Presto! - BookWyrm

344 pages

English language

Published Dec. 20, 2016

ISBN:: 978-1-5011-4018-1
OCLC Number:: 942707525

(5 reviews)

An unconventional weight loss tale from an unconventional personality--magician Penn Jillette tells how he lost 100 pounds with his trademark outrageous sense of humor and biting social commentary that makes this success story anything but ordinary. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he found himself at a dangerous crossroads: approaching his sixtieth birthday, he needed a drastic lifestyle change if he wanted to see his small children grow up. Enter "CrayRay." A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise changed Penn Jillette's life with his wild "potato diet." In Presto, Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician's body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, and hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric …

An unconventional weight loss tale from an unconventional personality--magician Penn Jillette tells how he lost 100 pounds with his trademark outrageous sense of humor and biting social commentary that makes this success story anything but ordinary. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he found himself at a dangerous crossroads: approaching his sixtieth birthday, he needed a drastic lifestyle change if he wanted to see his small children grow up. Enter "CrayRay." A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise changed Penn Jillette's life with his wild "potato diet." In Presto, Jillette takes us along on his journey from skepticism to the inspiring, life-changing momentum that transformed the magician's body and mind. He describes the process in hilarious detail, as he performs his Las Vegas show, takes meetings with Hollywood executives, and hangs out with his celebrity friends and fellow eccentric performers, all while remaining a dedicated husband and father. Throughout, he weaves in his views on sex, religion, and pop culture, making his story a refreshing, genre-busting account. Outspoken, frank, and bitingly clever, Presto is an incisive, rollicking read.--Adapted from dust jacket.

3 editions

Stuart Woodward reviewed Presto! by Penn Jillette

Review of 'Presto!' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I was interested in Penn's weight loss as I had heard him talk about it on his podcast Penn's Sunday School.

As he says, the scientific book about this weight-loss method will be coming out later by his dieting mentor. Basically, the method involves resetting your palate with an initially bland diet and then getting used to eating an unprocessed plant-only based (nutritarian) diet from then on. Cheat days are allow but these must be "rare and appropriate". He doesn't want to say as much, but this seems to be a way of beating food addiction. This seems to have worked for him and for several of his friends and colleagues. It's inspirational and may offer hope to those struggle with their diet especially those who are extremely overweight.

I was a little disappointed in the book. I think his style of writing is more suited to the spoken word. …

I was interested in Penn's weight loss as I had heard him talk about it on his podcast Penn's Sunday School.

As he says, the scientific book about this weight-loss method will be coming out later by his dieting mentor. Basically, the method involves resetting your palate with an initially bland diet and then getting used to eating an unprocessed plant-only based (nutritarian) diet from then on. Cheat days are allow but these must be "rare and appropriate". He doesn't want to say as much, but this seems to be a way of beating food addiction. This seems to have worked for him and for several of his friends and colleagues. It's inspirational and may offer hope to those struggle with their diet especially those who are extremely overweight.

I was a little disappointed in the book. I think his style of writing is more suited to the spoken word. He writes exactly as he speaks. Most of what he said in the book has been covered in his Podcast over the last year and hearing him saying it is more interesting than reading it. If he reads the audiobook, and I expect that he will, definitely get that version.

Penn's spoken and written output is totally unfiltered which can be jarring and repetitive to read at times. This book is also very much a book of it's time, I'm not sure anyone will be interested to read about Trump or Hillary in a few years time.