New Book: Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

I finished Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer, and I highly recommend it, especially for those of you who are looking to be terrified by yet another group of religious extremists (Mormon fundamentalists, in this case). I am generally of the belief that extremely religious people are untrustworthy, whether they call their god God, Allah, Xenu, Zeus, or Tebow. Under the Banner of Heaven takes a hard look at the violent roots of Mormonism and the modern-day implications of the mainstream LDS Church's decision to abandon polygamy and other tenets that Mormon fundamentalists (i.e., NOT mainstream Mormons – think of Roman's compound in Big Love) have continued to practice. In a religion that encourages all of its members to talk directly to God and to receive personal revelations (and, more importantly, that encourages acceptance of those revelations as truth), there are dark and fascinating consequences. The continuing storyline throughout the book relates to two brothers who murdered their sister-in-law and her infant daughter, essentially because one of the guys got a revelation that God wanted them dead. Interspersed within that storyline are chapters regarding Mormonism's history, beginning with Joseph Smith writing the Book of Mormon after being visited by an angel and seeing some tablets that were thereafter destroyed and seen by no one else, through their persecution in the Midwest, through their trek to Utah and attempts to establish a sovereign land for themselves under Brigham Young's iron-fisted guidance. All in all, it was a really interesting book, and I can understand why the LDS Church had such a heated reaction to it, since it paints Mormonism (and the Church) in an objectively negative light.

Next up is Chuck Klosterman's new book, Eating the Dinosaur. I've enjoyed all of his other books, so I don't see any reason why this would be any different. From what I understand, it is a collection of unrelated (or very loosely related) essays, in the vein of Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs. I'm interested to see how he prepares the dinosaur.

Books read in 2009:
The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis
Oh The Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey
I Hate New Music: The Classic Rock Manifesto by Dave Thompson
Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal by Ian Christe
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector by Mick Brown
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga by Ian Christe
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
KISS: Behind the Mask: The Official Authorized Biography by David Leaf and Ken Sharp
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer