In keeping with my recent reading theme of critical, open thinking, I chose this book to read to find out more about how cults are formed and the otherwise normal people who join them.
This book talks about the evolution of what cults are, and (most interesting to me) how things have shifted to online thanks to the internet and social media.
As someone who works with language, it was nice to see a thorough analysis of how language can be used to co-opt and corrupt people’s thinking skills and shut down critical thought. The writer kept things pretty light in terms of academic research, but made a good case for her position.
But the parts about social media were especially interesting for me. As someone who has pretty much shut off social media from their life it was good to hear the voices of people who have not only let it into their life but now can’t live without it. In a book that explains that cults are built using “insider language”, there were many words used by the author that I didn’t recognize, and that people who live and breathe social media apparently understand right away.
I was hoping to read a little more about the influence of cultish thinking on American politics in recent years, but this topic was only touched on – maybe because there is enough on that topic to write another complete book.
This was an accessible, interesting book that I was glad I read. Now I’m reading Ancillary Sword, a sequel to a previous book I read by Ann Leckie.
