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The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life

The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life

List Price: $23.00
Your Price: $15.64
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Stinkeroo
Review: Hold your nose and back away quickly from this one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Don't Waste Your Time
Review: Bill O'Reilly's too pompous to enjoy in print. Don't waste your time like I did on this book!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: funny
Review: I found parts of this book very funny.
Part's of this book were ridiculous , like does anyone really need dating advice from an old prude dude?
Bill is no right winger, would a right winger actually say that sports utility vehicles should be outlawed?
I watch the oreilly factor on T.V. all the time and agree with him most of the time, but in this country we have freedom, and that includes the freedom to be ridiculous and stupid according to MR. Oreilly.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyed The Advice Not The Lists
Review: I am in the process of an audio book binge of sorts. I decided to listen to Mr. O'Reilly's book after loving the television show. Fortunately, the audio book was almost as good. The best part of the book is by far the suggestions that Bill O'Reilly presents. I personally learned alot from listening to him and believe that I will eventually be a better father and husband, when those days occur. I do have a complaint, a pretty major one actually. The end of the book, where the good, bad, and ridiculous items are listed are, all told, quite boring. I was disappointed in the amount of space devoted to this. At first it was interesting to hear what Mr. O'Reilly thought was good, bad, and ridiculous, it got old very quickly.

All in all, I still recommend this book for a good read. I love the radio show and television show, and think this is a must read for all fans. I would however, skim the ending.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: O'Reilly At His Pandering Best
Review: O'Reilly uses this book as nothing more than a tool to pander to his right-wing base. He seems to glory in the opportunity to bash "liberals" without having to shout them down first like he does on television. The book has a few factual errors and some typos. The style is just as abrasive as he is on television.

I was impressed, however, that he didn't use it as an opportunity to lie again about the Peabody awards ("the most prestigious award in journalism" as he frequently pointed out) that Inside Edition supposedly won while O'Reilly was a member of the cast. Actually they won a pretty mediocre Polk award and O'Reilly wasn't working with them at that time. So I'm glad he didn't use the book to lie about it again.

This book is not good for people who are looking to be mentally challenged, to really analyze an issue and reach a conclusion. This book is only good for people who already have their minds made up and are just interested in reading the words of someone who agrees with them. It contains a lot of jingoism and rhetoric and mostly failed attempts at being humorous.

At least I didn't have to pay for the book. It should make decent kindling.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Still has an agenda of some sort
Review: While I appreciate the fact that this book is well written, has sources, and that O'Reilly isn't using hate and derogatory comments, some of his ideas are hard to swallow. One for example, was how he downplayed the history of the KKK, making them look like "innocent vigilantes." That is what the Klan has said for many years, and that is how they manipulated frustrated whites to join.

Another thing hard to swallow was when he stated homosexuals have molested millions of kids. Where on earth did he get that information, because I didn't see any sources for it. Gays and child molesting aren't a correlation. Straights molest children, too. O'Reilly is right that homosexuality doesn't produce children, but that doesn't mean it is harmful. I mean, look at the many single mothers out there, who get knocked up, their husband/boyfriend leaves, and then we have to pick up the tab. So actually, single motherhood is more of a drain on society than homosexuality.

It was interesting however, reading his Racial Evolution theory. I don't know if I would agree with it, but it sounds interesting, nonetheless. It is also true, that blacks commit more crimes than whites, and that even black taxi drivers won't pick up blacks. It is also ironic that we have all this "embrace diversity" stuff, yet we call whites bigots, simply because we want to preserve our culture.

The innacuracies, and the fact that he sounds like Hitler's Mein Kampf, are why I can't give this a higher reading. However, If you want to understand the mind of Hitler, read Mein Kampf. If you want to understand the mind of O'Reilly, then read this. For now, I will walk on a type rope when listening to extreme liberals and extreme conservatives. Maybe it's the fact that he was a former KKK member that bothered me.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Controversial and hilarious!
Review: Readers beware : if you are easily offended, do not read this book! If not, you are in for a really great read! Many of O'Reilly's points-though some are ridiculous-are thought provoking and each chapter is bound to produce at least one laugh! I thoroughly enjoyed this book but again I say if you are at all offended by controversial opinions about politics, race, religion, etc, this book is not for you.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Bad Format/Reveals Bill's Weakness
Review: I genuinely like Bill O'Reilly as an anchorman. I don't agree with him on a number of issues, but I think that he brings a certain degree of integrity to the format that is lacking elsewhere. Having said that, however, I was a disappointed by this book and found that I had to push myself to finish it, whereas I rarely miss an episode of "The Factor". Fans beware: If you are looking for something as invigorating as the cable news show, you won't find it here. This book is primarily for those die-hard fans who want to hear Bill O'Reilly reflect endlessly on his life experiences and the lessons contained therein.

