“We were indestructible.
We didn’t need seatbelts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water, or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn’t require child safety caps on our medicines. We didn’t need helmets when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees or elbows when we went skating.
We knew without a written reminder that bleach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed to a match had a tendency to combust. We didn’t have to worry about what we ate:
sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, and coffee kept us alert and purring productively.”
And cigarettes were recommended by doctors. .
We didn’t need seatbelts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water, or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn’t require child safety caps on our medicines. We didn’t need helmets when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees or elbows when we went skating.
We knew without a written reminder that bleach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed to a match had a tendency to combust. We didn’t have to worry about what we ate:
sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, and coffee kept us alert and purring productively.”
And cigarettes were recommended by doctors. .
I was wary at first. A guy named Shadow gets out of jail and heads home only to find his wife has died in a crash. Yuk. I hate stuff about wives dying, or losing a child, or never having a father, etc. There are enough trite sentimental novels bulging with contrived pathos. Then we find out she died while giving Shadow’s best friend a blowjob. And then his dead wife gives him a visit. Soon I am hurtled into a book I can’t stop reading.
Nothing maudlin here. This is not a stereotypical horror novel filled with tired worn out over-used clichés.
Reminds me of The Stand: a huge epic supernatural dream that I regretted waking from.
A Midwestern America populated with the gods of old. Horus, Isis, Jackal, jinn and demons; ancient ripples washing into the present.
Gaiman does exactly what I like: making hallucinogenic surreal supernaturalism appear everyday and logical.
It’s the little things. Like when Shadow hold s a straight raxor to his neck and thinks how easy it would be to slash his own throat and the bathroom door opens a crack to allow a cat to stick it’s head around the jam and inquire, “Mrr?”
Or when one of the Egyptian gods explains to Shadow how, back in the day, they would “line you up when you died, and you’d answer for your evil deeds, and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we’d feed your soul and heart to Ammet, Eater of Souls.”
“He must have eaten a lot of people,” Shadow says.
“Not as many as you’d think. It was a really heavy show more feather.
We had it made special.” show less
Nothing maudlin here. This is not a stereotypical horror novel filled with tired worn out over-used clichés.
Reminds me of The Stand: a huge epic supernatural dream that I regretted waking from.
A Midwestern America populated with the gods of old. Horus, Isis, Jackal, jinn and demons; ancient ripples washing into the present.
Gaiman does exactly what I like: making hallucinogenic surreal supernaturalism appear everyday and logical.
It’s the little things. Like when Shadow hold s a straight raxor to his neck and thinks how easy it would be to slash his own throat and the bathroom door opens a crack to allow a cat to stick it’s head around the jam and inquire, “Mrr?”
Or when one of the Egyptian gods explains to Shadow how, back in the day, they would “line you up when you died, and you’d answer for your evil deeds, and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we’d feed your soul and heart to Ammet, Eater of Souls.”
“He must have eaten a lot of people,” Shadow says.
“Not as many as you’d think. It was a really heavy show more feather.
We had it made special.” show less
Not nearly as frightening the blurbs blab, this oinker wasn't horrible--just disappointing.
Kinda like the old Scooby-Doo cartoons when they'd find out the awesome mystery was just an old guy in a mask trying to keep real estate prices low by scaring people away, this book promises all sorts of spookiness only to spoil it all with reality and rational explanations.
Meh.
And I'm really not a fan of ricocheting back and forth between different character perspectives.
Rashomon this isn't.
BUY? BORROW? BURN?
Not worth borrowing and doesn't deserve to be burned.
Just leave it there in the library free bin along with the
other 28 copies.
Kinda like the old Scooby-Doo cartoons when they'd find out the awesome mystery was just an old guy in a mask trying to keep real estate prices low by scaring people away, this book promises all sorts of spookiness only to spoil it all with reality and rational explanations.
Meh.
And I'm really not a fan of ricocheting back and forth between different character perspectives.
Rashomon this isn't.
