Them

This was a very jarring read given the age of the book. OBL pre September 11th, young Alex Jones, and above all else, so much lizard person talk.

If you're into what makes fringe thinkers tick, you might enjoy this. The chapters on Thom Robb and his new age KKK were just incredible head scratchers.

I wasn't familiar with Ian Paisley, in fact I don't know much about The Troubles at all, but that chapter upset me more than any other in the book.

I think Jon Ronsen is incredibly talented and applaud his courage to plant himself in the middle of indisputable danger for the sake of a story.

And while I normally enjoy his skippidity-style, breaking his interviews/analyses, this book jumped around too quickly and I found myself wishing he'd dedicate more time to exploring one set of “Thems” than another.

I think the premise of this book is more important than ever and would advocate Ronsen do a second-edition write focused on the “Thems” in our current world.

3.5 stars. ‘Them' is a quirky investigation into the bizarre world of extremists and conspiracy theorists. I didn't find this as insightful as ‘The Psychopath Test', but that might have something to do with the disturbing and more direct application points of that book - versus the distance I feel, from a social point of view, from the global elite and their secret societies which Ronson explores in this account. This book isn't entirely baked in theory; there are some very real experiences Ronson reflects on which shakes up one's views of the 1%, which led to some interesting background reading escapades I embarked on.

Journalist Jon Ronson investigates various extremist groups and finds a common element - they all believe that a secret, select group of individuals meet periodically to choose world leaders, sway economic policy,and otherwise rule the world. To discover if this group does exist, Ronson meets with everyone from the Weaver family of Ruby Ridge fame, Omar Bakri Mohammed, who supports the Taliban from his home in England, to KKK Grand Wizard Thom Robb, and the even stranger David Ickes. To his surprise, not only does this group actually exist...but they grant him an interview...

As hard as it is to believe sometimes, the people Ronson interviews in this book are real! Ronson does a good job showing off the personalities of these characters so you can really get a sense of what they believe and how strongly they believe it. It was, at times, a bit redundant, but I suppose that is to be expected, considering how similar the belief systems these groups are. And his interview with the alleged “One World Government” group is hysterical.

This book was filled with some pretty interesting information, and it was written with a humorous touch, so if you enjoy reading about conspiracy theories and the nuts that believe them, this could be the book for you.

Holy Crap!
This reads like a novel in the first person. I can't make heads or tails of it and that's actually brilliant. Ronson does his thing but he also takes us on a bizarre journey of the bizarre. What do we believe? Where is the line between fantasy and reality? Is anyone guilty can anyone be truly innocent? Are we all not both parts of this hypocrisy at our core? Without ever posing these questions, these are the themes explored in, what I think is, a brilliant balance between journalism and sensationalist narrative. It was certainly entertaining, thought-provoking and climactic. I can see some hating the ending but I loved it. Brilliant conclusion to the precise point of the entire narrative.

In a pre-9/11 world Ronson meets conspiracy theorists from all sides and backgrounds. With his inimitable humourous style he gives them all a voice. Everyone comes across as a bit naive and mixed up, genuinely nice people with a skewed view. I think that's probably a reflection of Ronson himself. Anyway, it's a far cry from the downright nasty conspiracies we've come to see recently and therefore a pleasure to read.