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203 reviews for:
Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything
Kelly Weill
3.83 AVERAGE
203 reviews for:
Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything
Kelly Weill
3.83 AVERAGE
I was very interested in this topic as someone that wanted to understand how or why people believe this. There is interesting information in this book that was new to me.
However, it was written in a way that I found boring so I kept putting it down. When covering the history of the theory/movement there would be a random interjection of something more recent. I’m not sure how to describe it because it did make sense why it was included there but I found it a little jarring.
However, it was written in a way that I found boring so I kept putting it down. When covering the history of the theory/movement there would be a random interjection of something more recent. I’m not sure how to describe it because it did make sense why it was included there but I found it a little jarring.
Super interesting and very non-judgmental lens to view this from which I appreciated. I just wished there was another section about psychology/sociology/something that got more into the WHY.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
I really enjoyed this book, it has a great conversational tone, wasn’t all doom and gloom despite the difficult subject, and the author had a surprising amount of empathy for the conspiracy theorists and flat earthers but remained highly critical of the movement. A subject I only knew from laughing at/ being amazed at the stupidity of someone honestly believing the earth is flat, I found the earlier chapters on the history of where flat earth theories came from really interesting. The last two chapters of the book, where the author moves away from simply reporting on the history and current state of flat earth to really highlighting how dangerous this kind of thinking has becoming as this fringe belief has slowly made its way into the mainstream and the real world impact it has on people were some of the strongest parts of the book.
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Certainly a fascinating and disturbing dive into the culture of conspiracy theories, but I wish it had spent a bit longer on the last part of the title - the "why" (preferably with a fair amount of detail on relevant psych research) - and given a bit more time to the experiences of the former flat-earthers featured in the conclusion.
I really appreciated both the humanizing case studies, and the very thorough and unambiguously scathing discussion of the antisemitic underpinnings of so much of contemporary conspiracy culture. (Some of the examples and quotes there were particularly hard to listen to, for good reason. Ick.)
I really appreciated both the humanizing case studies, and the very thorough and unambiguously scathing discussion of the antisemitic underpinnings of so much of contemporary conspiracy culture. (Some of the examples and quotes there were particularly hard to listen to, for good reason. Ick.)