Penn Jillette's Reading List
The illusionist and author of “Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday!” and “God No!” says he ends up liking nearly everyone, but reading Joseph Campbell “made me crazy.”
Open in WellRead Daily app →By the Book: Penn Jillette (2013)
NYT By the Book column (2013-08-15).
Source: www.nytimes.com
Christopher Hitchens · Buy on Amazon
"No paper books, just an iPad — “Arguably,” by Christopher Hitchens. It’s his last one except for the cancer essays, and I’ve read those, so I’m reading this one slowly."
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"“Moby-Dick” and the Bible are always on board; I just finish them and start them again."
Jack Gilbert · Buy on Amazon
"Jack Gilbert, “Collected Poems”; “Watt,” Samuel Beckett. I read about a page of each a day."
P. J. O’Rourke · Buy on Amazon
"“Don’t Vote: It Just Encourages the Bastards,” P. J. O’Rourke; “The Way the World Works,” Nicholson Baker."
Nicholson Baker · Buy on Amazon
"“The Way the World Works,” Nicholson Baker."
Steven Pinker · 2011 · Buy on Amazon
"“The Better Angels of Our Nature,” by Steven Pinker, is the book I’m really reading now that I finished “A Visit From the Goon Squad.”"
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"the book I’m really reading now that I finished “A Visit From the Goon Squad.” I loved that."
Nicholson Baker · Buy on Amazon
"“Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization,” Nicholson Baker. Turns out, that wasn’t a good war. Maybe there’s no such thing as a good war."
Christopher Hitchens · Buy on Amazon
"“God Is Not Great,” Christopher Hitchens. Turns out there isn’t a good god or any god."
Lawrence Krauss · Buy on Amazon
"“A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing.” “O.K. then, how did the universe get here?” is the stupid rhetorical question that believers ask. My buddy Lawrence Krauss didn’t know that question was rhetorical, and he answered it."
Nicholson Baker · Buy on Amazon
"“The Mezzanine,” by Nicholson Baker, and “Watt,” by Samuel Beckett."
Gershon Legman · Buy on Amazon
"“The Aristocrats,” told by Jay Marshall in “Rationale of the Dirty Joke,” by Gershon Legman. Jay was on “Ed Sullivan” a zillion times doing magic and was the most knowledgeable person about comedy and magic I ever met."
P. J. O’Rourke · Buy on Amazon
"“Parliament of Whores,” P. J. O’Rourke. I was reading in the bathtub in N.Y.C. at about 4 a.m. when I read the sentence about this “Penn & Teller economy.”"
Unknown · Buy on Amazon
"The Constitution of the United States of America — I don’t know how the Tea Party got enough power to give this a bad rap, but it seems like if you live here, you should read it."
Julian L. Simon · Buy on Amazon
"“Hoodwinking the Nation,” by Julian L. Simon. This was a change of perspective for me. The idea of human ingenuity as a natural resource was a new idea to me when I first read Julian’s stuff."
Dan Mannix · Buy on Amazon
"“Step Right Up!,” by Dan Mannix. It’s really only about the American carnival, but that’s the only history I know."
Ayn Rand · Buy on Amazon
"“Atlas Shrugged.” I have no idea how Paul Ryan missed the atheist part."
Stephen Fry · Buy on Amazon
"Trying to get through “The Ode Less Travelled,” by my friend Stephen Fry, and do all the exercises (this is taking me years)."
Alex Ross · 2007 · Buy on Amazon
"I also want to get through “The Rest Is Noise,” by Alex Ross, and listen to all the music he suggests (this is also taking me years)."
Kenneth Silverman · Buy on Amazon
"and then I’ll start “Begin Again,” the John Cage biography by Kenneth Silverman. (His Houdini book was great.)"