THE APOCALYPEDIA
Apocalypse [n. əpɒkəlɪps]
Something as it Really Is
Part dictionary, part cathedral, The Apocalypedia is a scurrilous, lyrical and lunatic countercultural a-z that illuminates self and society through a collection of flash-essays and comic vignettes, presenting an apocalyptically optimistic and deeply original understanding of human nature and of living, and living well, in a collapsing civilisation.
The Apocalypedia is a comic revelation of the kaleidoscopic path that ordinary consciousness takes through the day and an uncompromising satire of [post]modern culture, addressing philosophy, psychology, language, history, romantic love, artistic truth and many more fertile fields of poetic enquiry which did not have a name… until now.
The Apocalypedia shows what—the horror of work, dread love affairs, gut-impotence, tongue-tied micro-catastrophes, world-detonating inflows of genius, self-shattering laughter, silent docked she-connections, the intelligence of walls, the wrinkles of a loved uncle, blizzards in the moonlight, anarchic moonwalks through the interzone and friendly festivals of death have in common—why—we do have the broken families, repressive institutions, boring philosophy, miserable history and omnipornographic teeveemedia we feel we could probably do without and why we don’t have the utopian island-states, underwater improvised-theatre domes of baize and burnished glass, river-spanning trampolines, exquisite furniture hand-crafted in factory-cum-cathedrals, warm and liquid freedom sloshing around our ankles, tame zebras trotting through the garden and superbly tailored raiment that we feel, somehow, we should have—and how—to face the tender enormity of the unknown, find a decent fella, instantly overcome all worry, connect up all human knowledge with a transdimensional shoelace, seize never-to-be-repeated moments by their little balls, summon a berserk of glory from the bellymind, impersonate a tree so well that birds land on you, experience the centre of the universe together during apocalyptic intercourse (or apocalyptic gardening), blowtorch the system and find your way out of a me-shaped prison—back into the big room.…
The Apocalypedia has been completely revised, with new entries added, such as ‘henid’, ‘fate’ and ‘neochurch’ along with many ‘featured essays’, such as ‘culture’, ‘love’, ‘ritual’, ‘vision’, ‘violence’. A ‘quote-book’ has been appended, along with an ‘evaluation’ section and a revised ‘kaleidography’. It is now the most complete, subversive, mind-bending anatomy of self and selflessness on earth.
THE SECOND EDITION OF THE APOCALYPEDIA IS AVAILABLE FROM:
Your local [independent] bookshop — they should be able to order it.
All the usual online places (search for the second edition)
And from my bookshop.
READ AN EXCERPT HERE.
...an excellent book; original, enlightening and amusing... Critical of conformity and subordination... readers may be inspired to go around seeing things as they are rather than as we are expected to see them - Jeff Schmidt, author of Disciplined Minds
When I wondered around bookshops in my teens, 20s, 30s, ever since... this was the book I was looking for - David Edwards, Media Lens
Read with great interest and pleasure, and almost complete agreement. - Galen Strawson, author of Freedom & Belief
Beautifully radical, delightfully unpredictable, stimulatingly offensive. - Luc Koch (at ‘Luctalks’)
A glorious mixture of humour, astute observation of the human condition, political commentary and solid wisdom. - Paul Cudenec (Read his review here: tinyurl.com/ywmuck93)
Strikes again and again at the heart of the beast - Ran Prieur
Subversive, interesting, well-written and beautiful… extremely entertaining reading. Have not read anything like it before - Matt Bluemink, Blue Labyrinths
I loved it - Phil Elverum, The Microphones
Amazing. I laughed, I cried, I shared it with loved ones... trying to keep quiet at the moment as I don't want my colleagues to realise that I don't always believe everything the government tells me - Damien Gayle, The Guardian
A veritable acid trip of a book... Totally original. Totally… A vision of play and possibility, of poetry and of magic... profoundly insightful... when I share passages out of it with others, I feel like I'm spreading dangerous thoughts... expressive, poignant, powerful, an embodiment of a certain ideal and a certain earthiness that I can’t begin to put in words... Every line provokes oceans of reflection and contemplation... One of the wisest books I ever read... English would be the richest language in the world if it incorporated these words... There's nothing else like it… The number of times I’ve laughed and shouted - yes! out loud while reading this book is tremendous. Powerful truths in bite size excerpts. A truly original and timely work.
- Reader’s Reports (from Amazon, GoodReads, Twitter, etc)
This is utter sh***. All I learned is that this dude is truly madly deeply in love with himself and can't put words together in a way that make sense to normal people (‘Steve that lifts’)… It’s written so pretentiously that it’s difficult to agree with and perpetuates a great dislike for the author. (‘Anna’)… I don’t think there is a single section of society that this book doesn’t demean in some way… I am horrified to have paid for a copy of this. (‘Mara’)… The whole project reeks of self-regard. Also, I don't think [it] is funny. (Douglas Lain)… Avoid. The author is obviously a wanker. Nothing in it makes any sense. (Patty McNeigh) - Other Reader’s Reports
