(This was my "Title Starting with Y" in my alphabetic tour of the library.)

From the title, I thought this book would be humorous, or at least amusing. It was not.

Instead, I got a 200-plus page rant about the state of First World (mainly American) culture in the year 2005. The author gave her uncensored opinion of advertising, finance, mega-corporations, government, pharmaceuticals, insurance, malls, urban sprawl, telemarketing, and television news.

Props to my dad for giving me this book. A quick read and an insightful, if a bit cynical (as we should be and often are), take on contemporary American society through a media-saturated, corporate-sponsored lens.

This book wasn't what I thought it was. Likely for the time it was written, it was an eye-opener. However, since Facebook and Occupy and similar movements have shaken many of us awake ten years on, this wasn't a book worth the effort. Maybe I just came too late? Anyway, besides the final implication that the author is, in fact, Jesus Christ, and sent to earth to remove the money-changers from the temple... she has an annoying appetite for alliteration. And though she cries foul on sound bytes, she tends to use a lot of them. Please, we know you're Canadian. But stop with the pseudo-French. We don't need to read "beaucoup de Something in English Now" because that's lazy. We know our presidents are idiots... fast-forwarding a few years from publishing date will net you a somewhat better one, but not by too much (at least he's intelligent. And not white. Although why that should matter...) I was sort-of expecting something a little more biting towards, you know, annoying hold times on the phone, as per the title of the book. I guess I'd better gawk at the comedy section of the library next time, because obviously that's not at all important to take seriously! What I didn't expect was yet one more row at Walmart. We ALL of us know that Walmart is the root of all evil. Or how Microsoft is Satan's blister (written on a Mac by someone blissfully unaware of all the egregious human rights violations they are party to? or perhaps just ignoring the fact that she wrote this book by Googling everything through a psychic connection to the Akashic records or something? Who knows.) One could say that if you read this a decade ago, you could've seen the "Great Recession" coming a long way off. If not, then this author is a true prophetess. Sign me up - as long as there isn't any goat-slaughtering to do. Otherwise give this one a pass and go march on your local Chase Bank branch... and tell 'em you want to save a Penny.

This book is funny and infuriating at the same time. The author speaks to the lies and BS we are fed every day by politicians,commercials, corporations and others. Laura Penny does not mince words and even though the book is ten years old, most of it is still going on today. I found myself getting riled up as I identify with the complaints she makes about the lack of truth we have to live with. A good read.

Your direct, to the point, blatant perspective on mainstream media, news, and politics with a twist of Canadian humor. Laura Penny to me, is a hub of truth for the amateur revolutionist. Her work enlists the necessary focal points of argument in any conversion involving the understanding of economics, intellect, and human behavior in the modern world.

An indictment against Corporate America. Will make your blood boil and raise your ire against the bullshit we put up with on a daily basis! Had to read it in bits and pieces so I wouldn't end up with high blood pressure!

Makes one even more cynical of the world. Definitely eye opening. Laura Penny communicates her message clearly. There are two forms of bullshit: simple and complex. And bullshit is not the same as lying. Lies can be proven. Bullshit is intricately woven, eloquently spoken.

I think she could have used a more "professor"-like tone in her writing, since she is one, but the provocative title and manner of the book probably fueled it's popularity, so much so that the book was featured as a segment on "60 Minutes". Would like to read "On Bullshit" by Harry Frankfurt just to compare.

This is one of the worst books I have ever read, bar none.

very funny book but also sad at how companies have stopped caring about their customers. SprintPCS is one major company that doesn't give a damn about their customers having problems and being allowed to get away with it by the FCC. Although its shocking to read, there are many times you will laugh out loud for it.

Maybe it's because I thought this was going to be about the psychology of bullshit, which it is not, but I really didn't think this was worth reading. It's just the author ranting about how American government, media, the economy, and the pharmaceutical industry are basically lying constantly (though technically bullshitting isn't lying as much as just making stuff up), and then she attempts to refute it, partially through facts, and partially through her opinions, which are hardly more accurate than what she is complaining about (i.e. mental disorders that didn't exist until the makers of Prozac "invented" them to sell more drugs... zero facts to back up that claim, just her ranting about it). Some of the points she makes are good, but not worth reading the book for.

This was published in 2006 but the political bullshit discussed resonates today. It makes me nostalgic for when we talked about how terrible a president George Jr. was. :(

So, lighten up.