Reviews for Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)

The average rating for Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them) based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-10-16 00:00:00 Shannon Marsiglia I love "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me," so I thought I'd really love this book. And I'll say this for it; Peter Sagal has such a strong narrative style that I could practically hear him reading it aloud. Some sections were better than others, but I expected something a little different, I guess. In many cases Sagal takes one sample case and runs with it, rather than comparing several. In the section on swingers, for example, all his subjects come from one "club" or society, so what you get deal more with his observations than any concerted effort at real understanding of what motivates these people to participate in this behavior. It's not that I wanted something more salacious, but I did want a few more viewpoints. Entertaining, but I feel he missed a chance to do more; there's a little too much "of course you and I are far too square to really be interested in this" and not enough "why exactly is it that people would want to do that?"

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-24 00:00:00 Otto Maan This was mildly funny at times, but I was surprised to find Sagal so judgmental of "vices" that are not, to my twentieth-century liberal understanding, either unusual or particularly problematic. He tries to downplay the judgment by claiming he is simply too "vanilla" for the pornographic, polyamorous, or gourmand-y activities that form the subject of his text, but I felt there was a distinct tone of disapproval throughout, a fastidious sense of separation--only people who "aren't like us" commit these vices. I would have said I fit into Sagal's definition of "us," but now I'm not so sure. In fact, for the first time in my far-left life, I can actually understand why people stereotype liberals as snooty and uptight. Not cool, Mr. Sagal. I recommend Dan Savage's Skipping Towards Gomorrah as a much more entertaining and a much less tsk-tsk-ing alternative--the premise is the same, but the attitude is sincerely inquisitive, rather than an excuse to make fun of people who Sagal feels are too stupid to avoid "naughty" behaviors.