Book Description

The #1 New York Times–bestselling author takes on subjects from banking to bitcoin: “Another winner from an A-list humorist.” ―Booklist Sharp-witted satirist and author of Parliament of Whores P. J. O’Rourke takes on his scariest subjects yet—business, investment, finance, and the political chicanery behind them. Want to get rich overnight for free in three easy steps with no risk? Then don’t buy this book. (Actually, if you believe there’s a book that can do that, you shouldn’t buy any books because you probably can’t read.) P. J. O’Rourke’s approach to business, investment, and finance is different. He takes the risks for you in his chapter “How I Learned Economics by Watching People Try to Kill Each Other.” He proposes “A Way to Raise Taxes That We’ll All Love”—a 200% tax on celebrities. He offers a brief history of economic transitions before exploring the world of high tech innovation with a chapter on “Unnovations,” which asks, “The Internet—whose idea was it to put all the idiots on earth in touch with each other?” He misunderstands bitcoin, which seems “like a weird scam invented by strange geeks with weaponized slide rules in the high school Evil Math Club.” And finally, he offers a fanciful short story about the morning that P. J. wakes up and finds that all the world’s goods and services are free! “The funniest writer in America.” ―The Wall Street Journal