How to Be Right

...in a world gone wrong

By: James O'Brien

Narrated by: James O'Brien

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of How to Be Right, written and read by James O'Brien.

Forget agreeing to disagree – it’s time to learn How To Be Right.

Every day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming benefits scroungers, the EU, Muslims, feminists and immigrants. But what makes James’s daily LBC 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, James shows how 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 get cornered by ardent Brexiteers, Daily Mail disciples 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 distinguish sharply between the people who told lies and the people whose only offence was to believe them.’ (James O’Brien)

©2018 James O'Brien (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic 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)

"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)

An Articulated Triumph

O’Brien masterfully distracts the western 21st century malaise topic by topic while never losing sight of the overall picture. He has an ability to articulate the seemingly most intractable debates in clear and illuminating ways; of particular note was chapter 7 where he deftly casts the veil off structural inequalities by analysing the inextricably interconnected granular incentives at play in individuals lives. The result is both terrifying and instructive, perhaps not surprising given the realties of our society.

Wonderful and scary

A deep analysis of what drives the narratives in the heads of so many people and how they are manipulated and taught not to think. Unfortunately those who don’t think won’t listen to it or read it because in their own minds they are already “right”

A real treat

James perfectly articulates my own feelings and thoughts in this audiobook. I am always so glad to hear that James has certainty where I have certainty, and ambivalence where I have ambivalence. This book is a real treat - all James - no ads, no traffic reports or PM questions just pure James. Can't wait for its sequel.

Not long enough

Such a great book! My only issue was that it could have been much longer. I wish it were a 15-hour tome, as I could literally listen to the profound logic emanating from Mr O’Brien all day.

I found myself feeling a little more hopeful at the end that others are also abhorred at the anti-enlightenment direction some countries are heading in. This shared perspective allows me to at least wish that those on the right side of history will push back and carry humanity back on to the progressive path.

essential reading in these scary times.

fantastic, important amd relevant book in the current climate of disinformation and the rise of the far right.

Intellectually dishonest

I was unpleasantly surprised to find that James was being extremely intellectually dishonest in this book. I’m very disappointed, I held him in high regard and I expected more of him.