The format of the book is repetitive. We have "The Class Factor", "The Parent Factor", "The Dating Factor," etc... The last three (well, prior to the Gratitude Factor) are "The Good Factor", "The Bad Factor", and "The Ridiculous Factor". It's in these three concise sections that O'Reilly shines, because it's in these three sections that his cable-t.v. format translates best to book form. Instead of giving us his dating history, or boring us with drawn out stories about his double date with Donald and Marla Trump to a Paula Abdul concert in order to make the point that fame can be addicting (who didn't know that, really?) he cuts to the chase, as they say, much as he does in his t.v. show. The piece about David Duke and Al Sharpton (which I think others have mentioned) is classic, and if all of the book were in this vein, I would have given it a good four stars instead of two. Bottom line: O'Reilly needs time limits to keep his narratives from wandering. His television show provides this. Books do not.

I have one more thing to say about Bill O'Reilly in regards to this book: O'Reilly's strength is not his intelligence, and this fact is most evident in this book. I don't mean to imply that O'Reilly is stupid. He's obviously a very intelligent man, Ivy-league educated and, I would argue, probably a cut above most "talking heads" out there, as well as most people you're likely to meet. But he isn't a philosopher, his thoughts don't stun you and his ruminations don't break any new ground. As an example of how this can be a negative, I'd like to cite this quote regarding abortion from "The Bad Factor": "It doesn't help to argue about when life begins," Bill says, because "No one knows." Excuse me? Life cannot come from non-life. This is a basic biological fact. Therefor, if at any time in its development an unborn child were not alive, it would have absolutely no chance of *becoming* alive. This is simple logic. Yet here O'Reilly's admitted desire to have Americans, both pro-choice and pro-life, come together to reduce the number of abortions overshadows his critical thought processes, thus causing him to parrot a ridiculous (if common) piece of pro-choice propaganda. Bill's greatest strengths are his cantankerous compassion (yes, you heard me right) and insistence on honesty- two traits which his cable news show allows him to display. Yet his compassion can lead to intellectual weakness- which his book preserves for his fans to see.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Demagoguery
Review: First off, I'm not a foe of O'Reilly nor am I a fan of his or his show on Fox news. I rate this book poorly because it is of the same nature as his program. It's predictable and totally composed of recycled themes and right wing slogans (you can predict the whole book just by reading the first chapter). Its virtually an amalgam of bumper stickers. There's nothing wrong with being conservative, as long as you've reasons for that viewpoint, but this is mindless composition of the lowest calibre. Unless you can't get enough of his shtick, don't buy this book. You'll find nothing provocative or interesting in it. This work is for those who only wish to read things which well reinforce their a priori views. As such, it is worthless.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good Advice from O'Reilly
Review: The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life is the frank opinions and observations of TV newscaster Bill O'Reilly. In addition to political discussions about the failure of Bill Clinton and Janet Reno, he also includes common sense advice that few Americans follow. He tells us to indulge in alcohol in moderation, keep out of credit card debt, and understand mainstream society's view of tattoos and piercings before getting them. His advice is useful for succeeding in this competitive world.

The O'Reilly critics love to describe him as an egomaniac who seeks to push his right-wing agenda on the American people. By perusing chapter one "The Class Factor," we see the author criticizing large corporations and deriding the boundaries that class has on Americans. These are two beliefs that are hardly right wing. For those wishing to read right wing opinions, I recommend Pat Buchanan, Sean Hannity, or Rush Limbaugh. For left wing opinions, Al Franken's book will suffice. On his show and in his book, he criticizes as many conservatives as liberals. Anybody who comes on his show earns my respect because he is the toughest interviewer on television and asks the questions that Connie Chung, Barbara Walters, and Larry King will not. He wants honest government and the powerful held accountable no matter what their ideology.

O'Reilly's tragic flaw is his arrogant, self-serving attitude. He titles his first book after his television show and names sections in the book after those in his show (i.e. Back of the Book.) At the end of every television broadcast, he hocks the "Factor Gear" and membership at his website which costs $50 per year. He will take up insignificant issues and discuss them for several shows if it supports his personal agenda. He constantly mentions the success of his television show, and his books on-air forgetting that most viewers tune in to watch his interviews not to be sold his products.

"The Factor" book contains useful advice on a variety of subjects for anybody open-minded enough to accept it. The best advice is to put your ideology and your opinions about O'Reilly aside, and just open the book and read. You will be glad you did.


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