It is hard from the concepts posed as well as the prose employed. This book made my skin crawl and my mind expand. It's certainly thought-provoking, but it took me such a long time to read, I couldn't tell you what it's about beyond "horror" "philosophy" and the various combinations of the two... Why is there no ten star rating? In fact, its arguable companion piece, Ligotti's Conspiracy Against the Human Race, despite it being the work of a literary author, offers something far closer to a systematic philosophical system than Thacker does. Honestly, this is what religion was made for (insignificance is just too scary). Bill Gates, tech pioneer, co-founder of Microsoft, and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is an avid reader who people follow... "Thacker's discourse on the intersection of horror and philosophy is utterly original and utterly captivating..." -- Thomas Ligotti, author of. Honestly, it's a bit more "pop" than "super dense" but i'm i guess a specialist *shrug* and i think it was a really enjoyable read (about 5 hours) although it would be nice if all 3 volumes were packaged together as a single folio rather than being an almost $60 (retail price) purchase (i think it's about $45 for the bundle on Amazon) and Zone like Verso tends to want to make *the most possible* off of the better publications they have but... an ominibus edition would be nice? In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. While I did enjoy it, some of the connections were a little thin/thinly constructed. Where Philosophy gets lost in abstraction trying to explain the horrific, horror media can simply SHOW us what those things look like. But why this gallery of gruesome? “We have to entertain the possibility that there is no reason for something existing; or that the split between subject and object is only our name for something equally accidental we call knowledge; or, an even more difficult thought, that while there may be some order to the self and the cosmos, to the microcosm and macrocosm, it is an order that is absolutely indifferent to our existence, and of which we can have only a negative awareness.”, “Even though there is something out there that is not the world-for-us, and even though we can name it the world-in-itself, this latter constitutes a horizon for thought, always receding just beyond the bounds of intelligibility.”. But Thacker presents it as an example of internet mysticism. The book influenced the writers of the US TV series True Detective and has been lambasted by ex-Fox News broadcaster, Glenn Beck in this podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IW8OK4_1gQ But planet formation appears to have happened relatively rapidly. A belt of warm dust in a zone between 0.25AU and 2AU from the young star HD 23514 in the Pleiades cluster appears similar to the predicted results of Theia's collision with the embryonic Earth, and has been interpreted as the result of planet-sized objects colliding with each other. The Planet of Dust was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1979. This book was another on the librarys new acquisition shelf to draw my eye. This relationship between philosophy and horror does not mean the philosophy of horror, if anything, it means the reverse, the horror of philosophy: those moments when philosophical thinking enigmatically confronts the horizon of its own existence. An odd book, and it certainly starts in a peculiar manner, debating the meaning of "black" in "black metal". In Thackerâs hands, philosophy is not academic logic-chopping; instead, it is the thought of the limit of all thought, especially as it dovetails into occultism, demonology, and mysticism. For some bizarre reason, he never probes deep enough into any of the concepts he introduces. In the Dust of This Planet is an encyclopedic grimoire instructing us in the varieties of esoteric thought and infernal diversions that exist for the reader's further investigation, treating us to a delightful stroll down a midway of accursed attractions that alone are worth the ticket of this volume." The Dustin Summary If curiosity killed the cat, the cat died happy. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. The range of cultural references is certainly broad, from Plato to an anonymous internet poet, early articulations of the Faust story to âUzumakiâ (a creepy manga that friends have told me enough about that I don't want to read it). I appreciated his tendency to qualify and counter-argue points. [Eugene Thacker] -- The world is increasingly unthinkable, a world of planetary disasters, emerging pandemics, and the looming threat of extinction. Much of the subject matter is compelling, but Thacker's treatment of that subject matter is made in the most awful kind of academic prattling. Then a cloud of gas forms around the new star. That’s the position Eugene Thacker found himself in when, during a recent episode of The Glenn Beck Program , the right-wing pundit bashed an “obscure author” whose book was contributing to a surge in “pop nihilism.” This is less a philosophy book in the traditional sense, and more a diffident dance with thoughts on nihilism, strangeness and occult. Eugene Thacker Our sun was but a fledgling protostar, continually amassing more matter via … Actually, the publisher caught my eye, as I tend to enjoy Zer0 books but they rarely make their way into libraries. This book demands the creation of a tenth star rating. Thursday, May 8, 2014. What is a summary of pages 75–92 of Out of the Dust? 1 Summary 2 Characters 3 References 4 Notes 5 Continuity to be added Fourth Doctor Leela Beshi to be added to be added to be added It contains a great deal about demonology and the occult, grounded in philosophy and theology centuries old. interesting topic but somewhat lengthy and somewhat boring. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. In the Dust of This Planet explores these relationships between philosophy and horror. To confront this idea is to confront an absolute limit to our ability to adequately understand the world at all - an idea that has been a central motif of the horror genre for some time. Part of this is my own interest in horror, nihilism, and the darkness motif found in christian mysticism. I was to find, however, that âIn The Dust of This Planetâ (a glorious title) dwelt more in the past than the present. In fact, its arguable companion piece, Ligotti's Conspiracy Against the Human Race, despite it being the work of a literary author, offers something far closer to a systematic philosophical system than Thacker does. This book reads like your buddy's PhD dissertation he thrust on you, by which I mean that it is not. When the TARDIS arrives, alliances will be made and trust will be broken – and feuding Time Lords will discover the Ravenous never, ever give up. It's staggering to imagine a time when the Earth and its planetary siblings were nothing but cosmic dust. His use of Lovecraft and Bataille is quite admirable and while the neologism can be a little clear, they are much more interesting than a lot of the Derridian philosophy of the 1980s/1990s. Eugene Thacker, author, philosopher and associate professor of Media Studies and Film at New School for Public Engagement and Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research, has written several books focusing on nihilism, philosophy and media theory. Thacker's knack for arcana and esoterica can be a little much here, as other reviewers have noted, a passing knowledge of middle demonology helps. Publisher's summary On the parched world of Parrak, the Master holds sway. However, this is largely about the limits of Philosophy--the way it collapses into absurdity and semantic mazes when it approaches the unknowable, the unthinkable. physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's population to a new home via a womhole. Likewise, Thacker takes horror to mean something beyond the focus on gore and scare tactics, but as the under-appreciated genre of supernatural horror in fiction, film, comics, and music. Other times it was quite readable (Sections 2 and 4). I liked Thackerâs academic interest in horror as an intellectual idea worthy of philosophy and felt a strong urge to read the next page. This book was another on the libraryâs new acquisition shelf to draw my eye. But why this gallery of gruesome? .must search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity- thou must commune with God.". I was attracted to this book by a glowing quote from Thomas Ligotti, one of my favourite modern horror writers, who described it as: An interesting look at some philosophical themes -- essence, reality, negation, alterity, myth -- with horror and occult themes used as a framework. In Out of the Silent Planet, Lewis follows the tradition of the travelogue, a genre of literature that includes books such as Utopia or Gulliver’s Travels in which a traveler goes to an exotic, often fantastic society and learns about their culture. For instance, while I understand what he's getting at when he focuses on the concepts of the world-in-itself/world-without-us (although I found the constructions kind of cheeky, though I don't know if he meant them that way), etc., it was still a bit thready as he moved into the world of demonology in an attempt (I guess) to illuminate aspects of these concepts. Asteroid Dust from Hayabusa2 Could Solve a Mystery of Planet Creation The enigmatic origins of chondrules—tiny inclusions in most meteorites—may be revealed at … Thacker's use of horror as a entry way into the the profoundly unhuman, and a good means against anthropocentrism. 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