Destined for Destiny

This has to be one of the funniest books of the year--read by "the man himself," with most of the mistakes edited in. Mr. President takes us from his humble beginnings "hauling buckets of oil money," through the 2000 Election, er, "glitches," and the War on Terror, to a discussion of what kind of memorial he might like. The rendition here is spotless, vocally depicting all Mr. President's mannerisms, and even includes a few choice speeches. (The 9/11 speech, for example, presented in its entirety, is a splendiferious tour de forcefulosity of political triumphantisationness). After enjoying this audiobook, a visit to the Web site is advised for the experience of hearing more words of wisdomness and historical factualitiosity. B.D.J. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

December 4, 2006
The authors maintain the satirical Web site WeeklyRadioAddress. com, which presents bogus audio clips, press releases and public policy directives in an uncannily official manner. In this "unauthorized autobiography" of George W. Bush (with Dikkers, editor-in-chief of the Onion
, portraying W), the distinguished pair of pranksters manages to serve up consistently entertaining and well-engineered—if not particularly inventive—political humor. Many of the recurring gags (sheltered prep-school privilege, a spotty résumé, a dogmatic worldview, lack of cultural sophistication) will no doubt generate hearty chuckles among listeners, especially those outside the committed GOP partisan tent. Yet, in today's bold new era of "fake journalism" led by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, it somehow fails to deliver a stinging knockout blow against the neo-con orthodoxy of the White House inner sanctum. Dikkers, Hilleren and S&S Audio do merit special recognition for innovation in the multimedia format of the bonus fifth disk, which offers iPod-ready MP3 files for easy downloading. The disk also contains documents and photos from the hardcover edition, a video retrospective and ersatz "noted presidential speeches and addresses." Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 23).