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New York Times-bestselling author of The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson writes about the dark, uncanny sides of humanity with clarity and humor. Lost at Sea--now with new material--reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, even in the most mundane circumstances. Ronson investigates the strange things we're willing to believe in, from robots programmed with our loved ones' personalities to indigo children to the Insane Clown Posse's juggalo fans. He looks at ordinary lives that take on extraordinary perspectives. Among them: a pop singer whose greatest passion is the coming alien invasion, assisted-suicide practitioners, and an Alaskan town's Christmas-induced high school mass-murder plot. He explores all these tales with a sense of higher purpose and universality, yet they are stories not about the fringe of society. They are about all of us. Incisive and hilarious, poignant and maddening, revealing and disturbing--Ronson writes about our modern world, and reveals how deep our collective craziness lies, and the chaos stirring at the edge of our daily lives.

** AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW ** The million-copy bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and the award-winning BBC podcast Things Fell Apart moves to Penguin for his first book in eleven years, a darkly comic true crime mystery set within the masculinity crisis, The Castle. I honestly have no clue what is going on. This is very weird. We left. Was completely fucked. All good now. When Jon Ronson received a series of disquieting texts after his son Joel had been lured to a mysterious castle in the forests of New England under false pretences late one evening, it set Ronson Sr. off on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men on a desperate search for purpose, whatever the cost. Why did the wealthy scion of a gilded age tycoon entice Jon’s son to his castle on the pretext of a party, when the reality was something else entirely? Could Jon uncover what was really going on inside that strange castle? Why was a popular online lawncare influencer wrongly implicated in a bizarre plot to traumatize millions of unsuspecting children? And, more pressingly, why are two recently paroled murderers on their way to pay Jon an ominous visit? Against the backdrop of the sometimes moving, often disturbing masculinity crisis, Jon follows the trail of those men who are acting out, checked out or just plain out of time. Drawing on his trademark brand of humour, psychological insight and unrivalled prescience, and told in the riveting style of a true crime thriller, The Castle marks Jon Ronson’s triumphant return to the written page in his darkest and most wildly enjoyable journey yet – deep into the recesses of the Castle and the secret lives of men. PRAISE FOR JON RONSON: ‘Simultaneously frightening and hilarious’ The Times ‘Funny and compulsively readable’ Louis Theroux ‘His scalpel-sharp journalistic mind comes wrapped in disarming, diffident warmth’ Miranda Sawyer, Guardian ‘Ronson is one of our most important modern-day thinkers’ US News & World Report ‘Funny and thought-provoking . . . original, inspired journalism’ Financial Times ‘Gutsy and smart’ New York Times ‘Simmering with humour, weirdness and pathos’ Sunday Times ‘A diligent investigator and a wry, funny writer, Ronson manages to be at once academic and entertaining’ Boston Globe ‘The belly laughs come thick and fast – my God, he is funny’ Observer

Guardian journalist Jon Ronson's Them began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Jon had got to know some of them – Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen – he found that they had one oddly similar belief: that a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room . . . In Them, Jon sets out, with the help of the extremists, to locate that room. The journey is as creepy as it is comic, and along the way Jon is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and witnesses international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of northern California. Them is a fascinating and entertaining exploration of extremism, in which Jon learns some alarming things about the looking-glass world of 'them' and 'us'. Are the extremists on to something? Or has Jon become one of them?

At times incredible, at times worrying, at times hilarious, always gripping, Jon Ronson investigates American military paranoia. And if you think this outlandish, wait until you learn about some of the things the Bush family believe in.

A collection of Jon's "Guardian" features, with a common theme: the ways in which people get themselves into wholly irrational bubbles, within which all manner of lunacy makes perfect sense.

As hilarious as it is perturbing, Jon Ronson's second collection of Guardian journalism, What I Do, is a treat for everyone who has ever suspected themselves to be at the mercy of forces they can barely comprehend.In part one, read about the time Jon inadvertently made a lewd gesture to a passing fourteen-year-old girl late at night in the lobby of a country-house hotel. And about his burgeoning obsession with a new neighbour who refused to ask him what he did for a living, despite Jon's constant dropping of intriguing hints. And about the embarrassment of being caught recycling small talk at a party. In part two, read some of Jon's longer stories, which explore manifestations of insanity in the wider world: the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year; behind the scenes at Deal or No Deal, which Jon likens to a cult with Noel Edmonds as its high priest; a meeting with TV hypnotist Paul McKenna, who has joined forces with a self-help guru who once stood trial for murder – but can they cure Jon of his one big phobia?

From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a brilliant and hilarious book exploring the consequences of public shaming.

