[.ca] Conspiranoia (ISBN 0452281288)

The new Joseph Campbell:
This book is the ultimate guide to conspiracy theory and paranoia. Devon Jackson lays it out for us encyclopedia style with a serious look at conpiracy theory and yet with a good deal of humor. Not tongue in cheek, make no mistake, this is a well crafted, non-judgemental overview. There are twenty-one "maps" in Conspiranoia! showing us how it all connects: who, what and where. Seeing the web of conspiracies is worth the book alone. No,I am not a conspiracy theorist, maybe not even a gifted amateur, but I think this is the best book of it's kind. Oh, and why Joseph Campbell? This is the new mythology and if JC were alive today he would be talking about this book!

Not for beginners:
This book is full to the top with interesting information, especially about hidden connections between various conspiracy theories. I had a strongly mixed reaction to the book. Whenever he was talking about a theory I knew about prior to reading the book, he seemed lucid, fluent and knowledgeable. Whenever he talked about a theory I had never seen before, I found him confusing and oblique. Moreover, the format ofthe book, which had seemed so useful when we were on familiar ground, suddenly became an obstacle to understanding. My advice: if you already know a lot about conspiracy theories and are looking for a good reference guide, buy this book. If you are familiar with many conspiracy theories and are looking for a book which will tease out the connections between them, buy this book. But if you are just getting started learning about conspiracies, or if you are feeling mildly curious, start somewhere else.

Fiction writting:
Anyone can say or write anything this book is highly fictional. No real facts are mentioned in this book but mostly hearsay.

An Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories:
Author Devon Jackson is not here to tell you whether the theories are right or wrong. He does no analysis along those lines. His book is a lighthearted look of all the theories. Sometimes he seems serious and sometimes he's silly. He seems to be liberal, so he has no trouble recording the supposed misdoings of right wingers, but sometimes he soft peddles when dealing with groups protected by political correctness, to keep himself out of hot water, I suppose. He has a flow chart drawn by hand on the proverbial crumpled piece of notebook paper showing how all the conspiracy groups are interconnected. I think the funniest conspiracy was the one in which it is said that mercury fillings are used to transmit messages for NASA to the Aliens. Now that's creative! However, I do believe that mercury filling could possibly be poisonous and its better to get the more expensive plastic ones to avoid health problems. The most interesting conspiracy is how some prominent Americans were Nazi sympathizers, like Allen Dulles. They helped some prominent Nazis get out of Germany after WWII under the CIA's Operation Paperclip and helped them get jobs working for places like NASA. I think I would like to read more about this one. The book presents theories and if your interested you can seek out a more in depth coverage elsewhere. However, the book does not have a bibliography, so you're on your own trying to find them. The book also lists quotes from prominent individuals confirming or denying a grand conspiracy and they are loosely documented to some source, but without a page number. What I'm trying to say is the book is not well-documented. The book is a fun read, if ultimately frivolous. Doing an analysis on whether the conspiracy theories are true or false is really where the attraction lies with conspiracy theories. Maybe he should have played the theories up more for laughs, because if the theories aren't true and it's just paranoia, paranoia does have its very funny side. Perhaps some clever film maker will come up a funny film about paranoia one of these days.

A lucid account:
First can I confess to my grudging admiration at Jackson's effort; the guy almost pulls it off. The narrative and style give precedence to the theory itself as if it had an independent life from the content. Clever stuff, and his paymasters will be pleased at the smokescreen he has managed to erect. Let's hope they'll remember this when the ballon does go up.