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Re:I like unusual books. Here’s what I’d read – if I had time by bencollier49 on Monday April 04, 2022 @07:28AM (#30905381)
Oh, I don't disagree. That said, some of them stand up to time better than others, in as much as they can contain genuinely novel ideas, by the standard of most modern people.

Other books and authors are just infuriating - the memes they set running weren't necessarily a great thing the first time around, and did a lot of damage to collective human reason. Eliphas Levi immediately springs to mind; there are plenty of others. "Illuminatus!" probably falls into this category, but I don't think that was R.A. Wilson's fault.

Re:I like unusual books. Here’s what I’d read – if I had time by nonrandomstring on Monday April 04, 2022 @07:54AM (#30905582)
Not a book Ben, but if you haven't already heard Jon Ronsons's audio "origin stories of the culture wars" in a BBC series Things Fell Apart [1], I'd heartily recommend it. He says basically what you're saying, and traces the lineage of exasperating _bad_ ideas that won't just gracefully die (which is a theme in lots of his writing).

[1] https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2021/radio-4-jon-ronson-thin...

Re:I like unusual books. Here’s what I’d read – if I had time by bencollier49 on Monday April 04, 2022 @08:51AM (#30906022)
Jon Ronson is a very clever man and we don't see enough of him these days. I'll listen to that.