Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government » (Abridged, 5 CDs, 6 hours)

Just go away! you think to yourself--but they only get more obnoxious. Your heart rate quickens. You start to sweat. But never fear, for Glenn Beck has stumbled upon the secret formula to winning arguments against people with big mouths and small minds: knowing the facts.

And this book is full of them.

The next time your Idiot Friends tell you how gun control prevents gun violence, you'll tell them all about England's handgun ban (see page 53). When they insist that we should copy the UK's health-care system, you'll recount the horrifying facts you read on page 244. And the next time you hear how produce...

Library Journal

The author of three previous No. 1 New York Times best sellers (An Inconvenient Book, Glenn Beck's Common Sense, and The Christmas Sweater—all also available from S. & S. Audio—here provides a compelling yet problematic piece of political programming similar to that on his Fox News television show. At its core, the book poses some critical challenges to those on all ends of the political spectrum. It is delivered in a Q&A format, with Beck playing the "Idiot," i.e., asking small-minded questions, and Steve Burguiere and Pat Gray proffering intelligent answers in return—a conceit that works well in audio. However, Beck's snarky commentary throughout and caricatured moronic Idiot voice will wear on listeners' nerves and may even turn away those trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. For Beck's many fans and those interested in politics and political commentators. [The Threshold Editions hc, published in September 2009, was a No. 1 New York Times and Publishers Weekly best seller.—Ed.]—Lance Eaton, Peabody, MA