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The Men Who Stare at Goats |  | Author: Jon Ronson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Seller: GLOBAL-BOOKS
Rating:  87 reviews
Sales Rank: 336032
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8
ISBN: 1439181772
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.34340973
EAN: 9781439181775
ASIN: 1439181772
Publication Date: October 13, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Just when you thought every possible conspiracy theory had been exhausted by The X-Files or The Da Vinci Code, along comes The Men Who Stare at Goats. The first line of the book is, "This is a true story." True or not, it is quite astonishing. Author Jon Ronson writes a column about family life for London's Guardian newspaper and has made several acclaimed documentaries. The Men Who Stare at Goats is his bizarre quest into "the most whacked-out corners of George W. Bush's War on Terror," as he puts it. Ronson is inspired when a man who claims to be a former U.S. military psychic spy tells the journalist he has been reactivated following the 9-11 attack. Ronson decides to investigate. His research leads him to the U.S. Army's strange forays into extra-sensory perception and telepathy, which apparently included efforts to kill barnyard animals with nothing more than thought. Ronson meets one ex-Army employee who claims to have killed a goat and his pet hamster by staring at them for prolonged periods of time. Like Ronson's original source, this man also says he has been reactivated for deployment to the Middle East. Ronson's finely written book strikes a perfect balance between curiosity, incredulity, and humor. His characters are each more bizarre than the last, and Ronson does a wonderful job of depicting the colorful quirks they reveal in their often-comical meetings. Through a charming guile, he manages to elicit many strange and amazing revelations. Ronson meets a general who is frustrated in his frequent attempts to walk through walls. One source says the U.S. military has deployed psychic assassins to the Middle East to hunt down Al Qaeda suspects. Entertaining and disturbing. --Alex Roslin
Product Description
In 1979 a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the U.S. Army. Defying all known accepted military practice -- and indeed, the laws of physics -- they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls, and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren't joking. What's more, they're back and fighting the War on Terror. With firsthand access to the leading players in the story, Ronson traces the evolution of these bizarre activities over the past three decades and shows how they are alive today within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and in postwar Iraq. Why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners of war with the theme tune to Barney the Purple Dinosaur? Why have 100 debleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces Command Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? How was the U.S. military associated with the mysterious mass suicide of a strange cult from San Diego? The Men Who Stare at Goats answers these and many more questions.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 87
 This is not an investigative report of conspiracy. October 9, 2005
Patrick Roberts (Los Angeles, CA USA)
130 out of 140 found this review helpful
Some reviewers have completely missed the point. This is the author's journey researching an inane army experiment, and what manifestations may remain. This book is no more an investigative proof than Ronson's last novel was an argument for joining extremists. This book is Errol Morris, not Art Bell.
Wholly enjoyable and entertaining, it's hard to remember at times this is non-fiction, as some of the interviews seem insane. The presentation base comes from declassified goverment documents. However, they are not included, nor are there any footnotes, because Ronson is not trying to convince the reader of anything. He is writing about his interviews and conversations investigating the chronology of the "First Earth Battalion" manual. I believe Ronson started this project intending it to be much funnier (he is a comedian after all), but some of the subject matter and personas he found, though entertaining, aren't laughable: staring at a goat trying to kill sounds funny, but imagine the views of a person who wishes they had the ability to kill people with their mind. So it is a perspective on the legacy of a few persons relieved of common sense, that were given a little power and a budget.
You might enjoy this book if you:
- Find Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) funny.
- Like character documentaries, like those by Errol Morris.
- Enjoy psychology.
- Want a light introduction to a bizzare goverment-funded experiment.
You probably won't enjoy this book if you:
- Are looking for hard documentation on goverment conspiracy
- Believe our goverment would never do bad things to people
- Are uncomfortable with light critisism of George W. Bush
alternately funny and horrifying April 30, 2005
James J. Lippard (Phoenix, AZ USA)
69 out of 87 found this review helpful
This is a fascinating tale about people who are completely nuts. Unfortunately, many of these people who are completely nuts hold or have held senior positions in the United States military. Ronson rarely writes a judgmental word, but allows his subject to speak for themselves--and hang themselves with their own words. (At least, that's the impression--obviously Ronson has selected which of their words to present.)
Ronson looks at ideas for a "First Earth Battallion" by soldier-turned-newage-marketing-guru Jim Channon, who proposed in 1979 that the military put greater emphasis on influencing people with alternative weapons such as paranormal abilities and music. Ronson traces the use of music in warfare to the use of loud music by the FBI at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas and as a torture technique used by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq.
