Month: January 2015

Adam Smith, Rockefeller plot.

Posted on by ceyton

adam smithIn the biography of Adam Smith written by John Rae, we learn that when the proto-economist was young, around 3 or 4, gypsies attempted to kidnap him.  They released the boy when pursued by his family.  This just seems like a fun fact to speculate on.

It wasn’t too uncommon an occurrence, so I doubt his parents harped on it too much.  One can certainly imagine that they couldn’t help but threaten to give young Adam back to the gypsies if he didn’t go to bed.

How about Time Travel?  Maybe communist time travelers went back in time disguised as gypsies to kidnap and re-educate the capitalist messiah.  Luckily (?) the Trilateral Commision became aware of this devious plot and sent a commando team to foil it.  Also disguised as gypsies, they killed off the communist team and the child.  A capitalist changeling was left for the parents.

The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg

Posted on by ceyton

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[NOTE:  Books and other media are not discussed here as reviews and will probably contain spoilers.  For pure reviews, please consult my Goodreads profile]

The concept is intriguing, four friends off on a trip to immortality.  Only 2 will survive, and all four know that.  One may fight for and against comparisons to the writers of the four gospels. However the religions of the four: Jewish, Protestant, Atheist and Catholic, try/tend to create a different comparison.

The book is written with the chapters alternating from each of the four characters to the next.

The trip is to Arizona.  The house that the wife and I recently purchased was once owned by a Mr. Longyear who later went out to Arizona and then returned in his late 70s to start the region’s first housing development. No idea (if or) when he died.

While the subject of male homosexuality is dealt with well here, sexism is rampant and women are literally nameless vessels.

The instructions are bland to anyone who has spent a weekend researching immortality.  One leaves the book wondering if the cult involved is self-deluded.

Silverberg is a great writer.  Great afternoon read and don’t chew too much.

 

Bibliography: the project

Posted on by ceyton

 

I’ve always been a heavy reader.  I’ve also always had mystic/occultist/scholarly tendencies.  Throughout my life I’ve scribbled themes and lists of books in notebooks and then carefully picked through libraries and books stores to find them.

In the mid-90s, I became inspired by Gygax’s Appendix N, and Crowley’s Reading Lists both in Liber E and Liber ABA.  I started to consolidate the lists in all my notebooks.  Any book mentioned in a book I had read (including advertisements) or was recommended went on the list.  I slowly created (am creating?) a point system to deal with overlaps.

Of course, I started seeing patterns.  Around the time, I was reading a ton of Robert Anton Wilson and the whole thing clicked in my head.

Anyone who has survived OM (Operation Mindfuck) from Wilson and his crew of Discordians can imagine where I ended up taking that journey.  Anyone who hasn’t, well, I wouldn’t recommend it.

There are strict rules to the Bibliography and some of the rules are strictly arbitrary.   It’s been a project of over 20 years and the subjective patterns have taught me much about myself and the way I think.