A cheerful collection of paranormal phenomena, correct prophecies, alien encounters, and unlikely historical events.
A collection of wacky beliefs, incidents, and conspiracy theories that will amuse many readers.
Schreiber, co-host of the hit podcast No Such Thing as a Fish, assembles a selection of his more oddball interviews and adds a torrent of historical eccentrics and anecdotes. Skeptics will find good reason to gnash their teeth, and lovers of alternative facts will enjoy an embarrassment of riches. One fascinating story involves the work of neuroscientist John Lilly, who sought “to teach dolphins to speak the English language so perfectly that they would be given a chair at the United Nations to speak on behalf of all marine mammals.” Surprisingly, the chestnut about the faked Apollo landing is absent, but the astronauts themselves were apparently an offbeat bunch, deeply religious before or converted by the experience, when not preoccupied by the paranormal. The book is overpopulated with aliens, whether they were witnessed or were historical figures (Jesus may have been one). Stories of encountering ghosts or talking to the dead are almost too common to attract readers’ attention, but Schreiber collects a crowd of them. Billions of mildly interesting coincidences occur every day, and nearly every prediction of the future turns out to be wrong, but a few hit the mark. Schreiber delivers breathless accounts of many. The author portrays himself as a man of good sense partial to scientific evidence. He also knows that debunkers sell modestly, but outright zany authors and books often make the bestseller lists. He admits doubts about some particularly outlandish stories but otherwise confines his qualms to the occasional skeptical footnote or hint (“according to science”). Ghost hunters and conspiracy theorists will find plenty of red meat to chew on, whether Schreiber is discussing clairvoyance, “pyramid energy,” “the theory of the hollow earth,” or the idea that time travelers sank the Titanic, not an iceberg.
A cheerful collection of paranormal phenomena, correct prophecies, alien encounters, and unlikely historical events.Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780063259195
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
