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A review by codubh
Conspiracy: A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them by Tom Phillips, Jonn Elledge
funny
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.0
I really enjoyed this, it's a great breakdown of all the various conspiracy theories that seem to have emerged in recent years, but have been present in one form or another for centuries or even millennia. The authors have done a great job researching the origins of all these ideas, as well as the psychology underpinning people's motivations in believing and spreading conspiracy theories, and present it in an easily digestible, conversational way. The tone of the book is very influenced by current Internet lingo however, and so it might seem a bit odd to those lucky few who aren't terminally online, not to mention the risk of being very dated in years to come.
The book illustrates clearly that we do live in a terrifying world where momentous change can happen on a whim, and it's weirdly more comforting for us to believe it's all part of a nefarious plot engineered by the elites, aliens, or in many cases, depressingly, minority groups. The book concludes with a nice guide to dissecting conspiracy theories, giving the reader the tools to evaluate these narratives for themselves. While I enjoyed this part, I was expecting it to comprise more of the book, given that 'how not to fall for them' is part of the book's subtitle. Instead it's skimmed over in a single chapter. Additionally, although it wasn't promised by the blurb, I did have my hopes that the book would provide good ways for the reader to combat misinformation and guide friends or relatives back out of the rabbit hole (other than simply give them the book well).
As an audiobook this works fine. The authors themselves do the narration, which works for the most part, although hearing Internet parlance in the deliberate polished English male accents sounds a bit off (e.g., "a messy bitch who loved drama). I might just be being too harsh there. One of the authors also speaks far slower than the other, and I had to increase the speed of his chapters; tellingly, those ones are considerably longer than the ones the other author narrates.
The book illustrates clearly that we do live in a terrifying world where momentous change can happen on a whim, and it's weirdly more comforting for us to believe it's all part of a nefarious plot engineered by the elites, aliens, or in many cases, depressingly, minority groups. The book concludes with a nice guide to dissecting conspiracy theories, giving the reader the tools to evaluate these narratives for themselves. While I enjoyed this part, I was expecting it to comprise more of the book, given that 'how not to fall for them' is part of the book's subtitle. Instead it's skimmed over in a single chapter. Additionally, although it wasn't promised by the blurb, I did have my hopes that the book would provide good ways for the reader to combat misinformation and guide friends or relatives back out of the rabbit hole (other than simply give them the book well).
As an audiobook this works fine. The authors themselves do the narration, which works for the most part, although hearing Internet parlance in the deliberate polished English male accents sounds a bit off (e.g., "a messy bitch who loved drama). I might just be being too harsh there. One of the authors also speaks far slower than the other, and I had to increase the speed of his chapters; tellingly, those ones are considerably longer than the ones the other author narrates.