The Conspiracy against the Human Race: A Contrivance of Horror Paperback – April 30, 2011

achieves an amazing synthesis drawn from underrated pessimistic thinkers throughout history, must read for anyone interested in philosophical pessimism

Bill Hicks once said you never hear his point of view in the news. This book perfectly explains that sentiment.

This wasn't just stimulating, it was fascinating. I hardly feel qualified to offer a thorough review, so I won't. I enjoyed reading and learning from every page of this work. I read Mr. Ligotti's fiction too, and this vibrant and keen exploration was every bit as satisfying.

There's the old saying that there are two types of people in this world: those who only see miracles and those who don't see any. Ligotti is from the latter camp. And he'd even take it a step further and say that he only sees horror.

This is one of the best creative-non fiction books that I've read yet. I see why Ligotti says that this isn't a philosophy book: it's more of a confession of someone who seems the nightmare of being and he is presenting his case as to why he sees it that way. Ligotti can make bleakness, cynicism, and pessimism look so seductive. His prose is simply brilliant and it shines throughout the entire book. This is easily the most depressive thing that I've read (and I mean that in a positive way). It's relentless and it beats into you. The first chapter (The Nightmare of Being) alone is worth the price of the book. It paints such a dark image of how life is inescapably miserable. The pages bleed with this strong passion of disgust, fear, and melancholy.

So what is the conspiracy against the human race? Ligotti never actually straight up defines it; yet, that's the strength of it. Sometimes it's used to refer to how nature conspires against the human race by punishing us with consciousness, and other times it refers to this idea that society is this clique in which everyone pats each other on the back and keeps telling each other that everything is alright and we should keep on keepin' on -- don't ask the question "is being alive a good thing?" because the clique will just answer and say "of course" without any critical thought. On top of these two major ones that I picked up on, I think it also suggests that there are many conspiracies against the human race.

At points, I felt that instead of relying on Zapffe, Ligotti could have used Ernest Becker more, even though Becker didn't consider himself a pessimist. I assume that this is why he didn't use Becker as much, simply because Becker gives hope at the end (as Ligotti points out). But passages in this book read as if they were the words of Becker (sublimation, fear of death, denial, etc.), while others clearly didn't. I thought his dissection of how seemingly pessimistic thinkers, such as Becker, can allude someone into their work only to sneak out the back door down a golden trail with flowers and rainbows in the end, leaving you alone in the house that the pseudo-pessimist invited you into only to be left alone to wallow in more misery.

I loved the Freaks of Salvation chapter as well, but I felt that his synopsis of Buddhism was a bit lacking and misleading at times. Of course there are many strands of Buddhism and Ligotti couldn't have possibly covered them within a reasonable length. I thought an interesting point was that, despite all that Ligotti has read and heard, he still insists that Buddhism is pessimism.

This book was a disclosure of how a man can see nothing but horror and bleakness in everyday life. It does a great job of making you feel isolated, alienated, and afraid. The last ten pages are sobering and shocking. It is a real hard slap in the face that life is suffering. It's a great book though. Beyond the pessimism, the philosophical aspects of the book challenge long held assumptions and conclusions that most people hold. It's refreshing to take a step back, and ask, as Camus put it, the fundamental question: “Why should we live? Is life worth all the suffering and misery?”

On a final note, I know Ligotti says in the book that this isn't a philosophy book, and that's possibly why this is missing, but as another reviewer has mentioned, I would have loved to seen an index for easier referencing to various thinkers throughout the book.

EDIT: Revisiting this book, I had a few more thoughts. It's a very well written book, and for that reason I'd recommend the book. Ligotti is a phenomenal writer, and that's clear, but most of the book reads like a stream of someone's angry and frustrated thoughts, and it can become melodramatic after a while. The first chapter pretty much explains the feeling and thoughts of the book, and everything else is just filling in the blanks from what was laid out in that first chapter.

It's fascinating and interesting to see how Ligotti views the world and how his view motivates his fictional writing.

Interesting book. Be warned Mr. Ligotti has an extensive vocabulary of words. I found myself looking up words using my kindle fairly frequently.

Make sure you are mentally stable and not too overtly misanthropic or this non-fiction book might push you over the edge. Hostile, full of truths and well worth your time if you are a philosophical pessimist!

A great book on nihilistic existentialism. It contains ideas i always thought were true. I identify with the books premise. A lot of people will probably not like the dark outlook of the book. this book is not stories or short stories. Its about nihilistic pessimistic philosophical ideas. Any nihilistic pessimistic would probably identify this books as the handbook of there beliefs.

Great discussion if pessimistic philosophy and introduction to the work of existential philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe