How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World
Because of all the controversy about that cartoon of He-who-must-not-be-mocked-unless-you-want-to-be-the-target-of-a-violent-mob-(peace-be-upon-him), I decided that my next book-I-haven't-read-yet ought to be...
How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World
by
Francis Wheen
I really am itching to read this one. I am increasingly dismayed (to put it very mildly) at the way the world seems to be sleepwalking back to the dark ages. The widespread bad attitude towards science and the embracement of superstition and mysticism is just lazy-mindedness - so many people just seem to love wallowing in their own ignorance.
The majority of the American public, for example, seem determined to reject any presidential candidate who can be labelled with that most insulting of all c-words: clever. No-one likes, let alone trusts, anyone who is cleverer than them. The Republican Party have grasped this and for several decades now have put forward the dumbest schmuck they can find as their candidate. Indeed, if Clinton hadn't had the advantage of appearing too stupid to keep his dick in his pants and Jimmy Carter didn't look like a dumb peanut-farmer, the right-wing would have been in power over there for more than thirty years. Meanwhile, here in Britain, Tony Blair is happy with the teaching of Creationism in schools, leaving me to wonder if he's secretly a religious fruitcake, and why filling children's head full of c(lapt)rap isn't classed as child abuse.
...However, when I picked Francis Wheen's book up, I saw this on the cover:
'HILARIOUS'
JEREMY PAXMAN
- and that reminded me of another book I meant to read several years ago but didn't, and which caught my eye in the library earlier this week:
The English
by
Jeremy Paxman
See? That's the most dangerous thing about books you haven't read: they gang up on you and multiply until one day you find yourself hopelessly outnumbered by them. You realise they are looking down on you from the full-to-bursting shelves (and up from the piles on the floor) eating up more and more space and leaving less and less room for air - slowly suffocating you in revenge for your neglect.
Have you read any of the books I haven't? Feel free to tell me what you thought of them.
Better still recommend some that you haven't read either!
How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered The World
by
Francis Wheen
I really am itching to read this one. I am increasingly dismayed (to put it very mildly) at the way the world seems to be sleepwalking back to the dark ages. The widespread bad attitude towards science and the embracement of superstition and mysticism is just lazy-mindedness - so many people just seem to love wallowing in their own ignorance.
The majority of the American public, for example, seem determined to reject any presidential candidate who can be labelled with that most insulting of all c-words: clever. No-one likes, let alone trusts, anyone who is cleverer than them. The Republican Party have grasped this and for several decades now have put forward the dumbest schmuck they can find as their candidate. Indeed, if Clinton hadn't had the advantage of appearing too stupid to keep his dick in his pants and Jimmy Carter didn't look like a dumb peanut-farmer, the right-wing would have been in power over there for more than thirty years. Meanwhile, here in Britain, Tony Blair is happy with the teaching of Creationism in schools, leaving me to wonder if he's secretly a religious fruitcake, and why filling children's head full of c(lapt)rap isn't classed as child abuse.
...However, when I picked Francis Wheen's book up, I saw this on the cover:
'HILARIOUS'
JEREMY PAXMAN
- and that reminded me of another book I meant to read several years ago but didn't, and which caught my eye in the library earlier this week:
The English
by
Jeremy Paxman
See? That's the most dangerous thing about books you haven't read: they gang up on you and multiply until one day you find yourself hopelessly outnumbered by them. You realise they are looking down on you from the full-to-bursting shelves (and up from the piles on the floor) eating up more and more space and leaving less and less room for air - slowly suffocating you in revenge for your neglect.
Posted by PJE at
4:18 AM
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