The Conspiracy against the Human Race..., Thomas Ligotti
The Conspiracy against the Human Race..., Thomas Ligotti
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The Conspiracy against the Human Race
A Contrivance of Horror

Author: Thomas Ligotti

Narrator: Jon Padgett

Unabridged: 11 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 10/22/2024


Synopsis

In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality.

"There is a signature motif discernible in both works of philosophical pessimism and supernatural horror. It may be stated thus: Behind the scenes of life lurks something pernicious that makes a nightmare of our world."

His fiction is known to be some of the most terrifying in the genre of supernatural horror, but Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction book may be even scarier. Drawing on philosophy, literature, neuroscience, and other fields of study, Ligotti takes the penetrating lens of his imagination and turns it on his audience, causing them to grapple with the brutal reality that they are living a meaningless nightmare, and anyone who feels otherwise is simply acting out an optimistic fallacy. At once a guidebook to pessimistic thought and a relentless critique of humanity's employment of self-deception to cope with the pervasive suffering of their existence, The Conspiracy against the Human Race may just convince listeners that there is more than a measure of truth in the despairing yet unexpectedly liberating negativity that is widely considered a hallmark of Ligotti's work.

About Thomas Ligotti

Thomas Ligotti is among the most acclaimed horror writers of the past thirty years and has received three Bram Stoker Awards, a British Fantasy Award, and an International Horror Guild Award.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on July 25, 2019

Are you one of those hardcore True Detective fans held in thrall by Detective Rust Cohle's rants about the bleakness of the universe? Did you wonder where all that weird stuff was coming from? Here. From this book. That's where it was coming from. Sometimes even verbatim. This is an impressionistic s......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on July 17, 2010

Darkest book I've ever read; and perhaps the most convincing. Highly recommended for all readers, except those with sanity or self-delusions left to lose.......more

Goodreads review by Philipp on February 19, 2014

The pessimist’s credo, or one of them, is that nonexistence never hurt anyone and existence hurts everyone. Remember when you were 16 and you thought too much about life and its implications that you wound up in a "dark valley", got so depressed and borderline-suicidal that you decided to leave the "......more


Quotes

“Ligotti, with the wit of a decadent and the eloquence of a funeral organ, guides us confidently through the grimmer corners of intellectual and cultural history…He exposits on horror’s themes and its canon with practitioner’s grace.”
The Millions