this was a wiLD ride y’all. I adore Jon Ronson's writing and similar to the psychopath test this book was completely insane, fascinating, hilarious, thought-provoking, entertaining and deeply disturbing all at once!

the only reason I’m giving it 4 stars is because I felt like it didn't flow super well ? and it was often hard to see the connection between all these different anecdotes and the names of all the different people etc.

however that’s a pretty minor thing and I think overall it was a great read and I loved it :)

This is the first one of his books I wasn't super into; maybe because it's TOO weird for me, maybe just because I just moved country and I didn't pay close enough attention. Oh well!

another gripping book by Jon Ronson, in which he shows that the people running the show, this time the american military, are just as dangerous and unbalanced as their supposed opponents

I enjoy Ronson's books, though I found this one even more annoyingly messy and disjointed than his others. There's a lot of interesting, amusing, and horrifying stuff here, but the connections between them are often awkward or unconvincing: the book's origin was as a 3-part documentary TV series, where the episodes need not link so well together.

After finishing, I learnt about how Ronson's producer/researcher/collaborator Jon Sergeant was pushed aside after the book's success. This left me with a sour aftertaste, and certainly makes Ronson appear very selfish. It made me wonder how much Ronson's guilt and anxiety over his actions here led him to The Psychopath Test. Further details here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-i-...

I’ve loved Jon Ronson on This American Life and I remember the Movie of the same name being hilarious, so I checked out this book and really loved it! A narrative history of the weirdness (and troubling abuses) of military psy-ops.

I may write something on this over on my medium because I find this so interesting. Perfect interplay between comedy and reality; truth being stranger than fiction. Honestly, that the US government reacted to intense demoralization from a war with similar ways in which Hitler desperately sought additional power through similar absurdities, is just so on point for the relationship institutions have when they accrue power and deal with loss of agency.

Anyway, I liked this book a lot lol. If I write a piece I will link it in the review. It may be that the narration boosted this from a 3 star to 4 star book for me. Very good delivery of just wild material. Especially some quotes from people.

I did not find it difficult to follow. It was chronological, though I suppose he goes out of the narration to comment on things sometimes, both for humour or needed context. It felt fairly normal to me, structure wise. It’s the rest that’s whack. People who find some of it devalued because it’s the truth from his perspective and it undermines actual truths, I suppose that’s true to some degree—but not the Point as detailed in the final chapters.

Not even the most imaginative conspiracy theorist has ever thought to invent a scenario in which a crack team of Special Forces soldiers and major generals secretly try to walk through their walls and stare goats to death.

When I first started The Men Who Stare at Goats, I thought for sure that it was a military satire, much like Catch-22 or Slaughterhouse-Five. After running into a few facts that sounded oddly familiar, I looked into this title. To my great surprise, this is a nonfiction book of weird investigative journalism.

The information that Ronson digs up while investigating the strange things the US Military has tried are nothing short of fascinating. The presentation, however, came off as stilted and flat. Facts are cobbled together and never really come together as a whole story. The narration has a subdued style that is humorous in a monotonic sort of way. His delivery is strange and will definitely not work for everybody.

If you're curious about what all those de-bleated goats and the guys staring at them are doing in the middle of North Carolina, this read ought to answer some of your questions.

I lost patience with this and gave up at 20 per cent.

Yes I gave up! It was coming across as more like an unsubstantiated fantasy. I usually finish books - but this time no.

I love Jon Ronson’s books, this one is not my fave but it’s still pretty good, bloody bizarre but good. And even more believable in the current political climate!

I read about 200 pages of this convinced it couldn't possibly be non-fiction (it is).

That being said, this is a stupid book that has no good reason for existing. It was dumb and I feel dumber for having read it. It was entertaining at times and I laughed here and there just due to the ridiculous of the characters (real people

Very good book about psychic spies in the U.S. military. I happen to know one of the remote viewers mentioned in the book, and he's the real deal. He just blew me away with his ability.

4 Stars = It gave me much food for thought.

There's a wasp in your house—surely I'm not the only one who uses hidden powers to direct the wasp back out through the open window!

I know, I know. Most of you just ask politely, please wasp, please go away.

This book is jocular and serious. It is a little astonishing to realize the range of opinions held within a vast organization such as the U.S. military, but that is surely a strength. Or it can be.

Having grown up on sensational tales of ESP experiments "Behind the Iron Curtain!" and then, later, the "remote viewing" practices in the U.S., this book did not seem all that fantastic. And yet it does have a surreal aura, a feeling of life in an alternate universe.

Three stars because while interesting, and at times fascinating, I wanted a little more.