Richard Devens Deven

Rational Polemics, by Richard Tood Devens Chapter 20: The Law of Averages (book excerpt) KIRKUS REVIEW Devens, in his debut, holds forth on a broad selection of societal ills, inconveniences, inequities and inanities. This wide-ranging, ambitious book covers a lot of ground, tackling everything from self-righteous religion to syrupy movie sound tracks. The author confidently wades into such thorny issues as criminality, the death penalty, marriage, obscenity and the solicitation of prostitutes. The book treats each polemic pit stop with an air of utmost sobriety and sophisticated reason, even when the arguments come off as rather strident. For example, the author recalls an incident in which he witnessed a disturbed teen masturbate in front of a gorgeous woman on a Brooklyn sidewalk, and he laments that he was not a “dictator” at the time, capable of having the pitiful offender “executed.” There’s little hint of Jonathan Swift when the author advocates cannibalizing convicted mu