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    How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World by Francis Wheen Summary

    How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World
    Francis Wheen
    3.62 (1597 Reviews)
    Society
    Politics
    Economics
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    Overview of How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World

    Francis Wheen's razor-sharp expose reveals how irrationality conquered modern society. Jeremy Paxman called it "hilarious" as Wheen dismantles postmodernism, management gurus, and political ideologies. What happens when Enlightenment values collapse? Discover why this controversial defense of rationalism remains urgently relevant today.

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    "Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

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    "Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

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    "Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

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    In January 1979, two figures stepped into the spotlight who would reshape our reality. In Tehran, Ayatollah Khomeini descended from his plane to crowds exceeding a million, promising to purge all foreign influence. Across the world in Britain, Margaret Thatcher quoted St. Francis about bringing harmony while preparing to unleash economic revolution. These twin messiahs-one religious, one political-didn't just change policy. They opened the floodgates to an era where feelings trumped facts, where mysticism masqueraded as wisdom, and where the sleep of reason brought forth monsters. What happened next wasn't a simple political shift. It was a wholesale retreat from the Enlightenment project that had defined modernity. Suddenly, newspaper horoscopes became investment advice. Books about angels outsold serious literature. Witches protested the World Trade Organization with Harry Potter banners. The Observer called this cultural moment one requiring "bullshit's enema number one"-and they weren't wrong. We'd entered an age where paranoid fantasies about government control shared disturbing similarities with the thinking that drove Timothy McVeigh to bomb Oklahoma City. When societies abandon evidence-based reasoning, the vacuum doesn't stay empty long.

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