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/lit/ - Literature

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6997696 No.6997696 [Reply] [Original]

Can someone recommend me an interesting book regarding aliens. I really want to read about ancient aliens, conspiracies or basically anything involving them that can hold my attention. I've already read a few books like The Martian Chronicles. Any other suggestions?

>> No.6997703

>>6997696
Sirens of Titan, I guess?

>> No.6997725

>>6997696
Don't want to give it away, but The Stranger by Camus.

>> No.6997728
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6997728

>>6997725

>> No.6997826

Why do you want to believe, OP?

I may have something for you but it's more a critique of conspiracy and addresses it's underlying causes. Also it's a collection of essays, not a narrative

>> No.6998282

>>6997826
That sounds pretty good actually.

>> No.6998290

>>6997703
Sounds pretty good. Looked up plot. May give it a read. Thanks!

>> No.6998367

>>6998282
It's a book called the Pyrotechnic Insanitarium and it's a collection of essays that addresses possible reasons why our culture is so obsessed with things like conspiracy theories or aliens. From what I've read thus far (im 150 pages in but I'm loving it, finally got it by mail today) it's fascinating. It talks about McCarthyism, and the Oklahoma bomber, and Area 51, and The NSA, and media's influence on our fragile minds and how much of this is baseless conspiracy, and how much of this holds weight.

I especially love when he speculates on the psychological. For instance, one theory is that man must always ascribe order to something. When he stops believing in Christianity or what have you, he merely finds a system elsewhere. Man is not content with the random or the chaotic. In ascribing seemingly unconnected events to an underlying system, to a battle between forces or to a war unseen by the masses, man can boil things to do to simplistic and orderly 'good vs evil', in which *someone* is in charge and *someone* is calling the shots. Man hates chaos. Man needs order.

He calls upon and references Pynchon, Deleuze, Adorno, Chomsky, Eco and the like in a mish-mash of literary, philosophical, historical, and journalistic evidence and frequently returns to Coney Island as a figurehead for the turning point that results in our current cultural 'Pyrotechnic Insanitarium': a place in which our minds stopped seeing the external as reality and internal as fantasy, but vice versa. He then argues that this mindset of Coney Island has slipped its way into and become apart of our entire culture.

It is a little dated because it was published in 1999 and fails to address the current digital age or 911, but survives nontheless as a terrific attempt in rationalizing America's current unstable and consumer culture.

Sorry if my thoughts seems schizophrenic, im on mobile and a little drunk. But I think it's a wonderful read.

>> No.6998441

>>6997696

Check out the books by these three:

Karla Turner
David Jacobs
John Mack

>> No.6998545

>>6997696
The Trickster and the Paranormal by George P Hansen

Jacques Valee

>> No.6998622

>>6998367
Looking it up now. Is it by Mark Dery? Sounds like something I'd like.

>> No.6998636

>>6997728
Thas how I always imagined the main character.

>> No.6998644

>>6998367
Nice. Interesting

>> No.6998813

>>6998622
>>6998644
Yes it is by Dery and I recommend checking it out if you're at all interested in current American culture. The structure of the essays even reflect the author's theories on contemporary thought patterns and he himself says his essays go off on tangents and jump from theory to theory because our subculture has conditioned him to think this way. It really is very humorous because he supplies so many citations, even to his tangents.

Worth the buy. Used on Amazon for cheap

>> No.6998997

>>6997703
This.
Slaughter House 5 sometimes
Martian Chronicles

All easy reads

>> No.6999019

Martian Chronicles

>> No.6999067

>>6997696
This crazy Navy SEAL once gave me a book called Dark Mission about how NASA was this evil nwo org and there are pyramids on the moon and that not only was nasa behind the kennedy assassination, but it was an astronaut that actually pulled the trigger. He made me read it and then talked to me about it every chance he got.

>> No.6999418

>>6999067
Tell him to watch Tribulation 99

He will lose his shit

>> No.6999493

>>6999067
What was this book called? Do you remember?

>> No.6999494

ayy lmao

>> No.7000663

>>6997696
You must be a real nutcase if you actually believe in all that bullshit.
Anyway, here are my suggestions:
Space Odyssey tetralogy - Arthur C. Clarke
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Inherit the Stars - James P. Hogan
War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
Cthulhu Mythos - various authors; read H. P. Lovecraft's stories preferably

>> No.7000667

>>6999493
Dark Mission

>> No.7000687

It's not exclusively ufos / aliens but the best book I've read like this was the rough guide to unexplained phenomena