgepodge of issues grouped into one book, it's not feasible to give a full book overview, so I'll try to just highlight what I think are the key portions of the book.
Beck believes in Global Warming, that is, he believes that the earth is warming, but he disagrees with the majority in being skeptical as to its cause; he doesn't think there's sufficient evidence that humans are responsible. He notes that there have been several trends in climatology that have been false in the past (e.g., global cooling in the 70s) and proposes a free market solution as the best and only practical one available. Political correctness (PC) is not only rampant in the US, according to Beck, but it's greatly associated with Communist/Marxist ideologies, leading Beck to conclude: "I believe that political correctness is the biggest threat this nation faces today" (160). Examples of PC include correcting students with purple ink instead of red and constantly flooding students with praise rather than "telling it like it is." Beck also argues that the UN is a useless bureaucratic institution filled with nepotism and greed. The UN is ineffective and moreover doesn't believe a superpower like the US should exist. These claims are mostly supported by references to events taking place in the Congo between 1999 and 2001 and the UN's inaction in Rwanda in 1994. Regarding poverty, he believes that the claims are significantly overstated and that the mainstream media contributes to this. He claims that 9 out of 10 people living in poverty aren't living hungry and that a staggeringly low number (0.03%) of Americans are "chronically" homeless. Although he's known by some as being an anti-immigration racist, Beck doesn't go into much detail about illegal immigrants in the book, preferring to spend his chapter on the subject dealing with what he believes is undergirding the lack of illegal immigration control: the rich's desire for a one country continent. Lastly, Beck believes that politicians are slimy creatures, doing and saying only that which makes them more electable, and he claims that the push for a national minimum wage is simply an example of this.
In evaluating the book, there is one adjective that I think sums up its nature--bad. The primary problem is that there are no citations of any kind in the book. This may not be a problem for a book or article in, say, philosophy in which one is dealing in the abstract. Unfortunately for Beck, this book isn't philosophically based; it's empirically based. On most pages Beck is referring to some _fact_ or _study_ that buttresses his position. For instance, in support of some of his beliefs about income inequality and the efficiency of the free market, Beck claims that the percentage of inflation adjusted households making over 75,000 has increased by 10.1% from 1974 to 2004 (84-85). In another area, he attempts to expose the futility of personal (and liberal) solutions to global warming; he claims that the increase in China's coal use by 2020 will send up an amount of CO2 equivalent to 3 billion Expeditions driving 15,000 miles a day (7). These types of references litter Beck's book and support his core arguments or positions, and, of course, they may be true and may lend weight to his views, but without citations the reader is unable to know where Beck is playing loose with the evidence or where he misinterprets a study, etc. For a book like this, consisting of empirically based political arguments, this is enough to make it worthy of 1 star.
But there are other problems with the book as well. It's filled with inane chapters like "Sleepytime! The Weekend Movie Rental," in which he attempts to comically refer to his distaste for romantically based chick flicks and advise men how they can get around or use them to get sex, to "How to Remember Names, by Glenn--something or other," which is just a chapter about how he can't remember names with an attempt to explain, humorously, how to avoid this pitfall. Even when he may be on to something within this arena, such as in his chapter about not emphasizing certain standards regarding a girl's body weight, he states, "Let's say your 15 year old daughter is better than average; she's 5'6" and weighs 125 pounds" (64), a statement that clearly puts a value judgment, "better," on how much a girl weighs rather than using "bigger," which isn't a value judgment. Furthermore, Beck has a propensity to reference information that is irrelevant to his case. For instance, in his chapter on avoiding political correctness regarding Islam (which is an especially poignant topic considering the recent shootings at Fort Hood), Beck refers to some reports, etc. (no reference, of course) that indicate Arizona has been a hot spot for terrorists to congregate, but there is no connection given to the point at hand, namely, Islamic terrorists going unchecked because of political correctness. Lastly, Beck has a tendency to simplify complex problems. His _answer_ to the _problem_ of disparity of political views amongst University Professors is a good example, I think; he states that the tenure system should simply be removed and that would solve it.
