Spinfluence: The Hardcore Propaganda Manual for Controlling the Masses

by Nick McFarlane

Spinfluence will appeal to crooked politicians, media manipulators and corporate big-wigs alike, in fact anyone interested in how to exploit people for profit or power. Covering fun techniques and tactics such as emotional hijacking, brainwashing and hysteria harnessing - Spinfluence is a glorious and insightful read about how to bend the truth and subvert the will of the herd. Spinfluence is an irreverent take on how propaganda is used by ‘The 1%’ to control the remaining 99%. It’s written from the perspective of an organisation who work directly for the 1%. But in a satirical twist the book exposes the amoral and highly unethical techniques used through propaganda to control the masses. Spinfluence tackles complex subjects which are highly topical and simplifies them for the reader. More and more people are angered by the disproportionate power the 1% wield and want to know how and why this elite minority are able to accumulate so much wealth, and are to hold sway the over the government and population alike – at such great social cost.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Politics, Philosophy

264 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Gloomyivashkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am now ready to conquer the world with misinformation and herd control.

This might be the prettiest book I own. The illustrations were awesomely terrifying and instructional. It's a must have for anyone with an interest in propaganda and biting satire.

[Stephen- Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps one of the best, most thought provoking and disturbing books I have encountered throughout my life ! ....It has become one of the most valuable "reads" in my library.....If you want to "spin" anything..or just would like to protect yourself from the constant barrage of crap that is shoveled towards us by all media, you should read this book....Having grown up surrounded by "high security clearance" people and the ent. biz. I always knew that the reason why some actor did not return to a series the next year was not because they "killed them off" in the previous season, but usually because they could not re-negoticate their contract ! That being said.....I always viewed most "news stories" and so called "historical events" from a different angle and perhaps a questioning eye. After you read this book, you will never look at news or media the same....You may never vote in another election....You may decide it is time to start thinking of alternative places to live.....You may just stop believing what everyone else seems to openly accept and start questioning things and events as you never have before ! .....Why?.....Because you will easily be able to "connect the dots" and see how these "short hand" theories are being constantly used against us and decide that you are "Mad as hell and not going to take it any more".....

This is a brilliant book that anyone interested in "spin", media manipulation, sales, propaganda or building careers in the all medias should read ! It is a "bible" to be read, re-read and followed.......This is one of my "top ten" ! I can't praise it enough......I love the uniqueness of it's presentation and am amazed that it ever got published !

[Am Y · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you can put aside the absolutely appalling editing (spelling and grammar mistakes everywhere - tons of instances where "it's" was used instead of "its" and vice versa, missing hyphens, hyphens where there should be none, "who's" used instead of "whose", etc etc etc), this book can actually be a fun and interesting read.

It contains bite-sized chunks of text relating to propaganda - everything from what it is, how it's used, etc, to how to employ it, why it works, who is most susceptible to it, and so on.

At the bottom of every page is also a quote from a famous person or literary work, about the topic being discussed. E.g. From Michael Crichton's "The Lost World", 1995: "The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kindgom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs'. The reason is that 'beliefs' guide behaviour, which has evolutionary importance among human beings."

I enjoyed reading the quote on every page.

[Bart Verdeyen (cafeaulivre on Youtube) · Rating 3 out of 5]

More a treat to the eye than a challenge to the mind, this little and well-designed book is a somewhat classical introduction into the world of communication, public relations, advertising and the like. Entertaining because of it's pleasing, shock-art design and it's dry, cynical approach of classical communication studies. Lacks new insights when it comes to content though, especially for those who are already at home in communication studies.

[Nataliia Osadcha · Rating 5 out of 5]

«Spinfluence — керівництво по жорсткій пропаганді» від Макфарлейна Ніколаса.

Я довго шукала, що ж означає spinfluence, доки вчителька з англійської не пояснила, що автор вигадав це слово😅 і ми зійшлись на тому, що це "вплив, який закручує". Це оновлена версія, я читала  попередню, яка 2013року🙊

Це однозначно найкраща книга з пропаганди, яку я зустрічала на сьогодні. Ти не просто читаєш цікаві факти і відомості про маніпуляції, ти разом з автором стаєш творцем, генератором креативних ідей і формуєш свої стратегії впливу. Такий підхід до прочитання приємно бадьорить і допомагає більш глибше побачити "внутрішню кухню" пропаганди.

Враження неоднозначні. З одного боку це такий собі стьоб над сьогоднішніми реаліями життя.😼

З іншого, якщо сприймати слова автора серйозно і слідувати інструкціям, то це просто чудо знахідка для любителів всесвітніх теорій змов, масонів і різного роду чіпувань. Кожному своє як кажуть, можливо їм знайдеться місце десь на Павлова, в палаті з Наполеоном...

Враховуючи, що на сторінках багато цитат і посилань на відомі книги по піару, маркетингу і пропаганді, можна сприймати це як красиво оформлений підручник з методами протидії пропаганді.📚 🤓

Там і про маніпуляції, звички, емоційні рішення, мемчики і різного роду стадні інстинкти, накручування істерії, перекручування правди. Як завоювати ваше серденько❤ і керувати вашим життям🧠

Оформлено все мега крутими ілюстраціями🔥
Провокативно, відверто і навіть трішки зверхньо, це ж все ж таки жортска пропаганда.
Zeitgeist наших реалій..
Читається швидко і весело..

І хоч на книзі стоїть вікове обмеження 16+ 🔞 я б зробила її підручником в школі уже для п'ятикласників.

Дуже хочу побачити її #видайтеукраїнською, цікаво яким буде переклад.
Читайте, бо ми того варті.
Мурр 😽

[Anahit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positive: Amazing art work! Pretty basic content, which however pretty strongly hits the main points. I guess, it never hurts to hear some ideas thrown at one’s face with such a clarity. The book, actually, made me interested in sources that were used (eg Mesmerization, Emotional Intelligence, etc.)
Negative: Blacked out words - if this was intentional, then... well, it was somewhat fun in the beginning to try to guess, but then it just became annoying. “Its” vs. “it’s” - again, not sure if this was intentional vs. typo or may be even laziness to edit... but there were too many of those...

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite brilliant - my only issue was the spelling and punctuation errors that I don't THINK were intentional (hard to tell in a book of this sort), which bothered me. I love the concept, though - very well put together, errors notwithstanding!

And given the year we've had, I think quite fitting as my 100th and last book of 2018. ;-)

[Leticia Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book, a short read. One thing that amused me greatly was the absence of NLP references, despite the very clear NLP elements to the framework.

One thing that really annoyed me were the errors! Basic errors: Poor punctuation and word forms (e.g. who's instead of whose; it's instead of its; etc).

It's a cute design, though.

[Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, so you don't have to deal with morons on Social Media trying to tell what Orwell tried to say.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dictionary style reference informing propaganda techniques that are essential to spinfluencers.

[Alex Gruenenfelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written, highly artistic book. I recommend to all the revolutionaries of this world, and to anyone who thinks differently against a system that hates free thought.

[Ula · Rating 1 out of 5]

Toks katalogas. Nelabai supratau, koks knygos tikslas, bet... Paskaityta ir pamiršta.
Neverta

[M. P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit it: I bought this book at SFO just for the cool art in it. The black/red/white, bold-lined illustrations so easily associated with propaganda posters of old are absolutely superb. I want at least half of them as T-shirt prints.

Yet that doesn't mean there isn't any textual substance to this book. It's a fast read (as long as one does not get too sucked in staring at the pictures anyway), yes, but the quotes in it are very apt and informative. Despite its less than in-depth nature in regards to the subject of propaganda, Spinfluence does offer a compact (though satirically displayed) overlook on how the average citizen gets manipulated by the mainstream culture.

Four words: I loved this book. It may not be a profound find, but it is FUN.

[Teo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nice illustration and design. Doesn't provide any breakthrough information that will shock the average reader.
Still, the story is nicely built into a kind of manifesto with strong, short sentences and brilliant protagonist names.
I wouldn't recommend it to people that really want to drill into the subject and it is an easy to read book for the rest and can keep you aware of how thing e game is beplayed around us.

[Mary Mycio · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating, subversive and incisive little book. The bold black, white and red graphics are like propaganda posters themselves, explaining how the 1% control the herd of COWS (Corporate Wage Slaves), written by someone who does it for them. For a long time I've been wondering how the "press" became the "media". This book goes a long way towards explaining it.

[Denys Slobodeniuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Тема звучала привабливо та цікаво, дизайн також радував, натомість наповнення залишає бажати кращого. Куці обривки інформації, які автор подає як "тезовий виклад" не дають достатнього розуміння, перевантаженість неінформативними зображеннями ускладнює читання та створює безлад у структурі. Загалом книга відчувається рваною і незакінченою.