Description

The voice of reason in a world that won’t shut up.

The Sunday Times Bestseller
Winner of the Parliamentary Book Awards

Every day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming hard-working immigrants for stealing their jobs while scrounging benefits, and pointing their fingers at the EU and feminists for destroying Britain. But what makes James’s daily LBC show such essential listening – and has made James a standout social media star – is the incisive way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning.

In the bestselling How To Be Right, James provides a hilarious and invigorating guide to talking to people with unchallenged 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 corporate cronies, this book is your conversation survival guide.

Publisher Review

This book made me smarter. And it made me laugh and nod my head, all the while thinking 'bloody hell, I wish I could argue like James'. Cogent, necessary, insightful and often very funny. -- Elizabeth Day I am stupidly excited about this book -- The Secret Barrister Funny, wise and passionate. Like Yoda with better grammar. -- Danny Wallace Intelligent, funny and worrying. An unsurprisingly brilliant read from a great broadcaster. I vehemently wish that everyone would read it. The World and this country would be a better place if they did. -- Gary Lineker Funny, clever and alarming ... a modern day travelogue through the airwaves with all the mistrust, misinformation, contradictions and manipulation laid bare -- Krishnan Guru-Murthy This book is required reading to slice through the rhetoric, slogans & bluster of politics and politicians. James is the broadcaster we need right now, setting the world to rights one call at a time -- Susanna Reid A total joy. If you feel like the world is going to hell in a handcart, here's the brakes -- Caitlin Moran A simply brilliant read ... I love this book! -- Jamie Oliver In the age of the tweet, such verbal ability increasingly seems like a superpower * The Times * 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 Almost indecently enjoyable -- Robert Webb James O'Brien has become the conscience of liberal Britain * New Statesman * 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 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