****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
If you love conspiracies you'll love this book! A fun read with great art. One of the best of the big book of series by paradox press sadly out of print. If you can find it snatch it up. You'll be glad you did!One of the best books in the Factoid Press series of Big Books. All are good and surprisingly educational. Covers major conspiracies that are the most widely believed and explains them without advocating whether they are real or not. Don't let the comic book style turn you away. This is a serious survey with an excellent bibliography and some of the best illustrators and comic book artists in the English speaking world.Started my Big Books love with Urban Legends, which is fantastic both as a record of twice told tales and a great gallery of comic book artists, then bought Unexplained, which I like even more. I bought Conspiracies hoping to hit the trifecta...and was actually really disappointed.I'm not sure exactly what goes so wrong, but for starters, the book fails to cover the basics. It immediately jumps past the obvious stories of, say, the JFK and MLK assassinations to get into the minutiae, whereas a nice primer would help get why the post-death mysterious killings and events are so mysterious. Each chapter, if it can be called that, tends to run on way too long, and rambles a lot. And though it feels like there should be no shortage of material, you almost start >yawn< getting tired of the same conspiracies examined at a different angle.Awesome. You'd be surprised at how effective presenting the conspiracies in comic book form makes it a quick and fascinating read.Oh, and did I say "horrifying"! Some of the best explanations of the RFK, JFK and King assassinations I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot. I definitely had a chill after reading some of them because they make a lot of sense.This could be the companion book to Mel Gibson's character in "Conspiracy Theory." Or the X-Files.Great stuff and an occasional comic tone that hits at just the right time.Highest recommendation. More serious than you think. You will definitely start re-thinking a bunch of things. I'm getting the other books in the series.If you don't believe, buy it and read it. If you DO believe, buy it and read it anyway. There's stuff you didn't know. Brilliant from concept to execution and one of the best and most important books I've ever read. Check out its companion piece, which may be even better: The Big Book of the Unexplained.I've read all of the Big Book series, but I don't own them all. After getting my own copy of this one, I'm a bit disappointed.My biggest problem is that they treat the material with too much credibility. This was also a problem with the Big Book of the Unexplained, where they treated absurd speculation with such respect that it reduces the respectability of the book.This book is entertaining as it is creepy. When reading I suggest keeping a open mind and DO NOT read it at night. Unless you like loosing sleep.Fun book to read and have around for conversation starters with guests.
