As one of the first titles in Atlantic Monthly Press' Books That Changed the World series, America's most provocative satirist, P. J. O'Rourke, reads Adam Smith's revolutionary The Wealth of Nations so you don't have to. The Washington Post - Daniel Gross It's an incongruous pairing. Smith embarked on a systematic, lengthy, earnest examination of the economic world. "My job is to make quips, jests, and waggish comments," O'Rourke states. But like chocolate and salt, this unlikely combination works well together. In this book, O'Rourke is a charming, highly literate blogger -- one who thinks before actually writing -- elucidating Smith's arguments and making insightful comments along the way. It's a safe bet the words "Talmud" and "P.J. O'Rourke" have never been used in the same sentence. Yet there is something slightly Talmudic to the approach..