Reading Thread 08/31/2025

Howdy Readers! Welcome to the Reading Thread, your Sunday morning source for the insightful, lively and spirited discussion of books 'n stuff. I'm filling in for a while as this space re-invents itself under new management so please set your near-term expectations accordingly low.

Thinking back to last week, who would've guessed there would be so many ball-bearing h8ers going all Rain Man in the comments? Not me! I think what we witnessed just proves how radicalized the anti-ball bearing faction has become today.

Anyhoo, what do we have this week? Why, it's none other than a special Reading Thread guest appearance from our pal and delightful 'ette, All Hail Eris, who sent this in a couple of weeks ago. Thanks AHE!

Feel free to discuss reading and books in general and share your thoughts on this week's selections if you're so inclined.

I know you're just as excited as I am, so just jump below the fold to get started!

Sunday Morning Book Thread -- [All Hail Eris]

click me!

Good morning, bibliophiles, and welcome once again to the classy and luxurious Sunday Morning Book Thread, that plushly appointed mosh pit of opinion, snark, choler, jest and japery, and our continuing conversation on books, reading, writing, and the culture at large. Our Man in Gay Paree, Le Dildeau, has asked me to provide some hastily assembled twaddle while Professor Squirrel is on hiatus, so here we are. The stately Dungeon of Discord has been sluiced, mopped, and deloused, and the Roller Disco of Doom is ready to host the most discriminating clientele. If you want to bop through the Book Thread sans-culottes, who am I to judge? Your natural right to cavort pantsless Shall. Not. Be. Infringed! Nor will I judge you for bowing to convention and wearing pants. Especially if it's these pants, which are sure to break the ice at your next secret society picnic! "My eye is down here, mister!" So belly up to the bar, spark some doobage, grab the beverage of your choice, and tell us what you've been reading!

The theme this week is...CONSPIRACY! I was rooting around in my library and found many examples of the literature of paranoia. Being an Erisian by nature, I laugh at the notion that any organization can maintain centuries-long control over the greased pig clusterfrack that is humanity. But it sure is fun to imagine The Great Puppetmaster making us monkeys dance the jig.

Who dis:

Musical Interlude: "Kick Out the Jams" by MC5

Surely the gonzo Gone With the Wind of the conspiracy genre is the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. In this hilarious counterculture acid trip, the forces of rigid conformity battle with the agents of chaos for dominion over reality. Guerrilla ontologists seek to bring down The Man with asymmetrical mindfuckery. There are many factions at play. The Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era society founded by a rope-smoking Bavarian, Adam Weishaupt, has been warped into representing all-encompassing authoritarianism. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the Justified Ancients of Muumuu (the JAMs), followers of the ancient Babylonian god of primordial chaos; the Erisian Liberation Front (ELF), rabid contrarians who invoke the gods of disorder to throw monkey wrenches into the machine; and the Legion of Dynamic Discord (LDD), who finance their activities by smuggling illicit substances. The overarching joke of the series is that every conspiracy theory spouted by fringe nutjobs is actually true: Aliens, Nazis, Elvis, Atlantis, what really happened at Dealey Plaza... Can our heroes save the world before the Illuminati use Cold War brinksmanship to immanentize the eschaton?

A fine companion volume for both the Steve Jackson game cycle and also a good introduction for those wishing to dip a toe into the wacky world of conspiracy theory. Illuminati University is its even wackier cousin. Both highly recommended.

A legitimate look at the phenomenon is Daniel Pipes' excellent "Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From" (1997). It reads a little differently after almost 30 more years of lies and tumult, but he makes a very good point: real conspiracies, like the Nazi rise to power in the 30's or the Bolshevik takeover, are not treated as such, but Hitler raving about the international Jewish conspiracy was taken as a given and inflamed millions. The two main targets for paranoia are the Jews and secret societies (Knights Templar, Freemasons, Illuminati, etc.). I'd put the Catholic Church up there too (the Pope is a lizard person!). Pipes goes into the psychology of the conspiracy fanatic, whose world view I find exhausting and enervating.

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"A History of Secret Societies" by Arkon Daraul was recommended by Robert Anton Wilson himself as a good stepping off point for familiarization with cryptic cults. Hasan-i Sabbah lives!

"In the Country of the Blind" by the estimable Michael Flynn posits: What if it WAS all a plot? What if there really was a secret cabal running things behind the scenes...and they were incompetent? In this timeline, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine was a device used to plot, predict, and guide humanity toward a better destiny. But this well-meaning happiness engineering was perverted by a group who applied this knowledge to install themselves as secret rulers of the world. As they are wont to do.
I need to reread this one.

Lily the Library Lion guards the sacred texts

Well that's it for this week. What cool stuff are you reading?

So that's it for now, guys and gals. Come to class next week prepared to discuss reading 'n stuff, and remember, Reading is FUNdamental!

posted by Weasel at 09:00 AM

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