This is basically a collection of Maher's monologues and some guest quotes from his show Politically Incorrect. On the one hand, much of the material has not aged well; it covers mostly the decade of the 1990s, so the references are pretty much of the time. On the other hand, a few pieces do remain timeless, and in one or two cases, even relevant to the situations we see in society today. I did not rate this higher because the quality of the pieces is fairly inconsistent. Some are good; a few are brilliant; a lot are just so-so. However, if you want to take a trip down memory lane to see the pop culture of the 90s, Maher does provide a good picture of it. So, an ok book. Personally, I've liked his later book a bit better. Maher fans may want to read it if they feel a need for completion. ( )

I was concerned prior to reading this book that I wouldn't get many of the jokes, having been between 12 and 14 years old when the show aired. I had very little idea what was going on in the world at that time, being an extremely sheltered young church-goer in rural Minnesota. I find; however, that I have been sufficiently educated since then so that I at least had a vague idea about what was being discussed, which increased my enjoyment of Maher's humor significantly.
I never watched Politically Incorrect when it was on, but I do watch Real Time regularly, so I am familiar with Bill's point of view, although it seems he was a little less cynical about religion back in the 90's. Also, his panel guests were more varied. Presented here are a series of opening statements setting up a topic which I assume the panel went on to discuss. Several times this includes further humorous comments from Bill and also (more rarely) from his guests. I would have liked to have been privy to more of the discussion, but I think if you had watched the show, this would have been more of a reminder of what it was about, or possibly even redundant. There is no new material contained herein, so I wonder about the original point of releasing this collection.
There were several moments where I laughed aloud, but much less than when watching Bill on television, or reading other comedians' written offerings. Again, these are more conversation starters than essays. I suppose an interesting way to interact with the book would be to start conversations among one's friends and relatives, but that might devolve into an argument more damaging to familial relations than one would desire. At times I found myself musing about Bill's premise and trying to decide whether I agreed with him, which may have been his intention. I was entertained by the book and did find it humorous, so I suppose it achieved it's aim, at least with me. If you are a fan of Bill Maher or political humor, I would imagine you'd enjoy it too. ( )