Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds D..., Penn Jillette
Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds D..., Penn Jillette
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Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales

Author: Penn Jillette

Narrator: Penn Jillette

Unabridged: 9 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Novel Audio

Published: 08/09/2016


Synopsis

An unconventional weight loss tale from an unconventional personality—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.

Legendary magician Penn Jillette was approaching his sixtieth birthday. Topping 330 pounds and saddled with a systolic blood pressure reading over 200, he knew he was at a dangerous crossroads: if he wanted to see his small children grow up, he needed to change. And then came Crazy Ray. A former NASA scientist and an unconventional, passionate innovator, Ray Cronise saved 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, 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.

About Penn Jillette

Penn Jillette has been one half of the Emmy Award–winning, world-famous magic duo Penn & Teller for more than thirty-five years. He is the author of God, No! and the novel Sock, as well as several books cowritten with Teller. He has appeared everywhere in the media, from Howard Stern to Piers Morgan to the op-ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times, to The Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing with the Stars, Numb3rs, MTV Cribs, and Chelsea Lately. As part of Penn & Teller, he has been featured more than twenty times on David Letterman, and on The Simpsons, Friends, Top Chef, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and more. Jillette is the producer, with director Paul Provenza, of The Aristocrats. He cohosted the controversial series Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which was nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards. Jillette lives with his family in Las Vegas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matthew on November 02, 2018

I have to start by saying I am a huge fan of Penn Jillette. I have watched his comedy for years and even attended a Penn and Teller show in Vegas. I love listening to him talk – he is just such a big and charismatic presence – everything he says is delivered with importance and grandeur. I was so gl......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on September 17, 2016

Want dieting advice from Penn Jillette? Here's the most useful piece of advice you'll find in Presto!: "Don't take dieting advice from a juggler." Seriously, though. If you approach this book as a dieting/lifestyle book (which I did, silly me), you're gonna have a bad time. It's not that I expected Pe......more

Goodreads review by Diana on July 01, 2020

I always liked Penn & Teller. They were often on the late-night talk shows when I was a teenager; they were funny and they were great magicians. Then, in the '90s, I started hearing Penn Jillette spouting stupid, right-wing beliefs, and I became disenchanted with him. He's a big libertarian, and I c......more

Goodreads review by Tom on August 14, 2016

I am pretty sure I like this book. I mean, the jokes are pretty familiar if you listen to Penn's podcast, and there are allusions to stories in previous books that will go over the heads of newcomers. But that's not really why anyone's buying this book, right? We all want to see how he did it, how h......more

Goodreads review by Judith on November 19, 2016

I have a soft spot for Penn Jillette. I've read many of his books and almost always enjoy them tremendously. He is completely irreverent and self-deprecatory while at the same time he goes to extremes praising the things and the people who make him happy. In that way, he reminds me of me. People are......more