Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales

When one reaches age sixty, has young children, systolic blood pressure off the charts, and is medically obese, one needs some magic to improve one’s life. Since Penn Jillette is one of the greatest magicians around, leave it to him to find a way to change his life in the most meaningful way. With the help of very creative former NASA scientist Ray Cronise, Jillette takes on a revolutionary and rather bizarre eating plan that begins with two weeks of eating nothing but potatoes (sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, baked potatoes, any potatoes that have NOTHING added to them). He is also not allowed to exercise during the time he is losing weight, and lose weight he does—100 pounds. But it isn’t magic that does it. It’s a crazy diet that, when examined carefully, happens to make a lot of sense.

Penn Jillette is a funny guy, a very funny guy, but he is also extremely profane. If you are offended by profanity, this is NOT the book for you. E is the most common letter in English. F is the most common letter in this book. Beyond that, it is funny, smart, full of good information, and completely, hysterically funny.