How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions

Francis Wheen has managed to articulate exactly why the modern world feels like a fever dream of irrationality and piffle. He takes a sledgehammer to everything from neoliberal economic theories to the absurd rise of self-help gurus like Deepak Chopra. To be fair, his defense of Enlightenment values is a breath of fresh air in a society that seems to prioritize feeling over factual reality. I found the section on the Sokal affair particularly enlightening, as it exposes the academic rot of postmodernism. While he might be a bit cynical, his wit is razor-sharp and the prose flows with a wonderful, polemic energy. It is a brilliant takedown of the delusions we have allowed to govern our lives since the late seventies.

This book is brilliant, intelligent, and wickedly funny, standing as a testament to why rational thought matters in a world gone mad. Wheen’s exploration of the collective grief after Princess Diana’s death is worth the price of admission alone. He manages to be both a historian and a cultural critic, weaving together disparate threads like the CIA and alternative medicine into a cohesive warning. The prose is sharp and fast-paced, making even the denser chapters on economic theory feel vital. It is a spectacular slap in the face to the absurdity of modern life. I beg you to read this if you are tired of the hogwash being fed to us daily.

Finally got around to this 2004 classic, and it is frightening how prescient it remains in our current post-truth era. Wheen’s analysis of how we traded Reason for a messy cocktail of religious fundamentalism and market-force voodoo is spot on. I particularly enjoyed the skewering of Tony Blair and the bizarre sentimentality surrounding the death of Lady Di. Truth is, we are still living in the shadow of the mumbo-jumbo he describes here, perhaps even more so now than when he wrote it. The prose is splendid and full of bite, even if some of the economic sections made my eyes glaze over. This is a solid read for anyone who misses common sense.

Picked this up on a whim and was immediately sucked into Wheen’s sharp-penned defense of the Enlightenment. He does a fantastic job of showing how irrationality is not just a fringe phenomenon but something that has deeply infected our political and corporate leadership. The way he connects the rise of Islamic fundamentalism with the hollow neoliberalism of the West is actually quite brilliant. Gotta say, his Last Sensible Man persona can be a bit much, but his targets are almost always deserving of the hits. It is a riveting account of how we have let emotion-led thinking drive the bus for far too long.

After hearing so much about Wheen’s cultural critiques, I was glad to find a book that actually challenges the clash of civilizations narrative. He does not hold back on anyone, from the Derridettes in academia to the invisible hand worshippers in the financial sector. While the book is definitely a product of its time, the underlying message about the death of Reason is more relevant than ever. Some of the chapters felt a bit like he was shooting fish in a barrel, but man, he is a good shot. It is a witty, necessary defense of the mind against the encroaching fog of modern superstition.

To be fair, Wheen is a bit of a grouch, but he is the kind of grouch the world desperately needs right now. This book is a wide-ranging analysis of why we believe in things that are clearly bollocks, from UFOs to the infallibility of the free market. Not gonna lie, some of the transitions between topics are a bit jarring and left me feeling a little disoriented. But the core argument, that we have abandoned the intellectual tools of the Enlightenment, is delivered with such panache that it is hard to stay mad. It is a sharp, insightful, and occasionally frustrating look at our own collective stupidity.

Ever wonder why common sense feels so uncommon these days? Wheen tries to answer that by looking at the modern delusions that have replaced rational thought since the Enlightenment started to fade. Personally, I think he makes some great points about the trickle-down economics of Reagan and Thatcher being a form of secular magic. However, the book tries to cover too much ground in under four hundred pages. One minute we are talking about Mayan rebirthing techniques, and the next we are diving into the intricacies of the dot-com bubble. It is a bit of a scattergun approach that leaves some of the more complex arguments feeling underdeveloped.

The chapter on the Peoples’ Princess was a highlight, but the rest of the book felt like a chaotic scattergun approach to cultural criticism. Wheen is clearly a smart guy, and his takedown of happy-clappy business gurus is genuinely hilarious. To be fair, though, his insistence that everything from religion to certain sociological theories is mere mumbo-jumbo feels a bit reductive at times. He attacks Noam Chomsky and Thomas Friedman in the same breath, which feels like he is just looking for a fight. I enjoyed the witty writing style, but I left the book feeling like I had just listened to a very long, very loud rant at a pub.

This book reads like Bill Bryson’s nastier, more political and much sneerier younger brother. I started off enjoying the cynicism, but by chapter six, I was honestly just exhausted by the author’s relentless negativity. Wheen pours contempt on everything from Thatcherism and the CIA to homeopathy until the categories become meaningless. Frankly, the narrative structure is a complete mess, jumping from the Ayatollah to Princess Diana without a clear connective thread. He seems to think he is the only sensible man left on earth, which is a bit rich coming from someone who generalizes this much. It is simply too much piffle about piffle for my liking.

Look, I wanted to love this takedown of nonsense, but Wheen’s relentless sneering eventually became as tiresome as the mumbo-jumbo he despises. He treats every subject with the same level of vitriol, whether it is the horrific genocides of Pol Pot or just some harmless person using crystals. In my experience, a good critique needs a bit of nuance to be effective, and there is absolutely none to be found here. The section on economic migration and globalization felt especially out of place and lacked the mumbo-jumbo angle he promised. It is a very dated 2004 time capsule that has not aged as gracefully as I had hoped.