“It is true now as ever that American multinationals derive significant economic advantage from Third World countries due to their being underindustrialized, underdiversified, capitalist-oriented and relatively powerless. It is equally true that the consequence of American interventions has frequently been to keep Third World countries in just such an undeveloped, impotent state. There is thus at least a prima-facie case to be made for the contention that the engine of U.S. foreign policy is still fueled predominately by “economic imperialism.” And so are cataloged a depressingly long list of names, dates and places where, in the name of McDonald’s, Coke, guns and apple pie, the U.S. establishment has bought down democratically elected governments and abused freedom and hope, replacing them with the spirit of Oliver North and John Wayne. BW

Publisher: Common Courage
Paperback: 500 pages

Miscellaneous methods of both general and advanced surveillance carried out upon the private citizen by employers, credit bureaus, law enforcement and various other intruding tentacles of 20th-century life are explained by a security consultant. Unfortunately, the results read more as a series of essays attempting to gain clients for the author by instilling paranoia in the reader, rather than a serious source of information that can be utilized to counter such surveillance. Some of the sociological implications are touched upon, as well as an outline sketch of the history of modern surveillance methodology, with examples of recent infringements which made the news. But ultimately, although this book is an adequate introduction to the everyday infringements on personal liberty and the basics of surveillance techniques, the serious researcher is best served elsewhere. BW

Publisher: Black Rose
Paperback: 155 pages

With fully comprehensive examples of the Bible’s many contradictions, absurdities and immoralities, along with documented examples of an overtly antagonistic God’s indulgence in atrocities and the unfulfilled prophecies of his representatives here on Earth, this book is both the perfect weapon and a potent source of ammunition for those times when our fundamentalist brothers and sisters insist on calling uninvited. Such hardcore Christians might be too indoctrinated to be convinced by mere reason, in which case one can always use the book to hit them with, which alone justifies a hardback edition. While the Bible remains a much-misquoted and particularly flawed dogmatic tract, it’s convenient to have a reference source at hand with more than enough information to counter some of the more outlandish claims made on its behalf. Every school and hotel room should come equipped with this tome. BW

Publisher: American Atheist
Paperback: 372 pages

A collection of essays on the nature of ethical, moral, social and magical dilemmas facing both the individual and society, written by Parsons, a rocket scientist, explosives expert and founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who blew himself to pieces in a laboratory accident in 1952, and who has since had the rare distinction of having a lunar crater named after him. Interestingly, as “Frater 210,” he was also at one time head of the OTO lodge in California, a close confidant of Crowley’s who believed himself instrumental in receiving the unpublished fourth part of AL, the Book of Babalon, in a magical concert with L. Ron Hubbard. While the ideological beliefs are open to question, this is nevertheless a refreshingly intelligent perspective of one man’s personal application of magick. BW

Publisher: New Falcon
Paperback: 94 pages

From the ashes of the Skoob Occult Review rises this new anthology series, from the London esoteric book shop and now publisher Skoob, proclaiming itself “a forum for a diversity of viewpoints.” Highlights of this inaugural edition include the novella “The Stellar Lode” by Kenneth Grant from the mid-1950s, which gives rare insight into his formative philosophy, here structured within a fictional medium; a reprint of the January 1905 edition of The Occult Review; and two reviews of Kenneth Grant’s Hecates Fountain (Skoob), one by Colin Wilson, which is interesting given each’s Lovecraftian connections, and another by Gerald Suster which unceremoniously tears apart each foundation of the book’s assumptions. It’s very refreshing to see a publisher print such a scathing review of one of its own publications, and for that alone this anthology is worthy of support. BW

Publisher: Skoob
Paperback: 240 pages

In which unsurprisingly are extolled the virtues of anal insertion. All angles of anal penetration are covered and… er… probed from a medical perspective covering everything you’d ever need to know from lubrication to laceration. Interestingly, there appears only a brief mention of fisting, and disappointingly none at all of some of the more popular urban myths. It’s nevertheless a fascinating guide to all things relating to anal exploration, with useful hints on the joys of household vegetables and one’s very personal angle of penetration. Recommended reading before you happen to pick up a light bulb for insertion into the nearest convenient orifice. BW

Publisher: Down There
Paperback: 288 pages
Illustrated

Within the background of ever-escalating black budgets and big-dick politics, funding for intelligent machines of mayhem, and the developments of computational power and its worldwide sociological impact, the shift in the age-old relationship between people and machines is profound. There is a growth of a very real war machine, seeking its own paths of destruction and ultimately of survival. With the assistance of powerful personal computers, both individuals and the state can now study and effect the behavior of singularities, and in the process speed the evolution of this new machine phylum. It’s not unreasonable to consider the distinct possibility that our current human biological system of organization and deployment is but the onset of a more advanced and capable machine intelligence without sinew, soul or skin. BW

Publisher: Zone
Paperback: 272 pages
Illustrated

These four fascinating books are the legacy of iconoclastic philosopher and supreme skeptic Charles Fort. Written between 1919 and 1932, they are full of curiosities, contradictions, anomalies and the kind of data that was and is conveniently ignored or simply suppressed by mainstream science. Gleaned from 27 years of full-time research conducted at the New York Public Library and the British Museum Library are reports from periodicals, scientific journals, newspapers and numerous manuscripts covering such wild phenomena as pre-UFO flying objects, rains of frogs, falls of fishes, selective weather, strange creatures and other rejected data. Fort was a true cynic whoconsidered most scientists pompous and wrote “I cannot accept that the products of minds are subject matter for beliefs.” An essential reference for the beginner and seasoned Fortean alike. BW

Publisher: Dover
Hardback: 1 pages

“Anomaly research, though not a science per se, has the potential to destabilize paradigms and accelerate scientific change. Anomalies reveal nature as it really is: complex, chaotic, possibly even unplumbable.” If anything, Corliss raises the standard set by Charles Fort, and with these 1,500 fully indexed items of anomalous science news and research taken from an ongoing survey of over 100 scientific journals and magazines, amply demonstrating the uncertainty of knowledge. Originally published in Science Frontiers, a bimonthly newsletter sent free to buyers of Corliss’ landmark Sourcebook Project (a work of some 40,000 articles covering 25 years of searching), this collection covers subjects ranging from ancient engineering works, cosmology, biological enigmas and diffusion and culture, to geological anomalies, geophysical phenomena, psychological mysteries and the very edge of mathematics and physics. Indispensable. BW

Publisher: Sourcebook Project
Paperback: 356 pages

The main focus is on film-music methodology and technology, tracing early sound in film through to its maturity as practiced by such acknowledged masters in the field as Goldsmith, Herrmann, Rosenman and Bernstein. Includes perceptive interviews which give much insight into the compositional process, example scores which are discussed and dissected, overviews of key moments in film sound history and techniques, and film-music aesthetics codified. For such a thorough study, its one failing is the author’s bias against electronics in music, which is surprising given the strong tradition within the film-music and sound community to encompass all aspects of sound production.
Since the original publication date was 1977, post-Star Wars orchestral scoring and the new generation of composers and their techniques are omitted, which unfortunately prevents the book from being truly definitive. Nevertheless, a first-rate source on the development and traditions of motion-picture scoring. BW

Publisher: Norton
Paperback: 329 pages
Illustrated