Two. In The Dust Of This Planet: Horror of Philosophy (volume 1) by Eugene Thacker
2011, Zero Books, 179 pages. Written in English, read in English
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During the course of this sixty books challenge, you will find that very few reviews of books will start with the mention of Jay-Z. This one does.
Actually, it starts with an episode of Radiolab, the brilliant podcast created by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, illuminating science and thought, knowledge and curiosity. The episode had the same title as the book (and you can listen to it here), but it was not strictly about the book itself. It was about a curious chain of events, in which a non-philosophy book (as described by its author) that came out with very little fanfare outside of its immediate academic realm, in an obscure publishing house (a publishing house with a manifesto, printed at the end of the book, explaining what the qualifications are for books that they will publish. Hint: They are not planning to reach the New York Times best sellers list anytime soon), finds itself quoted in the television show True Detective, has its title printed on T-shirts and other pieces of clothing in a fashion show, and then adorned on a jacket worn by Jay-Z in one of his music videos. Among the interviewees in the episode, the amused author of the book, Eugene Thacker (who also happens to be Abumrad’s brother-in-law), tries to explain the recent popularity of a book that he expected very few people, none of them famous rappers, to read.
The premise of having a book that the creators of True Detective, Jay-Z and the creators of Radiolab all find interesting was intriguing, and therefore the book made it into my list, and finally, several years later, I was actually able to read it.
The book itself is slightly different from the way it was portrayed in the show. It is a series of philosophical essays, presented in a variety of philosophical techniques that are explained by Thacker before they are exercised, and they deal with three major themes: The first one is the contrast between the way we see ourselves as part of, even as shapers of, the world we see around ourselves, and the reality of the world existing without us — while we are part of it, and after we are all extinct; the second, a philosophical discourse of the origins of the main themes of horror literature, cinema and television — demons, monsters, ghosts, sinister beings — and how they actually reflect on our perception of the world around ourselves; the third (and this was the theme most explored in the podcast episode), revolves around the analysis of a poem, which is a dry description, in prose, of the chemical elements that are making up the planet, none of which are in our control, none of which we affect much.
I have spoken before about the serendipitous nature of picking books at random from my list, and this was a good demonstration of it. “In The Dust of This Planet” was chosen to be read right after “The Three Body Problem”, and there are similar themes in both of the books. You will have to read both of them to understand why — I am not going to explain it, so as not to spoil the enjoyment of reading either from you, but I don’t rule out the possibility that one book’s ideas illuminated the other.
Also, similarly to “The Three Body Problem”, this is the first in a trilogy of books, and the names of the rest of them look promising as well. Given the random nature of how books are picked from my list, the next one, “Starry Speculative Corpse”, will probably be read only in four years as well.