BUY? BORROW? BURN?
Not worth borrowing and doesn't deserve to be burned.
Just leave it there in the library free bin along with the
other 28 copies.
Ever since The Mezzanine (best book ever written #32), Baker has been a personal god of mine. Marvelous minutiae meets a rambling overview from poems to Tetris to Sharpies.
The Anthologist is simple and profound, silly and useful.
It's a book about poetry for people who hate poetry.
And all you poem-huggers will embrace this as well.
BUY, BORROW or BURN?
Buy.
The Anthologist is simple and profound, silly and useful.
It's a book about poetry for people who hate poetry.
And all you poem-huggers will embrace this as well.
BUY, BORROW or BURN?
Buy.
Don’t girls just write Harlequin romances and chick lit?
Nope.
Smart cool and dangerously perverse.
Nope.
Smart cool and dangerously perverse.
Elitism for all! A global homogeneous unified group of unique and rare individuals! Each member of the mob will be sure to get the biggest piece of cake and best seat at the movies.
No matter which way you lean or sway, this deliciously intelligent rant on copyright law interspersed with wickedly stinging swats to the nearsighted selfish bottoms of a large group of sadly misinformed myopics who think everything from art to music to movies to books should come out of some sort of faucet for free, it's an always highly entertaining trove of droll witticisms and the exquisite wordwork is simply awe-inspiring in how quickly it makes my bemusement rise.
Highly recommended, especially to those who will never read it.
No matter which way you lean or sway, this deliciously intelligent rant on copyright law interspersed with wickedly stinging swats to the nearsighted selfish bottoms of a large group of sadly misinformed myopics who think everything from art to music to movies to books should come out of some sort of faucet for free, it's an always highly entertaining trove of droll witticisms and the exquisite wordwork is simply awe-inspiring in how quickly it makes my bemusement rise.
Highly recommended, especially to those who will never read it.
Brilliant quantum scientific vedantic mysticism that compliments and strasncends the first book, "Stalking The Wild Pendulum."
A genius crank tome that's impossible to mock.
Pro-effin-found.
A genius crank tome that's impossible to mock.
Pro-effin-found.
Don’t girls just write Harlequin romances and chick lit?
With shopping is the plot?
Nope.
Smart cool and dangerously perverse.
With shopping is the plot?
Nope.
Smart cool and dangerously perverse.
A concise analysis of the last five hundred years of religious evolution in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Should be required reading for anyone who really wants to understand "where we are now" and "how we got here."
Lots of rich historical detail, but Armstrong also makes observations that seem obvious when you hear them, such as: fundamentalist movements are always fearful reactions to the encroachments of modernity and that attempts to modernize quickly are more likely to fuel a violent fundamentalist reaction than gradual change. You may also find some conclusions that seem surprising, such as that literal interpretations of the Bible are a very recent phenomenon.
Armstrong is not anti-religion, but she has a very clear-eyed view of it. It's hard to read this and not wonder how much better off we'd all be if our respective decision makers (deciders?) had such a broad and rational understanding of the world. You know, say a liberal arts degree instead of business school, debate club instead of the cheerleading squad, real military service instead of fake reserve service. (Sorry, I digress.)
Of course, the bad news is that at THIS point in history, irrational fundamentalism has gone mainstream, and not just in the Muslim world. American Christian Fundamentalists now control all three branches of our government.
The Battle For God will take you from Ferdinand and Isabella's expulsion of the Muslims to just shy of Bush Jr.'s Christian coup detat. For details on how the show more latter was accomplished, see Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again. show less
Lots of rich historical detail, but Armstrong also makes observations that seem obvious when you hear them, such as: fundamentalist movements are always fearful reactions to the encroachments of modernity and that attempts to modernize quickly are more likely to fuel a violent fundamentalist reaction than gradual change. You may also find some conclusions that seem surprising, such as that literal interpretations of the Bible are a very recent phenomenon.
