2 results for "Science"

Depends What You Mean by Extremist

John Safran
No one turns up where they're not wanted quite like John Safran. In this hilarious and disorienting adventure he gets among our diverse community of white nationalists, ISIS supporters, anarchists and more, digging away at the contradictions that many would prefer be left unexamined. Who is this black puppet-master among the white nationalists? And this Muslim fundamentalist who geeks out on Monty Python? Is there a secret radicalisation network operating in John's own Jewish suburb? And ultimately - is hanging with all these radicals washing off on John himself? Populated by an extraordinary cast of 'ordinary' Australians, Depends What You Mean by Extremist is a startling, confronting portrait of contemporary Australia. We all think we know what's going on in our own country, but this larger-than-life, timely, and alarmingly insightful true story will make you think again . . . Drinking shots with nationalists and gobbling falafel with radicals, John Safran was there the year the extreme became the mainstream. 'Totes recommend John Safran's latest. Deplorable in the best sense.' Louis Theroux 'An original, insightful, frequently deadpan-funny read . . . John Safran confirms that he's a major writing talent with his second book . . . Like his professional doppelgangers, Jon Ronson and Louis Theroux, Safran has a gift for eliciting information from his subjects by way of his unthreatening yet relentlessly unquestioning persona.' Jo Case, Readings Monthly 'Safran has always had an unusually receptive antenna for the fraught collision of racial, cultural and religious difference . . . This is an Australia where as soon as you draw a cultural, racial or religious battle line somebody strolls up to smudge it.' James Robert Douglas, The Guardian (Australia)
Penguin Random House 2018-08-20 304 pages

Puff Piece

John Safran
The folks that bring you Marlboro - Philip Morris - are wheezing, slowly dying. Cigarettes are out of favour with everyone, from world governments and investors to, increasingly, smokers. So, what's their plan? Prepare to be dazzled. Or, at the very least, befuddled. Philip Morris has announced they will shut down as a cigarette company, and relaunch as a health enterprise, dedicated to convincing the one billion smokers of the world to quit. The ever-curious John Safran leaves his apartment to find out what on God's green earth is going on. As he starts digging away he discovers a company up to brand new shenanigans, wangling their way into unexpected places, desperately trying to keep their tobacco business alive by brandishing a mysterious new doohickey called an IQOS. And not only that, now they're upending language itself, changing the meaning of words. Will they slip past bans by convincing governments they don't sell 'cigarettes' but rather 'HeatSticks', and that these don't emit 'smoke' but 'aerosol'? Can John get the real story out of them without his life catching fire? Wild, hilarious and thought-provoking, Puff Piece is a probing look into Big Tobacco and the vaping industry, and how words can be literally a matter of life and death.
Penguin Canada 2022-08-30 368 pages