Jon Ronson - Böcker

From Jon Ronson, the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, this is a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame.'It's about the terror, isn't it?''The terror of what?' I said.'The terror of being found out.'Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us – people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they're being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonized, sometimes even fired from their job.A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratized. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? We are mercilessly finding people's faults. We are defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.Simultaneously powerful and hilarious in the way only Jon Ronson can be, So You've Been Publicly Shamed is a deeply honest book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it.

'Simultaneously frightening and hilarious' - The TimesThe Men Who Stare at Goats reveals the extraordinary – and completely nutty – national secrets at the core of America's government.Often funny, sometimes chilling and with first-hand access to the leading players, Jon Ronson’s Sunday Times bestseller is a story so unbelievable it has to be true.In 1979, a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US 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, in the early 2000s, they’re back and fighting George W. Bush’s War on Terror.But why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners-of-war with the theme tune to the Barney the Purple Dinosaur show? Why have one hundred de-bleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces command centre at Fort Bragg? And how was the US military associated with the mysterious mass-suicide of a strange cult from San Diego?Now a feature film starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor.Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.

** AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW **The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and the award-winning BBC podcast Things Fell Apart moves to Penguin for his first book in eleven years, a darkly comic true crime mystery set within the masculinity crisis, The Castle.I honestly have no clue what is going on.This is very weird.We left. Was completely fucked. All good now.When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts after his son Joel had been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England under false pretences late one evening, it set Ronson Sr. off on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men on a desperate search for purpose, whatever the cost.Why did the wealthy scion of a gilded age tycoon entice Jon’s son to his castle on the pretext of a party, when the reality was something else entirely? Could Jon uncover what was really going on inside that strange castle? Why was a popular online lawncare influencer wrongly implicated in a bizarre plot to traumatize millions of unsuspecting children? And, more pressingly, why are two recently paroled murderers on their way to pay Jon an ominous visit?Against the backdrop of the sometimes moving, often disturbing masculinity crisis, Jon follows the trail of those men who are acting out, checked out or just plain out of time. Drawing on his trademark brand of humour, psychological insight and unrivalled prescience, and told in the riveting style of a true crime thriller, The Castle marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page in his darkest and most wildly enjoyable journey yet – deep into the recesses of the Castle and the secret lives of men.PRAISE FOR JON RONSON:‘Simultaneously frightening and hilarious’ The Times‘Funny and compulsively readable’ Louis Theroux‘His scalpel-sharp journalistic mind comes wrapped in disarming, diffident warmth’ Miranda Sawyer, Guardian‘Ronson is one of our most important modern-day thinkers’ US News & World Report‘Funny and thought-provoking . . . original, inspired journalism’ Financial Times‘Gutsy and smart’ New York Times‘Simmering with humour, weirdness and pathos’ Sunday Times‘A diligent investigator and a wry, funny writer, Ronson manages to be at once academic and entertaining’ Boston Globe‘The belly laughs come thick and fast – my God, he is funny’ Observer

Out of the Ordinary is Jon Ronson at his inimitable best: hilarious, thought-provoking and with an unerring eye for human frailty – not least his own.Jon Ronson's subjects have included people who believe that goats can be killed by the power of a really hard stare, and people who believe that the world is ruled by twelve-foot lizard-men. In Out of the Ordinary, a collection of his journalism from the Guardian, he turns his attention to irrational beliefs much closer to home, investigating the ways in which we sometimes manage to convince ourselves that all manner of lunacy makes perfect sense – mainstream, domestic, ordinary insanity. Whether he finds himself promising his son that he will be at his side for ever, dressed in a Santa costume, or trying to understand why hundreds of apparently normal people would suddenly start speaking in tongues in a Scout hut in Kidderminster, he demonstrates repeatedly how we all succumb to deeply irrational beliefs that grow to inform our everyday existence.

As hilarious as it is perturbing, Jon Ronson's second collection of Guardian journalism, What I Do, is a treat for everyone who has ever suspected themselves to be at the mercy of forces they can barely comprehend.In part one, read about the time Jon inadvertently made a lewd gesture to a passing fourteen-year-old girl late at night in the lobby of a country-house hotel. And about his burgeoning obsession with a new neighbour who refused to ask him what he did for a living, despite Jon's constant dropping of intriguing hints. And about the embarrassment of being caught recycling small talk at a party.In part two, read some of Jon's longer stories, which explore manifestations of insanity in the wider world: the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year; behind the scenes at Deal or No Deal, which Jon likens to a cult with Noel Edmonds as its high priest; a meeting with TV hypnotist Paul McKenna, who has joined forces with a self-help guru who once stood trial for murder – but can they cure Jon of his one big phobia?

