Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales
Written by Penn Jillette
Narrated by Penn Jillette
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette is a cultural phenomenon as a solo personality and as half of the world-famous Emmy Award-winning magic duo Penn & Teller. His solo exposure is enormous: from Howard Stern to Glenn Beck to the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. He has appeared on Dancing with the Stars, MTV Cribs, and Chelsea Lately and hosted the NBC game show Identity. As part of Penn & Teller, he has appeared more than twenty times on David Letterman, as well as on several other TV shows, from The Simpsons and Friends to Top Chef and The View. He cohosts the controversial series Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, which has been nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards. He is currently cohost of the Discovery Channel's Penn & Teller Tell a Lie and the author of God, No! and Presto.
Related to Presto!
Related audiobooks
Year of No Sugar: A Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Holy Sh!t Moment: How Lasting Change Can Happen in an Instant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Potato Hack: Weight Loss Simplified Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happiness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Movie-Tie In: An Unauthorized Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Dirty Words: The Life and Crimes of George Carlin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Your Emotional Support Animal: Navigating Our All Woke, No Joke Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 30 Rock Book: Inside the Iconic Show, from Blerg to EGOT Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daddy, Stop Talking!: And Other Things My Kids Want But Won't Be Getting Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thalia Book Club: Eric Idle, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything Reminds Me of Something: Advice, Answers...But No Apologies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Starch Solution: Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kiss Me Like A Stranger: My Search for Love and Art Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doug Stanhope: No Refunds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madigan Again Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brain Droppings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jim Norton: Please Be Offended Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5David Cross: Oh, Come On Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession With Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crash Test Girl: An Unlikely Experiment in Using the Scientific Method to Answer Life’s Toughest Questions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bill Nye's Funniest Thoughts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Comedy Sex God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5President Me: The America That's In My Head Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fame: The Hijacking of Reality Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Industries For You
Mind Your Mindset: The Science That Shows Success Starts with Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All The Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All You Need to Know About the Music Business: 11th Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReal Food, Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disney's Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Artpreneur: The Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living From Your Creativity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of "The View" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sam Walton: Made in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burn Book: A Tech Love Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Age of Fentanyl: Ending the Opioid Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Presto!
61 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Funny personal stories mixed with food talk. A great combo of info about how he lost weight and entertaining stories.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you can cope with the swearing (come on... we're all adults here aren't we?) then it's a brilliant look into how *exactly* Penn managed to lose over 100 pounds.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Listened to this last night while driving. It was an honest, funny, interesting, inspiring, and really incredible journey of Penn's transformation to save his life. Really glad that he did the narration himself. Felt more like listening to a podcast/conversation instead of being read to.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed the insights into how to succeed when you choose to make a change. I would have given the book 4* but the language was off putting. Outside of the that it was worth a listen my take away is when I go to a restaurant where nothing looks good I can choose not to eat. It is not an option I ever considered using
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent , funny, and inspiring for those needing a little motivation.