The book covers a wide-ranging territory of nuttiness, including Uri Geller (who is quoted in the book suggesting that he has been re-activated for use by the U.S. military), the remote viewers at Ft. Meade (Joe McMoneagle, Ingo Swann, Pat Price, Ed Dames, etc.), the non-lethal weaponry of UFO and paranormal investigator Col. John Alexander, the connections between the remote viewers and Courtney Brown--and then to Art Bell and Heaven's Gate, and the CIA's MKULTRA experiments and the death-by-LSD of Frank Olson and his son Eric's search for the facts about his death.
The book is alternately amusing and horrifying. It would be funny if this craziness wasn't taken so seriously by high-ranking officials who have put it into practice, wasting tax dollars and occasionally producing horribly unethical outcomes.
I highly recommend this book.
Not funny, as it should be September 12, 2009
Michael J. Tresca (Fairfield, CT USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book isn't funny.
Mind you, Ronson knows exactly what he's doing by presenting the book as "hilarious" - it starts out completely absurd, with the high-minded hippy ideals of a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran presented to a beleaguered military under siege. Jim Channon, seeking solace in the emerging human potential movement in California, struck a chord with the top brass, and the repercussions are still felt today.
But instead of being used as a positive force for peace, the military twisted it into a force of evil. Ronson ties it all together: September 11, Heaven's Gate, sticky foam, Abu-Grahib, Waco, Art Bell, Projects STARGATE, MKULTRA, and ARTICHOKE, and yes, Barney. Goat-staring is the least of our worries.
The thread running throughout all these seemingly disconnected blips in history is that they are a new form of psychological warfare that is innocuous, ruthless, and entirely effective. The Men Who Stare at Goats would be just another conspiracy-laden anti-government diatribe if it wasn't for the fact that Ronson always takes the next step as an investigative reporter. He finds people to back up the wild claims, interviews them, and often challenges their wild theories.
The sad thing is, very few of these shadowy contacts hide their past. Almost unilaterally, Ronson calls them all out by name and they step forward, sharing a story that sheds a disconcerting light on America's human rights record. Where is the vigorous conversation, the protests, the discord over these revelations? The facts are right here before us - even photographic evidence -- but we laugh about Barney being used to torture prisoners and we shake our heads at the poor, misguided psychics. But outrage? There's no outrage. We save our vitriol for partisan debates in our own government.
Eric Olson, son of Frank Olson, a military scientist who died under mysterious circumstances while working on MKULTRA, sums it up best:
"The old story is so much fun, why would anyone want to replace it with a story that's not fun. You see...this is no longer a happy, feel-good story...People have been brainwashed by fiction...so brainwashed by the Tom Clancy thing, they think, 'We know this stuff. We know the CIA does this.' Actually, we know nothing of this. There's no case of this, and all this fictional stuff is like an immunization against reality. It makes people think they know things that they don't know and it enables them to have a kind of superficial quasi-sophistication and cynicism which is just a thin layer beyond which they're not cynical at all."
Have you heard? There's a movie based on this book coming out starring George Clooney.
It's a comedy.
Hilarious and disturbing. April 28, 2005
iago18335
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Jon Ronson writes in a very relaxed, entertaining style. Almost too relaxed and entertaining. I picked up and read the first third of the book in one sitting and enjoyed it deeply. I'd frequently laugh out loud at the completly insane ideas these government officials were devoting their lives to. They seemed essentially like harmless quacks (or, at worst, snake oil salesmen) who ultimately weren't doing a whole lot of harm.
Then Jon started making connections to Abu Ghraib and programs of assassination.
Jon's style is so accessible that you occasionally have to remind yourself that either this stuff if true or (at a minimum) there are people in fairly high positions who believe in it and act on it.
Either way, this is that rare book that has both interesting subject matter and is a great read.
My only regret is that the style of the book will probably prevent it from getting widely read or seriously discussed.
I'm not into conspiracy theories (I think I'm the last guy who really thinks Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK) but this book definately has me scratching my head. A great read!
I couldn't recommend it more highly!
A Confederacy of Dunces August 5, 2007
Robert Carlberg (Seattle)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Military techniques vary with the Administration, the challenges faced and the level of brain power sitting on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During the Cold War a lot of outlandish spying and interrogation techniques were tried out, including psychics and 'remote viewers,' giving prisoners LSD without their knowledge, getting them hooked on heroin, using subliminal messages, psychological torture involving humiliation, fear or cultural prohibitions, and various other alternatives to respected methods. The clear result from all of these experiments -- not all of them non-lethal, by the way -- was that they were all completely worthless.
It is somewhat surprising therefore, that after 9/11 many of these same failed programs were quietly reactivated, with the miserable results we have subsequently seen at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and on the battlefields.
Well, maybe not so surprising if you consider the Presidential Prayer Team, the unsuccessful search for 'missing' WMDs, the quagmire from having no exit plan and the general wanton disregard for the lessons of history.
This book is proof positive that a government conspiracy could never be successful with the current crop of comedians running things.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 87
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