The Skeptic's Guide to Conspiracies: From the Knights Templar to the JFK Assassination: Uncovering the [Real] Truth Behind the World's Most Controvers

by Monte Cook

Book Overview

Did the noble order of the Knights Templar guard a secret about Jesus' birth? Was the moon landing faked in a Hollywood movie studio? Is the government keeping the remains of an alien spacecraft in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1605501131
• ISBN13: 9781605501130
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.6" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Humorous and informative

Monte Cook lays out the most common and most outrageous conspiracy theories in a 'factual' and amusing way. In this case, factual means by factually presenting the conspiracy theories of others. Monte makes no claims to the veracity of the various theories, and in fact makes a point in the introduction to say that he's not saying any of these are true, he's simply presenting them for the reader. In fact, he presents so many different theories on each conspiracy that they couldn't all possibly be true, as they present mutually exclusive points of view (or even realities.) In addition, both for comedic effect, and to emphasize that his tongue is firmly in cheek as he writes, throughout the book, there are comments "written" in the margins and laced throughout the text from the point of view of a true believer, who wants the reader to wholly believe all of these theories. Monte not only uses this second voice to play up the humor, but to show the reader a taste of how the actual conspiracy theorists think and communicate in their own sub-culture. The book does a good job of giving an overview of lots of different conspiracies, from the classic Freemasons and JFK assassination, to UFOs, secret nazi moonbases, various occult theories, as well as more recent fare, such as theories about 9/11. For each short chapter in the book, Monte presents 4-6 theories, as well as a chapter summary that contains his take on the plausibility and 'high strangeness' of the theories, and also some of the more accessible books and websites on the subject, in case the reader wants to dig deeper. It's particularly fun to see connections to real world conspiracies in a variety of pop culture entertainment, such as the X-files, Fringe, the Da Vinci Code, and of course the movie Conspiracy Theory. I strongly recommend this book. It's a relatively quick read, and is bound to have some information that is new, even to someone with more than a passing familiarity with some of the subject matter. Also, for any gamer, the book is filled to bursting with great ideas for your game. The conspiracies fit best in a modern themed game, but can easily provide inspiration for creating conspiracies in fantasy or science fiction games as well.

Facts and Humor

The Skeptic's Guide to Conpiracies is both easy to read and relate, even when you do not know all the topics mentiones there is enough information to give you a clear idea of what is he talking. The book merely shows both facts and rumors without giving credence too most of them, just states what is given as facts, some fall in the trap of thinking this is a serious book in the matter of conspiracies, which is hardly the point of the book. As someone mentioned earlier this book only tries to inform people in what "conspiracies" exist... at least in the mind of the american people, thinking or expecting otherwise would only bring frstration and resentment... as shown by some of the comments given to the book. Monte is not an expert in one or other conspiracy, he just researched about them in the past to write an RPG book and now continued his research to prepare this text. For a non-fiction, humorous book this is quite an explendid one, specially because the author keeps his feet on the ground without joining the tinhat crowd.

Light, funny, informative to a point

This book is a good enjoyable read, entertainment rather than a serious exploration of conspiracy theories. Its mostly sensible and factual perspective gives a credible general guide to those unfamiliar with some of the theories written about. The hand-scribbled comments in red ink in the margins on every page from a fictional conspiracy-obsessed reader are often funny and poignant, a fine original idea which works surprisingly well in counterbalancing and highlighting likely reactions to the main text. Some other reviewers have commented that too much credence is given by the author to the more preposterous and insane theories - like the '9/11-attacks-were-an-inside-job' cult, promoted successfully by a small motley crew of obsessives and charlatans, but primarily for which no evidence exists (for a grounded perspective, look up what Naom Chomsky says on the subject). However, this is surely to miss the point. Monte Cook has not researched these 'conspiracies' in great depth, and does not seek to explore all the details of the claims. It's a 'Skeptic's Guide' - i.e. a book designed primarily to entertain, aimed at the casually interested reader who has neither time nor inclination to obsess through internet conspiracy sites and devour a large number of conspiracy books. Most people have more productive things to do with their lives than live in a world of permanent delusion, but might appreciate an easy-read guide to a very 20th/21st century phenomenon which has exploded in the internet age. The check-list at the end of each chapter is an interesting and bold idea, which partially succeeds. However the informed reader will see that the author has not really done in-depth homework on all the issues: as an example, at the end of the chapter on alien abductions (not a conspiracy per se but the intentional covering-up of the program and ridiculing of witnesses may well be) none of the works of Hopkins, Mack, Jacobs, Fowler or any of the esteemed and respected mainstream researchers is referenced at all. This might just be an oversight, or the author's very slight aquaintance with the subject and ignorance of the sheer quantity of data. However to the author's credit, he does acknowledge something is going on and gives the likelihood of abductions being true a 6/10. So, in summary, don't expect a serious tract on conspiracies. If you accept this book as entertainment, broadly on track and a good humorous read, with some useful information for the largely uninformed reader, you won't be disappointed.

An Entertaining and Informative Read

While I am not a serious "Conspiracy Researcher" I found this book to be very fun to read. The book presents theories and essentially leaves it up to you to decide which ones are actually real. If you want to learn more about a particular subject there are books that continue the subjects presented and handy search terms for internet browsing. While some of the conspiracies are clearly false (such as the Illuminati actually being lizard space aliens who played a part in the Kennedy assassination, or something like that) others are plausible enough to make you go "hmmm. What if?" While I would not imagine this book would appeal to *ahem* professionals in the field, it is a good light read that has filled the hours between college classes with something to smile about. The fictional conspiracist who writes in the margins of the book gives you a sense of how these theories came into being, drawing conclusions from the text that seem ridiculous, yet discourage you from becoming similarly paranoid. I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy unsolvable puzzles tickling their brain.

Informative and Funny

I thought the book was great. Well researched accounts of lots of conspiracies with enough wry humor tossed in to keep it funny as well as informative.