Back in 1976, the movie Network premiered. In it, newscaster Howard Beale, played brilliantly by Peter Finch, finds out that he's being let go and goes on an extended rant in the middle of his newscast. Realizing that he's not the only one who's frustrated and tired of feeling powerless and valueless, he encourages everyone who is watching to open their windows and yell, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" From there, he gets his own show as the "mad prophet of the airwaves," so it's no big surprise that our current prophet of the airwaves, Coast to Coast AM host George Noory, called his new book Mad as Hell. 

Part memoir, part call to action, Mad as Hell is a look at some of the things happening in our world today and what it can mean to our future. Noory talks about the economic inequalities and the war on the middle class. the vulnerability of our power grid, the possibility of the breakdown of civilization due to an asteroid or solar flare, the possibility (probability? certainty?) of extraterrestrial life, and how the connectivity of the internet makes us all targets for thieves and terrorists. He has heard it all, he's researched it all, and he's holding nothing back in his new book.

Known for compassion and honesty, Noory offers his nightly talk radio show listeners and experts a chance to tell their stories and to be heard. Coast to Coast AM is not just national but international, and Noory's expertise and wisdom stretch around the world to inform his shows with science and stories of personal encounters. With his experiences in television broadcasting, public relations, owning a restaurant, breeding horses, and back to the talk radio where he started, Noory has a lot of intelligence to offer the late night workers, the truckers, the insomniacs, and everyone else who listens to the overnight radio show. 

Mad as Hell is a wake-up call, an announcement that action is needed, an exclamation that something has to be done. We the people need to pay attention and be smart citizens if we want to save our own country, our world, our lives. We all need to get mad as hell and decide that we're not going to take it anymore. Just like George Noory. 



Galleys for Mad as Hell provided by Tor/Forge (Macmillan) through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.

So I admit that I really only knew George Noory from when I had late nights out and listened to <i>Coast to Coast</i> with him as a guest host. But still, this is marketed as a political book by a well-known conspiracy monger (at least the fun ones), so why not take a flier on it?

The elephant in the room is that the politics really take a back seat here. There are a few mentions here and there, but they're mostly in the context of well-known alien abduction and government conspiracy tales. So instead of getting some hot takes on the current climate from the context of someone who may or may not believe in lizard people, it ends up being an introductory primer on a bunch of conspiracies I was already aware of. Great for people new to the area of interest, pretty useless for the rest of us.

The best part of the book for me, though, was the mini-memoir Noory includes in the end, telling his story and how he got to the point he's at in his career. This was perhaps the most interesting part of the read for me and might have been more valuable as the framework for whatever the intention was here than anything else.

Overall? I can't recommend it unless you're REALLY into what Noory's into and his mere existence is enough to get you excited. It offers nothing new to anyone already familiar with the topics Noory operates in. It's way too light and introductory for most audiences.