a few days since finishing The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I have yet to have that conversation with my friends who have also survived Mr. Pollan’s opus (see what I did there? Oh, the cleverness of me). I hope to in the coming week to report back and finish up my writing about the tome in next week’s column.

In the meantime, I’ve been taking a break before starting The Zombie Survival Guide to work on polishing off a book I started a few months ago but never finished, Al Franken’s Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness. It’s more of a pamphlet in the Thomas Paine sense of the word, and widely unread as it is not one of his more popular political books like Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right (which I have also read, along with two other books by Franken).

I suppose I’ve been motivated to complete this half-finished book by Franken’s recent election to the US Senate, representing the state of Minnesota. It was a long and drawn out process and, at the time of this post, I’m not even sure if the recount has been certified or if Franken has been sworn into office. In fact, his opponent, incumbent Norm Coleman, still has suits pending regarding the recount in hopes the election may still go in his favor.

I’m not going to comment on any of that, however, because as it pertains to this particularly apolitical book, I just think Al Franken is terrific comic. So, no matter what your political affiliation, if you want a good laugh at how certainly not to live your life, this may be the book for you. And for those of you who would like to see Franken go all the way to the White House some day, he wrote that farce 8 years ago: Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency.

Politics aside, with chapters like “Oh, The Mistakes You’ll Keep Repeating,” “Oh, The Advice You Should Ignore,” and “Oh, Are You Going to Hate Your First Job,” Oh, The Things I Know is a fun and quick read, and a pleasant diversion from the non-stop 24-hour news channels’ depressing coverage of what’s in store. And tune in next week for the my concluding discussion on The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

In follow-up news, how’s the New Year’s Resolution working out so far?