Armstrong is not anti-religion, but she has a very clear-eyed view of it. It's hard to read this and not wonder how much better off we'd all be if our respective decision makers (deciders?) had such a broad and rational understanding of the world. You know, say a liberal arts degree instead of business school, debate club instead of the cheerleading squad, real military service instead of fake reserve service. (Sorry, I digress.)
Of course, the bad news is that at THIS point in history, irrational fundamentalism has gone mainstream, and not just in the Muslim world. American Christian Fundamentalists now control all three branches of our government.
The Battle For God will take you from Ferdinand and Isabella's expulsion of the Muslims to just shy of Bush Jr.'s Christian coup detat. For details on how the show more latter was accomplished, see Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again. show less
There are very few books I've read more than once.
~Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
~One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
~Neighbors by Thomas Berger
~Jerusalem Poker by Edward Whittemore
Plus, regardless of any perveived racial slurs in the title, this one.
The booka nd movie get a bad rap from the press but of course,
they are blinded by their own ignoarrogance.
~Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
~One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
~Neighbors by Thomas Berger
~Jerusalem Poker by Edward Whittemore
Plus, regardless of any perveived racial slurs in the title, this one.
The booka nd movie get a bad rap from the press but of course,
they are blinded by their own ignoarrogance.
Do it.
The Indiana Jones of travel writing takes you on yet another riotous ride in his quest to find the source of King Solomon's gold in Ethiopa, the land of the Queen of Sheba.
Do it.
Loved his previous book The Sorcerer's Apprentice, where he becomes an initiate and isciple to Indian fakirs and miracle workers....wonderful!
Edgy, strong, hallucinogenic writing.
Do it.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
The Indiana Jones of travel writing takes you on yet another riotous ride in his quest to find the source of King Solomon's gold in Ethiopa, the land of the Queen of Sheba.
Do it.
Loved his previous book The Sorcerer's Apprentice, where he becomes an initiate and isciple to Indian fakirs and miracle workers....wonderful!
Edgy, strong, hallucinogenic writing.
Do it.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
Finally, a good use for the trendy phrase I loathe so much: MY BAD by Paul Slansky and Arleen Sorkin (yep, her).
This is prime bathroom reading material, and lasts much longer than the Onion.
And it actually true, literally: alot!
Sorry.
See? How easy it is?
Great to raed the history of bad deeds and worse apologies from McDonald's beef tallow for vegans travesty to Clintons smoking accessories--it's all here.
Guess what? Racist freakwad Trent Lott is the champion apologizer: six apologies in 8 days---an Apol-Orgy all stemming from his innocent segregational beliefs and wistful regret that Strom Thurmond's legacy and slavery were in the past: "Hey, I'm for affirmative action---I've had black people on my staff."
Oh, and though he voted AGAINST the Martin Luther King holiday, he did vote to have a bust of MLK in the Capitol because "that was something that would help bring reconciliation.
My good.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW
This is prime bathroom reading material, and lasts much longer than the Onion.
And it actually true, literally: alot!
Sorry.
See? How easy it is?
Great to raed the history of bad deeds and worse apologies from McDonald's beef tallow for vegans travesty to Clintons smoking accessories--it's all here.
Guess what? Racist freakwad Trent Lott is the champion apologizer: six apologies in 8 days---an Apol-Orgy all stemming from his innocent segregational beliefs and wistful regret that Strom Thurmond's legacy and slavery were in the past: "Hey, I'm for affirmative action---I've had black people on my staff."
Oh, and though he voted AGAINST the Martin Luther King holiday, he did vote to have a bust of MLK in the Capitol because "that was something that would help bring reconciliation.
My good.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW
I felt greasy and grimy (like gopher guts?) after reading this but it's good grime.
Chapter titles like these:
Ugly
Itchy
Mouldy
Noisy
Grotty
Dirty
Gloomy....
Give an idea of the visceral "pleasures" within.
Fascinating and painstakingly researched, this is a must for those wondering what life was really like in the 1600s.
