Friday 20 July 2007

The pen is mightier than the sword. If you throw it hard enough.

This is one of the maddest quotes of the year.

"We must replace the signs on the handicapped toilets that say ´deformed men´, and the meeting place for ethnic minorities that is currently signposted as ´Racist Park´. Some of the translations are really problematic and not so polite."
Liu Yang of the Chinese Foreign Affairs Office (Quoted in the UK´s Private Eye magazine No 1189)

Anyway, here is a list of the chapter titles of my still messed up book.

The Con - Navigating the Sea of Disinformation

1. The Closed Mind
2. Foot in Mouth Disease
3. Religion - The Original Con
4. Darwinian Evolution - Religion for Atheists
5. Education - Another Brick in the Wall
6. The Destruction of Culture - Mozart Spins in his Grave
7. Hollywood History Lessons
8. Real History Lessons
9. Biological Warfare at Home
10. Blackmailing the Rulers of the world
11. Disinformation, Crisis Management and the Super Bizarre
12. The Puppeteers
13. Conjecture, Opinion and other such Wank

If anyone can give me a better chapter title, please email me (you´ll get credit if it is used). I´ll update this bit as I go along, probably.

Look at some of Howard Bloom´s chapter titles, in his masterpiece Global Brain - The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century

4. From Social Synapses to Social Ganglions: Complex Adaptive Systems in the Jurassic Days
11. The End of the Ice Age and the Rise of Urban Fire
17. Swiveling Eyes and Pivoting Minds: The Pull of Influence Attractors

There are many more. Bloom is a genius.

More info on my book, just in case the four of you are interested.

It is short. One thing people asked me is "How long is your book?". Short seemed to be the most acceptable answer. You can read it in a day, if you can stay awake long enough.

It is also not entirely serious. There are some very serious topics discussed, but it is not like reading a real non-fiction book. I find that most books about important subjects tend to be rather boring, so this one is interspaced with various semi-amusing nonsense.

Please leave a message if you see any spelling mistakes in this post, as I have had a few glasses of wine this evening.

Credit to James for the title of chapter 13

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Instead of merely conclusion, why not have "Final Chapter" or "Conjecture, opinions and other such wank", these will be sufficient to get people's attention.

Alan Osler said...

Smart, thanks James, I´ve changed it.

Anonymous said...

excellent. I think it will go down well with anyone with a sense of humour.

Anonymous said...

Should't your eldest brother write the introduction?