Thank You For Smoking -- Christopher Buckley

Thank you to everyone for participating in today's meeting. Let's move on to a book written in the pre-smart phone, pre-social media era, but one that still connects to some of the subject matter that we discussed today. Our next book will be Christopher Buckley's Thank You For Smoking. For those of you who aren't interested in reading the book, there is also a movie which is quite entertaining.

(Will be mixing things up for this meeting and hosting it on a Saturday rather than the usual Sunday meeting.)

Nick Naylor likes his job. In the neo-puritanical nineties, it's a challenge to defend the rights of smokers and a privilege to promote their liberty. Sure, it hurts a little when you're compared to Nazi war criminals, but Nick says he's just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage and put his son through Washington's elite private school St. Euthanasius. He can handle the pressure from the antismoking zealots, but he is less certain about his new boss, BR, who questions whether Nick is worth $150,000 a year to fight a losing war. Under pressure to produce results, Nick goes on a PR offensive. But his heightened notoriety makes him a target for someone who wants to prove just how hazardous smoking can be. If Nick isn't careful, he's going to be stubbed out.