This book isn't totally devoid of merits, however. Beck's discussion of child molesters seems to me to be a thoughtful discussion of a difficult issue; he's at least correct that reform is needed in that area. Also, his claim that minimum wages should be left to the states, not the federal government where political points are the priority, is a decent, if still debatable, point, for wage value varies between states. There are other positives to the book here and there. But, though I'm a novice regarding politics, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone wanting an introduction to and/or conservative perspective on the issues discussed in this book.
 Hilarious! Oct 30, 2009
I love the way Glenn Beck just "tells it the way it is" and he does it in a humorous way. I bought this for my husbands birthday and he's really enjoying it.
 an incovenent book Oct 19, 2009
I have weekly wars with my brother over right left issues. It's fun! This was a help for my side.
2 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Economics: Inconvient Laws Beck Doesn't Know Oct 07, 2009
"An Inconvenient Book" by Glenn Beck in a lot of ways sums up what is wrong with the Conservative moment. It is filled with claims that use zero economics, when in fact economics should be their friend. Glenn Beck, who has become very popular among both Conservatives and Libertarians, has done a good job on his show in supporting the free-market and bashing Obama. But after reading this book I wonder what the Glenn Beck show would look like with a Republican held White House and/or Congress.
The book is written very well in that it reaches out to all types of readers and in a lot of ways makes you laugh. It has some of the best info graphics I have ever seen in a mass market book. So as far as the words and pictures, it is a great book. But the content fall short.
A few parts of Mr. Beck book has caused me to write two separate posts on tipping and on running out of oil. I will not dwell on these subjects but I urge you to read them if you think that this review fall short on criticizing content.
The very first chapter on Global Warming was very good and uses good non crazy arguments against the Global Warming advocates. But soon after that he goes into topics in which most people who buy his book. Chapters on Marriage, Porn, Body Image, Renting Movies (not kidding) and Blind Dating are pointless and useless. I know that often time we pretend that pundits are experts on politics, but that does not stretch into other areas that are more personal.
His chapters on the Minimum Wage, Opinion Polls, and Poverty are much more productive and provocative. But many of the time his solutions fell short. Take illegal immigration, which is the chapter he decides to end his book on. This probably means that he thinks very highly on the subject and that he wanted to leaving a lasting impression so it should be the best written.
First, he plays in this paranoia of a super corporate group has control over the United States government and keeps the border from being secure. And his solutions are to build two fences and hit the employers hard. Besides the fact that a Conservative is making an argument FOR government, the two ideas are just moronic.
The fence is very expensive as he wants "double layers of fencing with road in between for patrols, concrete vehicle barriers, surveillance cameras, and tunneling sensors." He says it would be $20 billion. First, if this is a government estimate you can trust it is wrong. Also what about the maintainance of this. And really if people really want to get into America, is this going to be effective?
Sidenote: Glenn, when you want to compare figures for people do not use "how much 9/11 cost the City of New York." First, it wasn't on purpose. Second, it was a terrorist attack.
Next, he wants to hit the employers. I guess he is already assuming that his fences will not work and he is a Conservative against small businesses. All small business are trying to do one thing: survive. Glenn Beck must not think that there is going to be any red-tape involved on already small struggling business.
And let's think about the reason why businesses hire illegals, part could be minimum wage but mainly it is because they are hard works and can outwork some of us "non-mexicans." And consider the costs. The business owner is choosing someone who they have a hard time communicating with over "non-mexicans." That means we Americans are very inefficient workers. So wake up, you cannot be pro-free trade and anti-illegal labor force.
So overall this book is not worth reading or buying. It was a huge let down and it made me think a lot less of Mr. Beck.
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1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Glenn Beck; a Man for the times. Oct 05, 2009
Glenn Beck's "An Inconvenient Book" is only inconvenient for those that want to live in a delusional world, or want the rest of us to be that way. I found this book helpful in that a lot of facts we may have forgotten, dealing with our government, politics and world politics; are there together in an easily readable and understood format. Even an older child or teenager, would find it interesting. Glenn is indeed "the Book Czar".
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