Forget agreeing to disagree - it's time to learn how to be right.
Caller: `It was a big thing voting Brexit. I was willing to take that sacrifice so we control our own laws.'
James O'Brien: `So I'm just wondering what those laws are that you won't have to obey any more, that made you vote for this economic hit. Can you name one?'
Caller: `I wouldn't be able to, no.'
James O'Brien has made a career of listening to people phoning in to his daily show on LBC to point the blame at benefits scroungers, the EU, Muslims, feminists and immigrants. But what makes James's show such essential listening - and has made James a standout social media star - is the careful way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning.
In How to be Right, James provides a hilarious and invigorating guide to talking to people with faulty opinions. With chapters on every lightning-rod issue in current affairs, James tells the stories of the conversations he's had, explains why people have been fooled into thinking the way they do, and in each case outlines the key questions to ask to reveal fallacies, inconsistencies and double standards.
If you ever encounter ardent Brexiteers, Daily Mail readers or little England patriots, this book is your conversation survival guide.
`I have had a ringside seat as a significant swathe of the British population was persuaded that their failures were the fault of foreigners, that unisex lavatories threatened their peace of mind and that `all Muslims' must somehow apologise for terror attacks by extremists. I have tried to dissuade them and sometimes succeeded... The challenge is to distinguishes sharply between the people who told lies and the people whose only offence was to believe them.'
- James O'Brien
Industry Reviews
O'Brien is an exceptional broadcaster with a peerless ability to calmly point out the absurdity of certain viewpoints, a quality which similarly runs through this book ... provides a much-needed examination of the blustering rhetoric of politicians and media pundits, and brings a sliver of comfort to readers that they are not alone in their despair. -- The Guardian
O'Brien is an exceptional broadcaster with a peerless ability to calmly point out the absurdity of certain viewpoints, a quality which similarly runs through this book ... provides a much-needed examination of the blustering rhetoric of politicians and media pundits, and brings a sliver of comfort to readers that they are not alone in their despair. -- The Guardian
James O'Brien has become the conscience of liberal Britain * New Statesman *
Almost indecently enjoyable -- Robert Webb
I know few broadcasters as consistently, forensically, brilliant as James O' Brien. Here, he shows us -- with empathy, edge and exquisite comedy -- how it happens -- Emily Maitlis
In the age of the tweet, such verbal ability increasingly seems like a superpower * The Times *
A simply brilliant read ... I love this book! -- Jamie Oliver
A total joy. If you feel like the world is going to hell in a handcart, here's the brakes -- Caitlin Moran
This book is required reading to slice through the rhetoric, slogans & bluster of politics and politicians. James is the broadcaster we need right now, setting the world to rights one call at a time -- Susanna Reid
Funny, clever and alarming ... a modern day travelogue through the airwaves with all the mistrust, misinformation, contradictions and manipulation laid bare -- Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Intelligent, funny and worrying. An unsurprisingly brilliant read from a great broadcaster. I vehemently wish that everyone would read it. The World and this country would be a better place if they did. -- Gary Lineker
Funny, wise and passionate. Like Yoda with better grammar. -- Danny Wallace
I am stupidly excited about this book -- The Secret Barrister
This book made me smarter. And it made me laugh and nod my head, all the while thinking 'bloody hell, I wish I could argue like James'. Cogent, necessary, insightful and often very funny. -- Elizabeth Day
