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Danika Muscat danikamuscat — I picked up Confessions of an Economic Hit Man at the behest of a friend who was reading it and found it interesting. Not good, interesting. I put it down for about a year-- and then in an attempt to get Becky to stop yelling at me, I finished it to get it off my "currently reading" list. John Perkins "autobiography" can fall somewhere along two extremes: 1) a Lone Voice of Truth in a Really Fucked Up World; 2) a Melodramatic Conspiracy Theorist with a Hyper-inflated Ego. Arguments for both are rampant on the web (and apparently this book did quite well when it came out), but I will base my arguments below on an arbitrary combination of the text and my brain. Points for Lone Voice of Truth in a Really Fucked Up World: - Alarming Premise: If this is even a little bit true, then we're all going straight to hell. If nothing else, it makes us reconsider everything we hold to be true about international aid. That being said, the premises he asserts are not necessarily ones I believe in. - Decent data citation: Though I believe Perkins is being ... selective ... with the data he presents, he does cite admirably well throughout the book. If only I were interested enough to actually follow through with these references... Total: 2 Points for Melodramatic Conspiracy Theorist with a Hyper-inflated Ego: - Forest Gump Syndrome: If Perkins is to be believed, he is the Real Forest Gump. Happy face logo? been there, done that. Shrimp boat? yeah. he was there first. I find it hard to believe that one man has met all of these people-- and my threshold for personal achievement and networking prowess is much higher than the average bear. - James Bond Syndrome: Perkins loves the cloak and dagger shit. In fact, the way he self promotes himself (the beautiful women, the money, the intellectual validation by people smarter than him) points to someone who is so obsessive with making his story look cool that he embellishes liberally. Liberally. - Mother Theresa Syndrome: Dude. This guy's stomach-churning remorse gets old. It feels like an apology for everything he did (and probably is). But more than that, it's the kind of bleeding heart justification from a millionaire who has enough money to be moral. I find it hopelessly lacks perspective and is annoying as hell to boot. - Coincidence: Either he is blessed with the most narratively significant life, or he's making shit up. The Afghan on the street after 9-11 who greets him and becomes his friend? Yeah buddy. That's too much. - The most annoying literary style of all time: Read it. You'll understand. Perkins' literary style is so disgustingly lush and overwrought that it reads like Eat Pray Love (not that I've ever opened that book--so more accurately how I'd perceive it to read). I could believe him more if he spent less time being a novelist. It smacks of someone who likes to embellish at the expense of data and facts. Points: 5 Melodramatic Conspiracy Theorist with a Hyper-inflated Ego wins. That being said, I'd love to discuss this book with someone. So if you read it, let me know.

Jukire Jukire jukire — I remember this book to be pretty good. Very similar to "Joy Luck", though.

Johnny Perez johnny_perez — Same as the first!