Review of New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,9781594862953

Bill Maher's popular new HBO television show, Real Time, has put Maher more front and center than ever before. Particularly one regular segment on the show, entitled "New Rules," has been a hit with his ever-growing legion of fans. It is the part of the show during which Maher takes serious aim, bringing all of his intelligence, incisiveness, wit, and his signature exasperation to bear on topics ranging from cell phones ("I don't need my cell phone to take pictures or access the Internet. I just need it to make a phone call. From everywhere! Not just the places it likes!") to fast food ("No McDonald's in hospitals. I'm not kidding!) to the conservative agenda ("Stop claiming it's an agenda. It's not an agenda. It's a random collection of laws that your corporate donors paid you to pass.")

His new book, the first since his bestselling When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden, brings these brilliantly conceived riffs and rants to the written page. Appropriately titled New Rules, the book will collect some of the best of the rules derived from previously written material and will also contain substantial new material, including some longer form "editorials"--of course with a twist and bite that only Bill Maher can deliver.

Rule Breaker: An Amazon.com Interview with Bill Maher

In New Rules: Polite Musings of a Timid Observer, Bill Maher skewers celebrity, pop culture, and politics in his classic acerbic style. With a new season of Real Time with Bill Maher and an upcoming HBO Special (his sixth), Bill Maher: I'm Swiss, on deck, Maher also found the time to host Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary Concert at Seattle's Benaroya Hall. Amazon.com caught up with Maher upon his return to Los Angeles to talk about the book, the comic's night-table reading habits, the Internet, and what's wrong with the media.

Read our Amazon.com interview with Bill Maher

More from Bill Maher

Books:
When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden	Does Anybody Have a Problem with That?	True Story: A Novel

DVDs:
Bill Maher: I'm Swiss (DVD)	Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (DVD)	Bill Maher: Be More Cynical (DVD)

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Rating:

Rough and raw

Customer Rating:

Some readers may be surprised by his audacity with the printed word and its' presumptive underpinning. On TV, he's quite the smooth orator, almost always persuasive and articulate.
"New Rules" is something like his movie "Religulous"; often hilarious, but too often falling back on tired stuff better left in the gutter.
His bit on public "breast feeding" will generate laughs, but they are over and out - something like his expose of a religious cultist in the above-mentioned film, who indulges in ritualistic (?) marihuana smoking. Bill (appears to) light one up too and we say...got the point...but we're well past Woodstock.

Bill Maher is always worth listening too but this is not his best work

Customer Rating:

This collection of observations is pretty hit and miss. Many of the jokes are obviously excerpts from stand-up rountines and don't have the impact when read on a page rather than being delivered on-stage. There are some really funny comments but many others just bomb. Another disappointment is that there is simply not that much material here and what there is is scattershot - the whole enterprise would have benefited from a cohesive theme. Bill Maher's iconoclastic perspective is great but this is simply not his best work.

Keeps us Christians on our toes

Customer Rating:

Bill Maher is like a pit bull with an axe to grind against Christians.
Could he find one good thing Christianity has done for the world including charitable organizations like Red Cross, Easter Seals, Salvation Army, Victory Outreach, Teen Challenges for drug recovery?
Yet he rants & raves which leads me to believe his conscience is constantly pricking him & maybe he is fighting the truth of who Christ is. You asked a question Bill in your new movie acording to Irreligious adverstisement--"Why doesn't God destry Satan & what is God waiting on this answer is free to you ---- He is waiting on you so he want have to send your sorry a--- to HELL!!!!

Very Funny in a Realistic Way	Customer Rating:
He had a little dirtier mouth than I thought but I love his thoughts on politics and his take on life in general. I read it, co-worker read it and now my son is reading it. A must read.

A Funny Look at Many Hot Topics of General Appeal

Customer Rating:

Bill Maher is among the wittier political commentators that are not completely aligned with any partly line (although he leans to the left). As a comedian, he provides content intended both for humor and for meaning; a strategy that is brilliantly used in his book New Rules.

One doesn't have to agree with all his views to appreciate his reasoning. In this book, Maher covers such a wide variety of topics (many non political as well) that one will inevitably find a topic to agree with. The book is filled with very short segments making it easy for short readings or something to pound through in a matter of hours. No matter how you choose to read it, unless you already have negative feelings toward Maher and his humor, you will likely enjoy this book and find yourself laughing even when he deviates from your own personal values.