Uncover the madness at the heart of society in this Sunday Times bestseller – now with a new introduction.'The belly laughs come thick and fast' – The Observer'Chirpy, inquisitive, funny' - Craig BrownWhat if society wasn't fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity? This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness.Along the way, Ronson meets an array of fascinating individuals, from psychopaths and those affected by madness to the experts tasked with diagnosing it. He learns the art of psychopath-spotting from the influential psychologist who developed the eponymous test, revealing that madness may lie at the core of everything . . .Combining Jon's trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is both entertaining and honest, unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges.

‘Funny and compulsively readable’ – Louis TherouxWhat if a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room? In Them Jon Ronson sets out to find this room, with the help of the extremists – Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen – that believe in it. Along the way, he is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and witnesses international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of northern California.A Sunday Times bestseller and the book that launched Jon Ronson’s inimitable career, Them is an eye-opening outrageously funny exploration of extremism, which makes both author and reader think twice about the looking-glass world of ‘us’ and ‘them’ . . .Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature. ‘Chilling and hilarious . . . Ronson’s trademark laid-back attitude is a delight’ – The Independent

‘Funny and thought provoking’ - Financial TimesFascinated by madness, strange behaviour and the human mind, Jon Ronson has spent his life exploring mysterious events and meeting extraordinary people. Collected from various sources, including GQ and The Guardian, Lost at Sea features the very best of his adventures.Jon has been on patrol with America’s real-life superheroes and to a UFO convention in the Nevada desert with Robbie Williams. He has met a man who tried to split the atom in his kitchen and asked a conscious robot if she has a soul.Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining – these fascinating stories of the chaos that lies on the fringes of our daily lives will have you wondering just what we’re capable of.Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

Jon Ronson's captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame.A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Through social media, justice has been democratized and the silent majority are getting a voice. But are we using our voice for good?Instead we are mercilessly finding people’s faults and defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those who position themselves outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.In this prescient, unnerving yet often hilarious book, Jon Ronson meets the victims of modern public shamings and, in doing so, plunges us deep into the heart of a very modern terror: the terror of being found out. Full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it – this is Jon Ronson at his very best.A Sunday Times Book of the Year when first published, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

They say one out of every hundred people is a psychopath. You probably passed one on the street today. These are people who have no empathy, who are manipulative, deceitful, charming, seductive, and delusional. The Psychopath Test is the New York Times bestselling exploration of their world and the madness industry. When Jon Ronson is drawn into an elaborate hoax played on some of the world’s top scientists, his investigation leads him, unexpectedly, to psychopaths. He meets an influential psychologist who is convinced that many important business leaders and politicians are in fact high-flying, high-functioning psychopaths, and teaches Ronson how to spot them. Armed with these new abilities, Ronson meets a patient inside an asylum for the criminally insane who insists that he’s sane, a mere run-of-the-mill troubled youth, not a psychopath—a claim that might be only manipulation, and a sign of his psychopathy. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud, and with a legendary CEO who took joy in shutting down factories and firing people. He delves into the fascinating history of psychopathy diagnosis and treatments, from LSD-fueled days-long naked therapy sessions in prisons to attempts to understand serial killers. Along the way, Ronson discovers that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their most insane edges. The Psychopath Test is a fascinating adventure through the minds of madness.

Alltsedan 1970-talet har den amerikanska armén utbildat en hemlig grupp soldater i paranormala förmågor. De tränar sig i osynlighet (!), att tindra med ögonen för att göra fienden förvirrad, konsten att förflytta medvetandet utanför kroppen, men också mer normala närstridstekniker. Verksamheten låg nere från mitten av 1990-talet men nu under 2000-talets Krig mot terrorismen har de blivit reaktiverade. Och nu är det krig på riktigt, vilket leder hela vägen till den psykiska tortyren av fångarna i Abu Ghraib och Guantanamo. Den högsta nivån för en Super Soldier innebär superkrafter nog att stirra ihjäl en get. Och Jon Ronson spårar upp och intervjuar den ende som lyckades. Han får dock endast bevittna hur man med mental fokusering dödar ett mindre sällskapsdjur. I sitt underhållande reportageMän som stirrar på getter lyckas Jon Ronson förena skarpsynthet och samhällskritik med en humor som sträcker sig långt över vad man trodde var möjligt. George Clooney med kollegorna Jeff Bridges , Ewan McGregor och Kevin Spacey (och en get) har gjort en storfilm på boken. Svensk premiär 5 februari 2010. "Detta är en väldigt rolig bok. Ronson har undersökt noga och mina aningar att det hela ska avslutas med ett April, April slår inte in utan det verkar faktiskt som det han skriver om faktiskt har inträffat. Samtidigt är det en obehaglig och delvis skrämmande historia där i förlängningen fångar i Abu Ghraib och Guantanamo utsätts för psykisk tortyr och ockulta experiment bland annat i form av subliminal ljudteknik." Roger Bengtsson, Ikon1931.se