Four Stars

Best for:
Fans of Seth Rogen. Fans for humorous memoirs in general.

In a nutshell:
Actor, writer, and apparently former stand-up comedian (?)

Worth quoting:
Many things, but I listened while working out so didn’t note anything down.

Why I chose it:
I find Seth Rogen generally pretty funny in general, and the fact that he — and others — were doing the reading of the book sucked me in.

Review:
I didn’t know much about Rogen when I started listening to this book. I think I first saw him in Knocked Up (I missed Freaks and Geeks originally and had to watch it once it was available on streaming), and have seen others of the movies he’s written, like Superbad and 50/50. I don’t generally have a strong opinion about him either way. Or at least, I didn’t. Now, I rather like him.

The book is a mixture of stories from his childhood and stories of his life as a successful actor and writer. And of course there is a long running theme: his use of drugs like weed and mushrooms. If one isn’t a fan of stories of drug use, this probably isn’t the right book. Rogen does however seem at least somewhat aware that he was able to get away with many of his antics because he was a white kid, and that the stories might have gone very differently for a person of color.

Things that surprised me – he started doing stand-up comedy (didn’t know) at age 12! And like, kept at it all through his teen years. Fascinating. But the stories that really were interesting to listen to include his experience with mushrooms in Amsterdam, and the whole story behind the movie The Interview, about a journalist sent to assassinate the leader of North Korea.

Rogen is a great storyteller. There’s a casual tone that feels like someone funny I know just telling a story after dinner when we’re hanging out. But what really made the book for me is the fact that he got a ton of people to read whatever wasn’t in his voice. When his wife first appears in the story, she reads her part. Jason Segel features in a discussion about a ridiculous audition for 8 Mile. Even Snoop Dogg (yes, him) makes an appearance. It breaks up what can be a challenge of audio books, and keeps the reader involved.

Recommend to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Recommend to a Friend

Three Stars

Best for:
People who enjoy data visualizations. People interested in where various countries sit on different measures.

In a nutshell:
Six distinct sections provide the numbers on some of the most important and interesting measures, including wealth and poverty, rights, war and peace, health of the people and health of the planet, plus some basic demographic data.

Worth quoting:
“Many [refugees], despite their hardships, and despite all states’ legal responsibilities under the 1951 Refugee Convention, receive little of no comfort upon arrival.”

Why I chose it:
I am a sucker for quality data visualization, and for maps. Put the two together and *chef’s kiss*

Review:
This is primarily a book of maps and data, with very little narrative. And of course, the decision of what data to use, and what sources, carries with it the author’s own biases and concepts of what data matters most. So with that caveat, I’d argue that this is an interesting basic look at world data.

Some of the narrative provided – and some of the data, did cause me to raise an eyebrow. Mostly because of the lack of precision around language. For example, at one point the author states “Growing numbers of children and adolescents have mental health problems of some degree…” I’d argue that should read “have diagnosed mental health problems.” And the few pages on the ‘obesity epidemic’ start from some assumptions that I just don’t think hold.

Also, there isn’t a section looking at race and racism; there’s one page looking at genocide risk which, obviously hugely important, but nothing at all on de facto racism. In fact, and I suppose this is a bit of a necessity when putting together such a broad book, but the discussions around women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and global majority rights are really limited to proxies that look at the law, as opposed to how things work in practice. Like, the US is listed as being a functioning democracy, and technically all adults (depending on felony conviction status) have the right to vote, but we all know that ACCESS to the vote varies dramatically. Things like that aren’t captured here.

That said, if one approaches the data as a starting point, and then does their own research into the origin of the data and what might have motivated the gathering and presenting of the data in the way used, then I think this is an interesting book to flip through and the revisit when thinking about related issues.

Recommend to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Not sure I’d recommend it, but I will be keeping it as a reference for myself.