This was a fascinating read - beginning and ending with the mystery of an elderly Chinese man who may or may not be a spy.

Following the death of his father, an academic specialising in the former East German , Danny Wallace stumbles on his innocent- sounding correspondence with said elderly Chinese man, and promptly falls down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, internet trolls and AI bots.

It's an alarming journey through the world of Q-Anon, Covid conspiracies, Russian troll farms and more as Danny talks to people on all sides. Much is clearly absurd (the man from Thetford who believes he's going to be banned from ever venturing out of Thetford - why?!) but the book explores how people get drawn into and then entrenched in certain unlikely beliefs, convinced they're the few who are clear sighted enough to see "the truth", unlike the rest of us poor sheep. Sometimes harmless and sometimes incredibly damaging, like claiming that disasters didn't happen and that the grieving and traumatised are actors. Or that Covid never existed and vaccines are a dangerous conspiracy.

It's also terrifying to consider the degree to which we can be influenced en masse by shadowy figures with ill intent, entering a world where facts are subjective and you can't necessarily believe anything you see, hear or read. The huge expansion of AI has its positives but also brings dangers which are very hard for national governments to keep up with or legislate for.

An interesting read which never fails to entertain, inform, and provide much food for thought.

4.5 stars rounded up.

I’ve been a fan of Danny Wallace’s books for about 20 years, since reading Are You Dave Gorman? And then the wonderful Yes Man, which are two of my favourite books of all time. I was thrilled to get stuck into his new book.

Now this book is already available in the UK, but I believe this is the US release and there is a short extra intro, some unnecessary changes of -ise to -ize and mum to mom, but otherwise I’m assuming all is the same!

This was a bit different to Danny’s comedy books in that it was equal parts alarming, scary, and amusing. Danny’s trademark humour is definitely in there, but it’s more focused on interviews, research and discussion about the fascinating world of disinformation. From conspiracy theories to QAnon, Truthers, AI and Crisis Actors, it was so fascinating and terrifying that I now just don’t know what to believe and fear that we are all doomed!

There’s some great interviews in here from academics, BBC fact checkers, scientists – as well as some truthers themselves and people who have suffered as a result of disinformation. The writing is great – it was nice to have bits of Danny’s wit woven in there to lighten some of the heavy topics; and he does a great job of explaining some complex subjects and concepts.

I really think this is essential reading as there was so much I had no idea about!

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
Danny Wallace never fails to both delight and interest. In this latest book he delves into conspiracy theories - who believes them, why they believe them, who’s benefiting from people believing them and where this all might take us in the future. Along the way he explains his personal family history with the topic, and meets several people on both sides of the conspiracy fence.
If you’ve recently watched and enjoyed - or been horrified by - Netflix’s Adolescence, you could do worse than to dovetail that with this book. You’d be surprised what you find on the internet.