How to Be Right cover art

How to Be Right

...in a world gone wrong

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

How to Be Right

By: James O'Brien
Narrated by: James O'Brien
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of How to Be Right, written and read by James O'Brien.

Forget agreeing to disagree – it’s time to learn How To Be Right.

Every day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming benefits scroungers, the EU, Muslims, feminists and immigrants. But what makes James’s daily LBC show such essential listening – and has made James a standout social media star – is the careful way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning.

In How To Be Right, James provides a hilarious and invigorating guide to talking to people with faulty opinions. With chapters on every lightning-rod issue, James shows how people have been fooled into thinking the way they do, and in each case outlines the key questions to ask to reveal fallacies, inconsistencies and double standards.

If you ever get cornered by ardent Brexiteers, Daily Mail disciples or little England patriots, this book is your conversation survival guide.

‘I have had a ringside seat as a significant swathe of the British population was persuaded that their failures were the fault of foreigners, that unisex lavatories threatened their peace of mind and that ‘all Muslims’ must somehow apologise for terror attacks by extremists. I have tried to dissuade them and sometimes succeeded.... The challenge is to distinguish sharply between the people who told lies and the people whose only offence was to believe them.’ (James O’Brien)

©2018 James O'Brien (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Politics & Government Thought-Provoking Middle East

Listeners also enjoyed...

How Not to Be Wrong cover art
How They Broke Britain cover art
How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't cover art
Jonathan Pie cover art
Culture Warrior cover art
The Decade in Tory cover art
The Conspiracy Tourist cover art
What Went Wrong with Brexit cover art
Depraved New World cover art
Enemies of the People cover art
The Islamic Republic of Australia cover art
How to Be a Liberal cover art
Total Propaganda cover art
The Buyer cover art
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions cover art
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race cover art

Critic reviews

"O’Brien is an exceptional broadcaster with a peerless ability to calmly point out the absurdity of certain viewpoints, a quality which similarly runs through this book ... provides a much-needed examination of the blustering rhetoric of politicians and media pundits, and brings a sliver of comfort to readers that they are not alone in their despair." (The Guardian)

"Almost indecently enjoyable." (Robert Webb)

"I know few broadcasters as consistently, forensically, brilliant as James O’ Brien. Here, he shows us -- with empathy, edge and exquisite comedy -- how it happens." (Emily Maitlis)

All stars
Most relevant
I first came across James O’Brien when he presented Newsnight and after seeing his blistering and frequently hilarious interviews with the ‘great and good’ I quickly became a fan. I was therefore disappointed when he departed to pursue his career on LBC but was quickly consoled after listening to his shows. I agree he can be abrasive and some of his takedowns can sound cruel but this book gives an excellent explanation as to why he reacts so strongly to people who base their views on conjecture rather than objective facts.
This audiobook reproduces some of his most startling conversations and although they are acted, much of the passion of the original discussions is well reproduced. James has famously strong views on Brexit and this is something he is currently admired and reviled for. He does however demonstrate a willingness to consider the views of others and has the humility to say he simply doesn’t know the answer on occasion.
This is a fascinating insight into the mind of a man who wants to be right not to satisfy his ego, but because it is the right thing to be. I hope he gets the opportunity to present on television again but in the meantime this book does a great job of filling the gap.

Smart, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I’m a big fan of James’s radio show so I downloaded the book. It’s an interesting listen but not really anything new to what I hear on a daily basis when he tries to enlighten the “gammon”

Worth a Listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Simply a rather sad but accurate description of the society we live in today. The author is able to effectively argue his agenda accurately and with compassion. Excellent read.

Read and Inwardly digest..ignore at your peril.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Just loved this book, made me question my own thoughts but also gave me ideas how to put my point across!

Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

O'Brien is one of those annoying stalwarts, like an old school maths teacher that insist the facts are correct before forming an opinion on them. He is of course right, 2+2 will never equal 5 and Brexit is junk preventing us from facing up to reality we don't want to see. The truth is its easier to blame someone else for our own problems and mistakes that have divided our society. This is a book all about unglossy home truths. It is about honest.

O'Brien is the mirror that our society needs to repair itself. Not the photoshopped version of the 'truth' many major media outlets peddle to cash in our fears.

It is about time that we follow the example James demonstrates in this book, research facts for ourself because 'Journalist' for the Sun, Mirror and Daily Express are nothing more than fiction writers making money. It is time we insisted on the warts and all facts without the window dressing of opinion and the path ahead will become clearer.

This is a book that sadly reflects the state of affairs we are in today. Essential reading for anyone that cares about fixing our society and wished they had listened to old maths teachers.

Holding up the mirror of what is happening today.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews