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Rating: 
Summary: Pseudoepistemonical, and, did I mention boring?
Review: Classic case where I'm forced to give one star because Amazon doesnt offer the option of giving "minus stars".
You would think (and i certainly fell for it) that with the topic such as the one this book deals with you would have a tremendous reading ahead of you, or at least, a very good shot at one.
Not even close. Melley, the author, takes this juicy issue and devoids it of all its substance. He goes on a tiring, ultraboring diatribe made up of wooden language and a pseudoscientific approach and by the time you reach (if you manage) page 50 you're about to quit and go watch some paint dry. I quit about 100 pages after that, but only because i spent money on this and i wanted to at least go as far as i could possibly tolerate it. This author deals with conspiracies as if they dont, offhand, exist, as if it's a given that it's all the product of paranoiacs and dellusionals and based on this assumption which he doesnt bother anywhere to explain he goes on to a ride of incredible trite and utter nonsense employing psychology and sociology thinking that makes it all sound plausible and argumentative. This, of course, doesnt cut it.
If you want to examine the culture of conspiracy theories, and what's more, show that it is all indeed paranoia, you would have to take the high profile theories and take them apart for what they are, or what you want to show that they are.
Like the JFK conspiracy theory for example. Melley cant seem to be bothered with the tons of evidence available anywhere from Jim Garrison's book to other books as well and websites for good measure that show that the official theory is a joke. Nope. It's all paranoia, paranoia, paranoia, and if you dont believe mr. Melley it is very possible you're paranoid too. This is exactly how this book builds up, literally on thin air, with extremely weak arguments and with an approach that a CIA agent would be proud of if he'd written such a book. While it is a fact that there IS a strong paranoia factor involved in the conspiracy theory culture, it is also a FACT that many conspiracy theories are not "theories". Anybody with a serious interest in history will attest to that. And that is exactly my point. Since conspiracy theories and their analysis involve a good backround grasp of history spend your money on some other book. The author of this one seems to have a very poor understanding as well as knowledge of history and he'll waste your time like there's no tomorrow. If you anyway think in the lines of this book you dont need to read it anyway. Just watch the news every day, rest assured you're being told the truth and go to sleep. Applying sciences to build up a nonsensical theory is an old trick in itself and a poor one at that.
Back to my paint-drying watching...
Rating:
Summary: Pseudoepistemonical, and, did I mention boring?
Review: Classic case where I'm forced to give one star because Amazon doesnt offer the option of giving "minus stars".
You would think (and i certainly fell for it) that with the topic such as the one this book deals with you would have a tremendous reading ahead of you, or at least, a very good shot at one.
Not even close. Melley, the author, takes this juicy issue and devoids it of all its substance. He goes on a tiring, ultraboring diatribe made up of wooden language and a pseudoscientific approach and by the time you reach (if you manage) page 50 you're about to quit and go watch some paint dry. I quit about 100 pages after that, but only because i spent money on this and i wanted to at least go as far as i could possibly tolerate it. This author deals with conspiracies as if they dont, offhand, exist, as if it's a given that it's all the product of paranoiacs and dellusionals and based on this assumption which he doesnt bother anywhere to explain he goes on to a ride of incredible trite and utter nonsense employing psychology and sociology thinking that makes it all sound plausible and argumentative. This, of course, doesnt cut it.
If you want to examine the culture of conspiracy theories, and what's more, show that it is all indeed paranoia, you would have to take the high profile theories and take them apart for what they are, or what you want to show that they are.
Like the JFK conspiracy theory for example. Melley cant seem to be bothered with the tons of evidence available anywhere from Jim Garrison's book to other books as well and websites for good measure that show that the official theory is a joke. Nope. It's all paranoia, paranoia, paranoia, and if you dont believe mr. Melley it is very possible you're paranoid too. This is exactly how this book builds up, literally on thin air, with extremely weak arguments and with an approach that a CIA agent would be proud of if he'd written such a book. While it is a fact that there IS a strong paranoia factor involved in the conspiracy theory culture, it is also a FACT that many conspiracy theories are not "theories". Anybody with a serious interest in history will attest to that. And that is exactly my point. Since conspiracy theories and their analysis involve a good backround grasp of history spend your money on some other book. The author of this one seems to have a very poor understanding as well as knowledge of history and he'll waste your time like there's no tomorrow. If you anyway think in the lines of this book you dont need to read it anyway. Just watch the news every day, rest assured you're being told the truth and go to sleep. Applying sciences to build up a nonsensical theory is an old trick in itself and a poor one at that.
Back to my paint-drying watching...
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