Stuff White People Like

The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions

By: Christian Lander

Narrated by: Victor Bevine

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

They love nothing better than sipping free-trade gourmet coffee, leafing through the Sunday New York Times, and listening to David Sedaris on NPR (ideally all at the same time). Apple products, indie music, food co-ops, and vintage T-shirts make them weak in the knees. They believe they're unique, yet somehow they're all exactly the same, talking about how they "get" Sarah Silverman's "subversive" comedy and Wes Anderson's "droll" films.

They're also down with diversity and up on all the best microbrews, breakfast spots, foreign cinema, and authentic sushi. They're organic, ironic, and do not own TVs.

You know who they are: They're white people. And they're here, and you're gonna have to deal. Fortunately, here's a book that investigates, explains, and offers advice for finding social success with the Caucasian persuasion. So kick back on your IKEA couch and lose yourself in the ultimate guide to the unbearable whiteness of being.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2008 Christian Lander (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

I know I like this book

If I was to have read this book in print, I know I would not have been as entertained as I was by listening to it. The narrator does a perfect job - he has just the right tone of smugness to let you know that this is a satire, and he keeps you laughing with his presentation. I found myself trying to guess what the next item on the list would be, and laughing at pretty much every one. Great humor, with an ironic (but not really) twist.

Witty light read!

And it's also read very well.

I loved this--loved its ironically anthropological take on nice people like me! Perfect for when you don't feel like a serious read.

Moderately amusing

The book should not be taken seriously, I found it mostly amusing, relaxing and lighthearted, some of it can even be cute, it's best to gloss over some offensive bits here and there, and best not to attempt to match every point, as it is only talking about, "the right kind of white people..."

Entertaining Book, Great Reader

This book is a good companion to the blog, but it really stands out because of the reader! Victor Bevine is the perfect voice for this droll subject and makes the pseudo-sociological study work really well in audio.

FUNNY STUFF

Would you consider the audio edition of Stuff White People Like to be better than the print version?

Yes

Who was your favorite character and why?

There were no characters- my fav. bit was when he talked about how white people have to have bottled water at meetings etc. and it has to be FIJI - mainly because i had just made a specific stop at the store to by FIJI water so i wouldn't look like an idiot drinking a coke at a meeting HAHAHA. Everytime I do something that was talked about in the book i die laughing-- and I do a lot of things in the book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

LAUGH the ENTIRE time.

Any additional comments?

Listen to it~

Funny book and spot on most of the time

A lot of this is hilarious. Seems to be a spoof not on white people in general, but on a particular brand of white person; those who used to be referred to a s"yuppies" - not sure what they're called now, but they're upwardly mobile politically liberal likers of finer things living mostly in urban settings and with enough money to support their like of finer things. This does not include white people living in suburbs, country music lovers, or those living in rural or small town settings. Neither does it include people living in the South or Idaho or Nebraska. In fact, I don't even think you need to be white to be a target of this book. I can imagine blacks or Asians who fit this stereotype, too.

Entertained?... Offended?...

I did enjoy this read although even at the end, having had a large percentage of matches to me, I was not sure if I was was entertained or should be offended. Some of it just doesn't match any white person I have ever known, and a lot of it matches more than I care to admit.
All in all a worthy read.

Simply awesome

I myself am mixed and this book is hilarious. Very satirical and not to be taken seriously but there is quite a bit of truth in his words. Excellent book

Hilarious...but maybe not for everyone

I laughed out loud throughout when listening to this book. It really hits home, with both obvious and insightful observations of 'white culture' that helped me see the humour in myself and others.

But when I went to write a review and rate the audiobook I saw that perhaps the style of humour (and the dead-on tone of narration) is not universal. Definitely check out the sample; if you think this sounds like your cup of tea after that, you won't be disappointed!

Liked the blog; book is a conservative screed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not recommend this book because my friends are mostly progressives from the working class (Yes, we exist.) At first, the blog and the entries in this book were skewering the upper middle class and its affectations. But then the subject matter changed to a conservative screed indistinguishable from Rush Limbaugh or Charles Murray. I'll leave David Brooks out of it because BOBOS stuck to the topic of Yuppies and didn't imply (that I can remember) that people who are concerned about the environment are insincere, etc.

Toward the end of the book, he hits on all the hot buttons the usual gaggle of liberal-haters always hit on. Why white people (he means liberals) like universal health care: so they can quit their jobs (it cannot be that any of them want to see the poor helped.) Why white people (he means liberals) find Christianity tacky (I am a United Methodist and member of Sojourners--which is to say a slightly left-of-center Christian.)

I would not mistrust this book as a conservative screed with an agenda if he hadn't started hitting on all the predictable hot buttons toward the end. I think this gives away his true agenda.

I dislike entitled upper middles as much as he does, but there are liberals from the working class who come by their concerns for the environment and the poor honestly. And who's to say all rich white liberals are insincere? Look at Jared Polis, wealthy philanthropist who has founded numerous schools for at-risk kids and given to countless other causes to help the less fortunate.

I love when Tom Wolfe gets going on a good rant at certain similar elements, but I get the feeling he isn't just swiping at every conservative hot button like a think tank employee. This book reads like it came straight out of a think tank. He wants to call all liberals insincere--I call this (admittedly witty) book insincere. I wouldn't if it didn't hit all the same hot buttons Charles Murray does, and all in a row, too (when he ran out of the easy topics that are clearly affectations to achieve status.)

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Ending deteriorates into typical conservative cultural screed; beginning was great.

What does Victor Bevine bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator was great. Has just the right tone and inflection for the sarcastic parts.

Did Stuff White People Like inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me NOT to recommend it, even though the first part was good.

Any additional comments?

Conservatives, please get some new material. Sometimes you have some good points; I enjoy Tom Wolfe.