Jaw-dropping plates by William Hogarth abound.
"This book inhabits a grubby and squalid world, truffling out details that are vivid, colourful and sometimes downright nauseous. It's a veritage feast of filth and foulness, and I loved every minute of it,' - Christopher Hart, Literary Review
BUY, BORROW, OR BURN?
BUY.
Chapter titles like these:
Ugly
Itchy
Mouldy
Noisy
Grotty
Dirty
Gloomy....
Give an idea of the visceral "pleasures" within.
Fascinating and painstakingly researched, this is a must for those wondering what life was really like in the 1600s.
Jaw-dropping plates by William Hogarth abound.
"This book inhabits a grubby and squalid world, truffling out details that are vivid, colourful and sometimes downright nauseous. It's a veritage feast of filth and foulness, and I loved every minute of it,' - Christopher Hart, Literary Review
BUY, BORROW, OR BURN?
BUY.
A scholarly yet highly readable looks into centuries of blaming the Jews for Christ's death from the beginnings to Mel Gibson's Passion. Interesting, compelling, provacative.
Echos something I've noticed: anti-semiticism is embedded in the very building blocks of Christianity.
Excellent book.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
Echos something I've noticed: anti-semiticism is embedded in the very building blocks of Christianity.
Excellent book.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
The Cult of the Amateur: How blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and the rest of today's user-generated media are destroying our economy, our culture, and our values by Andrew Keen
Should we tear down the veil and give the unwashed masses the keys to the secrets of the temple?
Oop, too late. Now what?
Mr. Keen argues that “what the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment."
Duh? Hell, yeah!
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW
Oop, too late. Now what?
Mr. Keen argues that “what the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment."
Duh? Hell, yeah!
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW
I HIGHLY recommend this book---if you want a "rip-roaring good read" (Jon Krakauer, author of Under the Banner of Heaven---a brilliant book also)).
This blows the amateur bad writing of Dan Brown out of the universe!
Smart, lyrical, compelling, and: scary!
I haven't been freaked out by a horror novel for a thousand years.
This is the one.
The first book is The Descent---the book I hoped had been made into a movie (The Descent wasn't it; neither was The Cave) and it should be.
Deeper is the sequel.
You don't really need to read the first to enjoy the second but you should.
The first is even more epic and amazing.
Seriously.
BUY BORROW or BURN?
BUY!
This blows the amateur bad writing of Dan Brown out of the universe!
Smart, lyrical, compelling, and: scary!
I haven't been freaked out by a horror novel for a thousand years.
This is the one.
The first book is The Descent---the book I hoped had been made into a movie (The Descent wasn't it; neither was The Cave) and it should be.
Deeper is the sequel.
You don't really need to read the first to enjoy the second but you should.
The first is even more epic and amazing.
Seriously.
BUY BORROW or BURN?
BUY!
This is by the guy whoe wrote THEM and it is an absolute stunning read.
Witty, weird, wild.
PsyOps in the miltary: everything from "remote viewers" to attempts to walk through walls and stare goats to death.
One even glares at a hamster until it tips over.
Excellent.
Highly reccomended.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
Witty, weird, wild.
PsyOps in the miltary: everything from "remote viewers" to attempts to walk through walls and stare goats to death.
One even glares at a hamster until it tips over.
Excellent.
Highly reccomended.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
You know that list of brilliant books?
The one with Catch 22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Foucalt's Pendulum?
Add one more:
The Underground Man by Mick Jackson.
(Not to be confused with Dostoevsky's Notes from.)
"This lovely book is a fictionalised account of the life of the very real and very eccentric Fifth Duke of Portland who had miles of elaborate tunnels constructed under his mansion and who avoided contact with people wherever possible."
Beautiful, bizarre, disturbing, heartbreaking, hell: heartwarming! Pitch perfect amazing. Underground tunnels, a floating boy, phrenology, and trepanning. Who needs more? This is one of the very few books I have ever read twice.
