Conspiracy Theories: A Guide to the World's Most Intriguing Mysteries by Jamie King

by Jamie King

Did Michael Jackson fake his own death in a bid to escape financial ruin or was he murdered?

Was it aliens that helped to build the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids and what were they trying to cover up?

Is the food industry colluding to make us addicted to sugar?

You’ll discover startling evidence on these topics and many more in this compelling compendium of the world’s scariest and wackiest conspiracy theories. It leaves no stone unturned as it delves into such conundrums

• the mysterious circumstances of Bruce Lee’s death
• the alleged withheld evidence pertaining to the 7 July bombings
• the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s rise to power
• the unsolved disappearance of Flight MH 370

Whether you’re a sceptic or a self-confessed conspiracy junkie, you’ll find a cover-up for every occasion. And remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you…

Genres: Nonfiction, Conspiracy Theories

Paperback

First published July 7, 2015

Reviews

[Tan Markovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

A good book to pick up if you're looking for a brief overview of conspiracy theories, but not much more than that.
Having said that, there's a couple of new conspiracy theories I hadn't heard of that I now want to delve deeper into!

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an A to Z guide on different conspiracy theories.

I absolutely loved this book. Conspiracy theories are something I have gotten into recently, and this book gave me some sight into theories that I have heard before and some I haven't.

I recommend this book if you want a brief overview of different conspiracies, but this is not the book to read if you want more detail.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really interesting theories in here. Quite a few I had heard of but plenty that I hadn't. Would've been nice if some theories had more than one page dedicated to them, but I can always research them independently.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good place to start if you are looking to get an introduction to the most popular and well-known conspiracies. However, there are a few that I've never heard of and just sound crazy! And a few I wasn't particularly interested in.

[Ethan Bayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was actually really enjoying this book at the beginning but towards the end it became a chore to read. This is mainly because of the lack of any real explanation, the author just assumes you know what all of these events are. It also does not go into enough depth to keep you interested with each new page being a new theory with barely enough detail to be able to understand what is going on. There are also no counter points to each theory with everything being written as if it was fact, this makes it harder to decipher which theories are believable and which are the more extreme and out there beliefs. Finally, the book is full of grammatical errors and sentences which just don’t make sense.

It’s an interesting start to conspiracy theories but don’t expect anything too complex or in depth.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these are intriguing and may contain certain truths, most notably: 9/11, Adolf Hitler, Guy Fawkes & the Gunpowder Plot, Kurt Cobain, London 7/7 Bombings, Madrid Train Bombings, Nazi Gold, New Coke, Predictive Programming, Rennes-le-Chateau, Rudolf Hess, and the Turin Shroud.

However, most remain a load of paranoid, self contradicting hogwash, where more coincidences exist in the counter-theory than in the theory they’re trying so hard to disprove BECAUSE it is too much of a coincidence.

[Nikaty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been doing research on different conspiracy theories and this book is fine for giving you a starting point, or showing you some new theories you might not have heard of, but that's it. If you've read a different book listing different theories you've probably already encountered 80% at least of what's in this one.
My only real issue is that some of the most interesting topics get only a page or so, it would have been nice to see some things expanded on just a little bit.

[Cheryl Prince · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this highly fascinating. I already knew about a lot of the conspiracies but some I didn't. I found it interesting reading what some people believe. The thing that disappointed me, however, was that there's not nearly enough detail and zero evidence presented. It's simply a few paragraphs, no more than 2 pages for most, on the various theories out there. Thoroughly entertaining though.

[Faye Sirs · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a long time to read this book. I read it on and off between other things. Whilst the chapters are extremely short (2 pages) I found a lot of the content things that I didn’t really know about to begin with. I found myself bored and skipping pages by the end. Some interesting conspiracies but very short chapters so you don’t really get into any in detail.

[Seren Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provided me an easy and quick insight into a whole host of different conspiracy theories! I learned about a lot of different theories I hadn’t previously heard, which was great. I rated it 3 stars because I felt a bit drained after the number of times I read ‘new world order’ and other such references!

[Elliemay Ride · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole book is an overview of many different conspiracies, doesn't delve into depth on any of them or any possible evidence to back up the theories. I guess it would good as a way to find some conspiracy theories to look into but that's about it really

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited for this book because I love thinking deeply into things and watching conspiracy videos from time to time but most of these seemed to be about aliens or extraterrestrial life or link back it somehow. I think it is an okay book but I feel it didn't live up to its full potential

[Willow Rankin · Rating 1 out of 5]

My god is this terrible. I picked it up in a charity shop - and I was expecting a well researched A-Z of different conspiracy theories and also why they may or may not be true.
Instead, I read really poorly written stories that offered no guide. Terrible. Was a DNF!

[Beth. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty fun to read as a break from academic or heavier literature.

[Ria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. Left me with lots to think about in what I feel I believe or not but it does open up lots of questions and makes a really interesting read.

[Ibraheem Butt · Rating 4 out of 5]

k

[sarah lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Love a good conspiracy. Some more outlandish than others, however, this was an enjoyable book. Now off to Google some of what I've read 😂

[Chloé · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wouldn't bother - information is very very brief.

[Olivia Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read when you don’t want to think about much

[Libby Pais · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just wouldn’t read this again. I ended up only reading the conspiracy theories I had heard about as I just wanted to finish the book

[Claire Burley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun to find out what some people believe!

[Jessica Mendes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing special.

[Kevinjwoods · Rating 2 out of 5]

What exactly is the point of books like these, without any indication of where he gets his information you can only assume the weirder stuff is made up, and the lack of footnotes is annoying at times (it would have been useful to know that Relivo Oliver is a real name for example) which reduces this to useless for any practical purpose.
And there is a tendency to spot little errors like the idea that anybody might think Orion is Elvis Presley without mentioning that Orion has long had his identity revealed and it is the stories of a Second Orion that make it worth noting, and the example given for predictive programme is The Hunger Games which supposedly is designed to prepare for a world where rich people cheer at the murder of kids rather than any of the reality show gone mad stories (Vengeance on Varos, The Year of the Sex Olympics) which did help desensitise people.
On the whole almost completely pointless as anything other than a cheap cash in.

[Christanto J K · Rating 3 out of 5]

good for easy reading.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was light OK reading. Some of the conspiracy's were silly, some make you think but overall interesting if you like thinking outside the box.