“Fun saves us from political dictatorship.” — P.J. O'Rourke, “Driving Like Crazy”

Conservative political humorist P.J. O'Rourke has always regarded cars in general and driving cars in particular as fun. Thus the above line from his 2009 book “Driving Like Crazy” nicely combines two of the main themes of his writing life into one pithy declaration.

Although the book includes a few digs at the likes of Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and the Bushes, his main focus throughout is cars and how much fun they are.

Besides being a political writer, O'Rourke has also written frequently for car magazines and for other magazines on the subject of cars. Most of the chapters in his book originally appeared as magazine articles or are based on articles he has written. He gives readers no notice of this beforehand, which could cause some readers to get no further than the first chapter, a celebration of the youthful pleasures of driving fast while drinking to excess, doing drugs and having wild sex. This is a satire he wrote years ago for National Lampoon, but he doesn't tell us this until later.

Most chapters concern test drives or endurance races through difficult areas, such as India and Baja California. In each case there are problems aplenty, sometimes mechanical and sometimes not, and there would be a sameness to these accounts except that O'Rourke's jokes are always different. And if O'Rourke drives cars for fun, we read his books for fun.

Here's a sample of his wit about the Jeep: "My personal theory about the visceral appeal of the Jeep is that it is purposeful-looking while having no clear purpose. The Jeep is inadequate as a pickup, drafty as a sedan, oversized as an ATV, and lacks sufficient cargo space to be an SUV. True, Jeeps will go almost everyplace but, if you think about it, Jeeps mostly go everyplace there's no reason to go."

Then there's this comment he makes, in an interview at the end of the book, about the federal government subsidizing General Motors: "Governments have monopolies on certain things, like eminent domain and deadly force. What's another example of an organization that gets into the same business that you're in, except that their guys have got guns? That would be the Mob."

There he goes again. Cars and politics. ( )

A very funny book and here is a snippet to give you an idea "Animals on the road are another consideration. You have cats, dogs bunny rabbits. We have moose (And Sarah Palin). Hit a moose in your VW Polo and the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals will be picketing to save you. (Survive hitting a moose and you run the risk of Sarah Palin showing up at your house and offering to cook)."

A very funny book and here is a snippet to give you an idea "Animals on the road are another consideration. You have cats, dogs bunny rabbits. We have moose (And Sarah Palin). Hit a moose in your VW Polo and the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals will be picketing to save you. (Survive hitting a moose and you run the risk of Sarah Palin showing up at your house and offering to cook)."

Awful, awful book.
Could not finish. ( )

PJ O'Rourke is an American right wing political journalist and crazy libertarian. This book, in particular, reveals him as the US answer to Jeremy Clarkson, with the same iconoclastic sense of humour and ability to annoy the more sensitive among us. The book is mostly a compilation or retelling of magazine articles and the earlier stuff is better than what comes later. It's also interesting to see what he makes, thirty years on, of these early pieces.

By the end of the book he is driving across America in a station wagon with three kids and his wife and visiting national parks. Not quite as interesting as the earlier bits where he tells us that the most important criterion for choosing an off road car is that it should be a rental car. You can take it anywhere you like and getting back isn't really your problem.

The first half would probably rate four or five stars, but overall, only 3 and a half. ( )