Excerpt (His Grace notices that bones must litter the ocean from all the dead whales. He is surprised they aren't poking up out of the water. And the world must be "a vast burial ground on which we are invited to picnic briefly."):
At four oclock this afternoon it occured to me that Mrs. Pledger is, in fact, a ship and that all the house's little gusts and zephyrs are what fill her skirts and blow her from room to room. It was only her breezing into my room this lunchtime with a bowl of minnestrone in her hand which finally provoked in me this nautical connection. ...I thought to myself "There must be a good deal of hidden rigging to keep her so navigable and trim."
I watched with interest as she dropped anchor on the fireside rug and placed my soup on the table by the chair...I saw I was going to show more have to squeeze the truth out of her. "You're a sizeable lady, Mrs. Pledger," I told her, and waited to see how this little observation went down. She stared at me but not a word came out of her, so I continued. "Be kind enough, Mrs. Pledger, to tell me about the bones."
She did her best to assume an incredulous air, but it was quite plain I had caught her out. "And which bones might they be, Your Grace?" she replied, reddening.
"Why, the whalebones that hold us all together, " I countered calmly, and leaning over towards her, added, "And maybe the secret ones, Mrs. Pledger, that keep you so shapely looking."
She was properly horror-stricken. I leaned back triumphantly in my chair.
I believe I may be the first mortal man to understand the significance of whale bones which are stitched into every woman's corset. For all I know, Mrs. Pledger is, at this very moment, down in the kitchens sending out signals to the bone organizations. Perhaps this is why women are so peculiar. They are all in league with the whales.
BUY, BORROW, OR BURN?
BUY show less
The one with Catch 22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Foucalt's Pendulum?
Add one more:
The Underground Man by Mick Jackson.
(Not to be confused with Dostoevsky's Notes from.)
"This lovely book is a fictionalised account of the life of the very real and very eccentric Fifth Duke of Portland who had miles of elaborate tunnels constructed under his mansion and who avoided contact with people wherever possible."
Beautiful, bizarre, disturbing, heartbreaking, hell: heartwarming! Pitch perfect amazing. Underground tunnels, a floating boy, phrenology, and trepanning. Who needs more? This is one of the very few books I have ever read twice.
Excerpt (His Grace notices that bones must litter the ocean from all the dead whales. He is surprised they aren't poking up out of the water. And the world must be "a vast burial ground on which we are invited to picnic briefly."):
At four oclock this afternoon it occured to me that Mrs. Pledger is, in fact, a ship and that all the house's little gusts and zephyrs are what fill her skirts and blow her from room to room. It was only her breezing into my room this lunchtime with a bowl of minnestrone in her hand which finally provoked in me this nautical connection. ...I thought to myself "There must be a good deal of hidden rigging to keep her so navigable and trim."
I watched with interest as she dropped anchor on the fireside rug and placed my soup on the table by the chair...I saw I was going to show more have to squeeze the truth out of her. "You're a sizeable lady, Mrs. Pledger," I told her, and waited to see how this little observation went down. She stared at me but not a word came out of her, so I continued. "Be kind enough, Mrs. Pledger, to tell me about the bones."
She did her best to assume an incredulous air, but it was quite plain I had caught her out. "And which bones might they be, Your Grace?" she replied, reddening.
"Why, the whalebones that hold us all together, " I countered calmly, and leaning over towards her, added, "And maybe the secret ones, Mrs. Pledger, that keep you so shapely looking."
She was properly horror-stricken. I leaned back triumphantly in my chair.
I believe I may be the first mortal man to understand the significance of whale bones which are stitched into every woman's corset. For all I know, Mrs. Pledger is, at this very moment, down in the kitchens sending out signals to the bone organizations. Perhaps this is why women are so peculiar. They are all in league with the whales.
BUY, BORROW, OR BURN?
BUY show less
I liked Name of the Rose and Island of the Day Before but I love Foucalts Pendulum.
This is a lovely and wonderous little book.
Peter Bruegel's Tower of Babl on the cover makes it even better.
I bathe in ancient history, origins of language, odd religions, psychic archeology, magick and the occult, and semiotics.
Geurilla ontology.
This book is about the serach for the a priori perfect pre-Adamic language. It used to be assumed that it was Hebrew. Early thinkers thought an infant left completely alone would naturally start speaking Hebrew. It was the language with which God conversed with Adam and the linguistic roots that Adam used to name everything.
It's about the fascinating failures of attempts to reconstruct and establish an architectonically perfect system of ideas composed of mutual dependences and strict classifications from the general to the particular.
It would, for instance, solve the librarian's dilemma at where to catalog a book (Dewey s system leaves a lot tobe desired and complimentary books at opposite ends of the library....)
Eco speaks of mentalese, a hopeful proposed language "written in the very convulutions of our brains, capable of supplying the deep structure of every expression in any natural language."
Borges plays with the idea and quotes from the Foucalt's description of the Chinese encyclopedia Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Recognitions":
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS:
-those that belong to the Emperor
-embalmed ones
-those that are trained show more
-suckling pigs
-mermaids
-fabulous ones
-stray dogs
-those included in the present classification
-those that tremble as if they were mad
-innumerable ones
-those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush
others
-those that have just broken a flower vase
-those that look like flies from far away....
Wow.
Loving it. We are getting closer to a polydimensional encyclopedia with hypertext nowadays.
And Alembert could have been have been talking about Wikipedia hundreds of years ago:
"...a labyrinth, a tortuous path, composed of diverse branches, some of which converge towards a same center...and since departing from it , it is not possible to follow all the paths at once---the choice is determined by the nature of the different spirits..."
Interesting, funny, thoght-provoking, and an excellent translation by my favorite translator of Italian, William Weaver. (Is it too geeky to have a favorite translator? I love Cleary, too.)
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW show less
This is a lovely and wonderous little book.
Peter Bruegel's Tower of Babl on the cover makes it even better.
I bathe in ancient history, origins of language, odd religions, psychic archeology, magick and the occult, and semiotics.
Geurilla ontology.
This book is about the serach for the a priori perfect pre-Adamic language. It used to be assumed that it was Hebrew. Early thinkers thought an infant left completely alone would naturally start speaking Hebrew. It was the language with which God conversed with Adam and the linguistic roots that Adam used to name everything.
It's about the fascinating failures of attempts to reconstruct and establish an architectonically perfect system of ideas composed of mutual dependences and strict classifications from the general to the particular.
It would, for instance, solve the librarian's dilemma at where to catalog a book (Dewey s system leaves a lot tobe desired and complimentary books at opposite ends of the library....)
Eco speaks of mentalese, a hopeful proposed language "written in the very convulutions of our brains, capable of supplying the deep structure of every expression in any natural language."
Borges plays with the idea and quotes from the Foucalt's description of the Chinese encyclopedia Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Recognitions":
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS:
-those that belong to the Emperor
-embalmed ones
-those that are trained show more
-suckling pigs
-mermaids
-fabulous ones
-stray dogs
-those included in the present classification
-those that tremble as if they were mad
-innumerable ones
-those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush
others
-those that have just broken a flower vase
-those that look like flies from far away....
Wow.
Loving it. We are getting closer to a polydimensional encyclopedia with hypertext nowadays.
And Alembert could have been have been talking about Wikipedia hundreds of years ago:
"...a labyrinth, a tortuous path, composed of diverse branches, some of which converge towards a same center...and since departing from it , it is not possible to follow all the paths at once---the choice is determined by the nature of the different spirits..."
Interesting, funny, thoght-provoking, and an excellent translation by my favorite translator of Italian, William Weaver. (Is it too geeky to have a favorite translator? I love Cleary, too.)
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW show less
If you enjoy tasting the forbidden via The Devil's Picinic, perhaps you'll enjoy talking to the forbidden, too. Jon (Jew, true) decides to find out who THEM is and why THEY are persecuting him/us?
