Pagina principaleGruppiConversazioniAltroStatistiche
Cerca nel Sito
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.

Risultati da Google Ricerca Libri

Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.

Sto caricando le informazioni...

The Conspiracy against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror (2010)

di Thomas Ligotti

Altri autori: Vedi la sezione altri autori.

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiCitazioni
8091826,969 (3.93)18
"In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality. "There is a signature motif discernible in both works of philosophical pessimism and supernatural horror. It may be stated thus: Behind the scenes of life lurks something pernicious that makes a nightmare of our world." His fiction is known to be some of the most terrifying in the genre of supernatural horror, but Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction book may be even scarier. Drawing on philosophy, literature, neuroscience, and other fields of study, Ligotti takes the penetrating lens of his imagination and turns it on his audience, causing them to grapple with the brutal reality that they are living a meaningless nightmare, and anyone who feels otherwise is simply acting out an optimistic fallacy. At once a guidebook to pessimistic thought and a relentless critique of humanity's employment of self-deception to cope with the pervasive suffering of their existence, The Conspiracy against the Human Race may just convince readers that there is more than a measure of truth in the despairing yet unexpectedly liberating negativity that is widely considered a hallmark of Ligotti's work"--… (altro)
  1. 20
    Collapse: Philosophical Research and Development 4 di Robin James Mackay (arnzen)
    arnzen: Collapse IV (a ltd. edition literary journal) includes an early excerpt from Ligotti's book "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" alongside articles of a similar philosophical nature. The essay in Collapse is intercut with an artistic photogallery of dead monkeys, which adds to the reading experience in a stunning way (and I wish they would have used one of these on the cover of the Hippocampus book...which otherwise is excellent).… (altro)
  2. 00
    The Secret Life of Puppets di Victoria Nelson (CarlosMcRey)
  3. 00
    The Ego Trick di Julian Baggini (cmc)
    cmc: The Ego Trick and The Conspiracy Against the Human Race overlap a great deal, although Baggini has a rather more positive view of human consciousness than the one Ligotti lays out. (Honestly, I think that Ligotti is mostly kidding: he’s right in many ways, but since everything is meaningless, what does it matter if we stick around to see what happens? Might as well.)… (altro)
Sto caricando le informazioni...

Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro.

Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.

» Vedi le 18 citazioni

This is one of those books that makes me feel dumb. And I mean that in the best way.

Thomas Ligotti is a deep thinker, and he's very good at pulling together disparate strings of thought into one incredibly cohesive whole. His fiction is unlike anyone else I've ever read, and it's something I come back to time and again, because it's just that good.

There's authors out there that I enjoy. There's authors out there I revere. And then, there's a very, very small group of authors out there that I wish I could write like, but know I'll never be able to. Ligotti is pretty much at the top of that list.

In this tour de force essay, Ligotti lays out his argument against humanity continuing, why life is a futile endeavour, and why consciousness is both indefinable and a scourge to humanity.

It's bleak as hell, and compelling as hell. I've always enjoyed a bleak point of view, I find it fascinating. I'm a pessimist, and I'm far too cynical for my own good, but Ligotti makes me look like...I don't know, the love child of Tony Robbins and Richard Simmons, maybe?

I listened to the audiobook of this, but halfway through, I ordered a hard copy of it, because I know it's something I'm going to want to come back and study in more depth.

Because I know I didn't pick up even half of what Ligotti is laying down.

Because this is one of those books that makes me feel dumb. ( )
  TobinElliott | Jun 8, 2023 |
Snarky discussion of extreme pessimism as exemplified by Lovecraft, Unamuno, Cioran, and others. Amusingly slouchy in bitching that pessimism (human consciousness is a mistake that should be addressed simply by saying no to more children) isn't more popular than it is. Amusingly snide about optimists, whom he caricatures as simpering Dale Carnegies. Less amusing later on when he undertakes to explain horror. How it works is irrelevant: horror worthy of the name defies and overwhelms anything but the experience itself. It is measured in hairs standing on end. ( )
  Cr00 | Apr 1, 2023 |
I know it’s corny but I felt really seen by this book in a way I don’t by almost any media. It is sheer pessimism, without chaser. It doesn’t shy away from labeling life as “MALIGNANTLY USELESS” and consciousness as a mistake of evolution; our minds as Schopenhauer’s Will’s horrible overextension. Do you know how hard it is to make the optimist believe that the problem is not MY life, but life itself? The pessimists and nihilists are unpopular and powerless, but really, who cares?

