The book of the SubGenius
by J. R. Dobbs · first published 1983
33% recommend56% neutral11% critical
"Sometimes a book goes too far. Sometimes is... now. First, there was The Gilgamesh. Then... the Bhagavad-Gita Then... the Torah, the New Testament, the Koran Then... the Book of Mormon, Dianetics, I'm OK You're OK. And now...The Book of the Subgenius (How to Prosper in the Coming Weird Times)"--Publisher description.
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Book of the Subgenius.
on “Ask HN: Which is the most useful book you've read whose lessons you still use?” ↗…here. I have a similar problem: I'm so goddamned intelligent that this world seems like the movie "Idiocracy" to me. ( I can't watch it: it's too painful. ) When I was younger, this advice from the Book of the Subgenius helped me a lot to get by, "Act like a dumbass and they'll treat you like an equal." Eventually, I calculated the existence of God, called out "Ollie Ollie Oxen Free", and He showed up and Shook my hand.…
on “Where is Notepad in Windows 10? (2015)” ↗To young "fierce nerds": The single best piece of advice I got for dealing with normals was, "Act like a dumbass and they'll treat you like an equal." (from the Book of the Subgenius.) - - - - There's a lot to unpack in this essay, some good some bad IMO. One thing I feel is worth mentioning: I don't think the cure for bitterness is success, I believe it's helping others.
on “Fierce Nerds” ↗- Book of the Subgenius - Meditations, Aurelius - Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut - Blue and Brown Books, Wittgenstein - Stranger, Camus - Dhammapada, Buddha - Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche…
on “What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?” ↗"Book of the Subgenius" (various authors) but I don't recommend it. It's not for everyone. Learn (self-)hypnosis. "TRANCE-formations" by Bandler and Grinder (and Bandler's other books as well) and "Monsters and Magical Sticks:…
on “Ask HN: Which book or course gave you an unfair advantage?” ↗…still have my hardcopy that I bought at a punk music/book store in the 80s. It's on a shelf next to titles like J. G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition, RE/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook, and Book of the SubGenius.
on “Anarchist Cookbook (1971) [pdf]” ↗We had copies of this and the Book of The Subgenius laying around my high school. Obviously Principia Discordia was from much earlier but the new wave/punk scene around the 80s-90s cusp in (of all places, Anchorage, Alaska) was all about this particular…
on “The Principia Discordia (1963)” ↗…were still learning to read. Listening to GG Allin in the suburbs might be, though, because it would have taken years or decades for him to show up as a new thing in the suburbs of south Florida. The Book of the SubGenius was also pretty darn subversive by the standards of the whitebread town I grew up in, but the cultural context in which I understood it sure changed a lot after I grew up, got a job, and found myself…
on “The Counterculture Is Better in the Suburbs” ↗You're right, the Book of the SubGenius is certainly not for everyone. We can't have people questioning reality, it would unleash chaos.
on “Ask HN: Which book or course gave you an unfair advantage?” ↗Lowered attention spans may be widely regarded as a net negative, yet I propose to reframe the conversation: • Call it "whiffreading" after the term in the Book of the Subgenius [1983]. A way to intuitively, instinctively and logically determine if you can get the sense of something quickly. If you sense it is worthy, you will invest the time in it. If not, and you feel you are…
on “Have Attention Spans Been Declining? – Yes, 65%” ↗