Mr. Ronson is the author of the equally cool and brilliantThe Men Who Stare At Goats, the tale of our military psychics and remote viewers who trained themselves to kill goats just by glaring purposively at them.
THEM began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Ronson had got to know some enemies of western democracy - Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis Ku Klux Klan - he found that they had one belief in common: that a tiny elite, which meets in secret, determines the course of global events.
(Bilderberger Group, Illuminatis, Madison City Council, etc)
Ronson's quest to locate these secret rulers of the world was both hazardous and hilarious. He was chased by men in dark glasses; he was unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp; he was forced to listen to David Icke expound his theory that the world is controlled by 12-foot lizards; he witnessed international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of Northern California. He also learned some alarming things about the looking-glass world of 'them' and 'us'. Were the extremists right? Or had he become one of THEM?
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
Mr. Ronson is the author of the equally cool and brilliantThe Men Who Stare At Goats, the tale of our military psychics and remote viewers who trained themselves to kill goats just by glaring purposively at them.
THEM began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Ronson had got to know some enemies of western democracy - Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis Ku Klux Klan - he found that they had one belief in common: that a tiny elite, which meets in secret, determines the course of global events.
(Bilderberger Group, Illuminatis, Madison City Council, etc)
Ronson's quest to locate these secret rulers of the world was both hazardous and hilarious. He was chased by men in dark glasses; he was unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp; he was forced to listen to David Icke expound his theory that the world is controlled by 12-foot lizards; he witnessed international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of Northern California. He also learned some alarming things about the looking-glass world of 'them' and 'us'. Were the extremists right? Or had he become one of THEM?
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
David Foster Wallace is brilliant, smart, hilarious, and dead.---and I still can't make it through Infinite Jest. This book is gaggle of essays---from attending adult video award ceremonies to teaching Kafka to SNOOTs (Syntax Nudniks of Our Time)
And if you want confirmation that Scotty Schwartz (from The Toy and A Christmas Story) really did make a porno flick, and really is an idiot, check it out.
He sticks his tongure on other places.
Even more interesting about this cerebral collage is that the photo of DFW on the back looks just like the Geico Neandrathal...
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
And if you want confirmation that Scotty Schwartz (from The Toy and A Christmas Story) really did make a porno flick, and really is an idiot, check it out.
He sticks his tongure on other places.
Even more interesting about this cerebral collage is that the photo of DFW on the back looks just like the Geico Neandrathal...
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
A feat of intellectual history and contemporary social analysis and an ingenious diatribe on the new epidemic of false knowledge, this is an impassioned plea for reason amid irrationality,“swallowing falsities for truth, dubiosities for certainties, feasibilities for possibilities, and things impossible as possibilities."
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
The Essential Series are small bios of important artists.
Man Ray, who I used to mix up with Rene Magritte, was one of the originators of Surrealism.
You've seen his stuff: a disembodied huge pair of red lips in a blue sky; an iron with nails sticking out of the bottom; iconic surreal fashion photos. He hung with Marcel Duchamp and the dadaists.
Reading this little book about this big man inspired me greatly.
It fires the bohemian punk iconoclastic artistic spirit within.
BUY BORROW or BURN?
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Man Ray, who I used to mix up with Rene Magritte, was one of the originators of Surrealism.
You've seen his stuff: a disembodied huge pair of red lips in a blue sky; an iron with nails sticking out of the bottom; iconic surreal fashion photos. He hung with Marcel Duchamp and the dadaists.
Reading this little book about this big man inspired me greatly.
It fires the bohemian punk iconoclastic artistic spirit within.
BUY BORROW or BURN?
BUY
Sanghun Choe has taken the time out from co-authoring "The Bridge at No Gun RI: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War" receiving a special award from the Korean Journalists Association for the report and the book, is working as an AP reporter in Seoul, South Korea, to whip up this steaming HOT delicious bimbap of colloquial dissonance between Korean and American sayings.