The ending is a real horror rhetoric whirlwind in the tradition of the best, Poe and Lovecraft and Ellis, and leaves the reader sickened and secure.

(Also please don’t read this if you are struggling to be one who loves or likes or enjoys life. Sorry I know that sounds edgy but it might honestly be dangerous to your safety/wellbeing if you are already in a bad place because it is a really hopeless book. I could see why someone would ask, “Why put this out there?” I guess there is no other reason than selfish authorial intents and maybe, generously, comforting those who wish to see what is at the bottom of the well.) ( )
  jammymammu | Jan 6, 2023 |
Unfortunately, despite its promise and general high-regard, the book is characterized by graduate-school tedium: It reads with the tedium of a book report, relying so much on reference and summary of other (more important) works that it is impossible to consider Conspiracy as anything remotely resembling a fully-fledged piece. What's worse, Ligotti leaves us at the penultimate stage, and never furnishes sufficient proof for this premises. I do not begrudge Ligotti's success in other genres, but this is not strong work. ( )
  Joe.Olipo | Nov 26, 2022 |
stark, dark, bleak, hopeless, depressing ( )
  rufus666 | Aug 14, 2022 |
nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione

» Aggiungi altri autori

Nome dell'autoreRuoloTipo di autoreOpera?Stato
Thomas Ligottiautore primariotutte le edizionicalcolato
Brassier, RayPrefazioneautore secondarioalcune edizioniconfermato

Appartiene alle Collane Editoriali

Devi effettuare l'accesso per contribuire alle Informazioni generali.
Per maggiori spiegazioni, vedi la pagina di aiuto delle informazioni generali.
Titolo canonico
Titolo originale
Titoli alternativi
Data della prima edizione
Personaggi
Luoghi significativi
Eventi significativi
Film correlati
Epigrafe
Dedica
Incipit
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
Lingua originale
DDC/MDS Canonico
LCC canonico

Risorse esterne che parlano di questo libro

Wikipedia in inglese

Nessuno

"In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality. "There is a signature motif discernible in both works of philosophical pessimism and supernatural horror. It may be stated thus: Behind the scenes of life lurks something pernicious that makes a nightmare of our world." His fiction is known to be some of the most terrifying in the genre of supernatural horror, but Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction book may be even scarier. Drawing on philosophy, literature, neuroscience, and other fields of study, Ligotti takes the penetrating lens of his imagination and turns it on his audience, causing them to grapple with the brutal reality that they are living a meaningless nightmare, and anyone who feels otherwise is simply acting out an optimistic fallacy. At once a guidebook to pessimistic thought and a relentless critique of humanity's employment of self-deception to cope with the pervasive suffering of their existence, The Conspiracy against the Human Race may just convince readers that there is more than a measure of truth in the despairing yet unexpectedly liberating negativity that is widely considered a hallmark of Ligotti's work"--

Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche

Descrizione del libro
Riassunto haiku

Discussioni correnti

Nessuno

Copertine popolari

Link rapidi

Voto

Media: (3.93)
0.5
1 6
1.5
2 8
2.5
3 18
3.5 3
4 39
4.5 6
5 42

Sei tu?

Diventa un autore di LibraryThing.

 

A proposito di | Contatto | LibraryThing.com | Privacy/Condizioni d'uso | Guida/FAQ | Blog | Negozio | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteche di personaggi celebri | Recensori in anteprima | Informazioni generali | 203,198,191 libri! | Barra superiore: Sempre visibile