I am already hungry for more.
AMERICANS SAY: Once on shore, you pray no more.
KOREANS SAY: The person you are when you go to the toilet is completely different from the person you are when you walk out of the toilet.
WE CALL IT: A useless gesture
KOREA CALLS IT: Touching the balls of a dead boy
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I am already hungry for more.
AMERICANS SAY: Once on shore, you pray no more.
KOREANS SAY: The person you are when you go to the toilet is completely different from the person you are when you walk out of the toilet.
WE CALL IT: A useless gesture
KOREA CALLS IT: Touching the balls of a dead boy
BUY BORROW or BURN?
BUY
If you going to read the Bible, at least learn to read it with the eye of a raving mystic Theosophist. Graham exposes all sorts of stories we think we already understand to be actually deep multi-layered occult codes for intiates.
Cranky? A bit. But I like crank.
But extremely intelligent, and inspiring, and intriguing, turning much of the way we look at the Bible into a richer, more magickal, and more meaningful book.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW
Cranky? A bit. But I like crank.
But extremely intelligent, and inspiring, and intriguing, turning much of the way we look at the Bible into a richer, more magickal, and more meaningful book.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BORROW
Absolutely highlarious!
A pitch perfect, hyrberbolically matter-of-fact look back.
Not cutesy but acerbically Sedarian.
Brilliant. Excellent. I am so jealous that these words doth not flow from me!
Mmm good.
EXCERPT:
“We were indestructible. We didn’t need seatbelts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water, or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn’t require child safety caps on our medicines. We didn’t need helmets, when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees or elbows when we went skating. We knew without a written reminder that bldach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed toi a match had a tendemncy to combust. We didn’t have to worry about what we ate : sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, and coffee kept us alert and purring productively.”
And cigarettes were recommended by doctors.
A pitch perfect, hyrberbolically matter-of-fact look back.
Not cutesy but acerbically Sedarian.
Brilliant. Excellent. I am so jealous that these words doth not flow from me!
Mmm good.
EXCERPT:
“We were indestructible. We didn’t need seatbelts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water, or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn’t require child safety caps on our medicines. We didn’t need helmets, when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees or elbows when we went skating. We knew without a written reminder that bldach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed toi a match had a tendemncy to combust. We didn’t have to worry about what we ate : sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, and coffee kept us alert and purring productively.”
And cigarettes were recommended by doctors.
Yow.
If you like Terrance McKenna, Mircea Eliade , or John Anthony West, you will love this.
Even if you hate those authors, you will at least like this book. hate those authors, you will at least like this book.
"The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby takes a serious look at how neurogenetic consciousness informs awareness, knowledge, symbolism and culture. His comparison of the ancient cosmic serpent myths to the genetic situation in every living cell reveals the immortal biomolecular wizard behind the curtain of everyday life. His anthropological study, ayahuasca experience and scientific speculations weave a tale of shamans who bring their consciousness down to molecular levels with sophisticated neurotransmitter potions in order to perceive information contained in the coherent visible light emitted by DNA." (http://deoxy.org/meme/CosmicSerpent)
Coherent, smart, brilliant.
Highly recommended.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY
If you like Terrance McKenna, Mircea Eliade , or John Anthony West, you will love this.
Even if you hate those authors, you will at least like this book. hate those authors, you will at least like this book.
"The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby takes a serious look at how neurogenetic consciousness informs awareness, knowledge, symbolism and culture. His comparison of the ancient cosmic serpent myths to the genetic situation in every living cell reveals the immortal biomolecular wizard behind the curtain of everyday life. His anthropological study, ayahuasca experience and scientific speculations weave a tale of shamans who bring their consciousness down to molecular levels with sophisticated neurotransmitter potions in order to perceive information contained in the coherent visible light emitted by DNA." (http://deoxy.org/meme/CosmicSerpent)
Coherent, smart, brilliant.
Highly recommended.
BUY, BORROW, or BURN?
BUY