From the bestselling author of The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry and So You've Been Publicly Shamed. A wide variety of extremist groups -- Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis -- share the oddly similar belief that a tiny shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, journalist Jon Ronson has joined the extremists to track down the fabled secret room. As a journalist and a Jew, Ronson was often considered one of "Them" but he had no idea if their meetings actually took place. Was he just not invited? Them takes us across three continents and into the secret room. Along the way he meets Omar Bakri Mohammed, considered one of the most dangerous men in Great Britain, PR-savvy Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Thom Robb, and the survivors of Ruby Ridge. He is chased by men in dark glasses and unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp. In the forests of northern California he even witnesses CEOs and leading politicians -- like Dick Cheney and George Bush -- undertake a bizarre owl ritual. Ronson's investigations, by turns creepy and comical, reveal some alarming things about the looking-glass world of "us" and "them." Them is a deep and fascinating look at the lives and minds of extremists. Are the extremists onto something? Or is Jon Ronson becoming one of them?

A humorous and cautionary account of the U.S. military's use of psychic tactics in the War on Terror and other political agendas discusses the methods employed by the First Earth Battalion, questioning its soldiers' abilities to perform such feats as invisibility, walking through walls, and killing goats with their minds. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.

Uncover the madness at the heart of society in this Sunday Times bestseller – now with a new introduction and part of the Picador Collection'The belly laughs come thick and fast' – The Observer_____What if society wasn't fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity? This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness.Along the way, Ronson meets an array of fascinating individuals, from psychopaths and those affected by madness to the experts tasked with diagnosing it. He learns the art of psychopath-spotting from the influential psychologist who developed the eponymous test, revealing that madness may lie at the core of everything . . .Combining Jon's trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is both entertaining and honest, unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges.

‘Funny and compulsively readable’ – Louis TherouxWhat if a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room? In Them Jon Ronson sets out to find this room, with the help of the extremists – Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen – that believe in it. Along the way, he is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and witnesses international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of northern California.A Sunday Times bestseller and the book that launched Jon Ronson’s inimitable career, Them is an eye-opening outrageously funny exploration of extremism, which makes both author and reader think twice about the looking-glass world of ‘us’ and ‘them’ . . .Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature. ‘Chilling and hilarious . . . Ronson’s trademark laid-back attitude is a delight’ – The Independent

‘Funny and thought provoking’ - Financial TimesFascinated by madness, strange behaviour and the human mind, Jon Ronson has spent his life exploring mysterious events and meeting extraordinary people. Collected from various sources, including GQ and The Guardian, Lost at Sea features the very best of his adventures.Jon has been on patrol with America’s real-life superheroes and to a UFO convention in the Nevada desert with Robbie Williams. He has met a man who tried to split the atom in his kitchen and asked a conscious robot if she has a soul.Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining – these fascinating stories of the chaos that lies on the fringes of our daily lives will have you wondering just what we’re capable of.Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

'Simultaneously frightening and hilarious' - The TimesThe Men Who Stare at Goats reveals the extraordinary – and completely nutty – national secrets at the core of Bush’s government. Often funny, sometimes chilling and with first-hand access to the leading players, Jon Ronson’s Sunday Times bestseller is a story so unbelievable it has to be true.In 1979, a secret unit was established by the most gifted minds within the US Army. Defying all known accepted military practice – and indeed, the laws of physics – they believed that a soldier could adopt a cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.Entrusted with defending America from all known adversaries, they were the First Earth Battalion. And they really weren’t joking. What’s more, in the early 2000s, they’re back and fighting George W. Bush’s War on Terror. But why are they blasting Iraqi prisoners-of-war with the theme tune to the Barney the Purple Dinosaur show? Why have one hundred de-bleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces command centre at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? And how was the US military associated with the mysterious mass-suicide of a strange cult from San Diego?Now a feature film starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor.Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.

Jon Ronson's captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame.A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Through social media, justice has been democratized and the silent majority are getting a voice. But are we using our voice for good?Instead we are mercilessly finding people’s faults and defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those who position themselves outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.In this prescient, unnerving yet often hilarious book, Jon Ronson meets the victims of modern public shamings and, in doing so, plunges us deep into the heart of a very modern terror: the terror of being found out. Full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it – this is Jon Ronson at his very best.A Sunday Times Book of the Year when first published, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.

From the internationally bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most overlooked forces.For the past three years, Jon Ronson has been immersing himself in the world of modern-day public shaming--meeting famous shamees, shamers, and bystanders who have been impacted. This is the perfect time for a modern-day Scarlet Letter--a radically empathetic book about public shaming, and about shaming as a form of social control. It has become such a big part of our lives it has begun to feel weird and empty when there isn't anyone to be furious about. Whole careers are being ruined by one mistake. A transgression is revealed. Our collective outrage at it has the force of a hurricane. Then we all quickly forget about it and move on to the next one, and it doesn't cross our minds to wonder if the shamed person is okay or in ruins. What's it doing to them? What's it doing to us?Ronson's book is a powerful, funny, unique, and very humane dispatch from the frontline, in the escalating war on human nature and its flaws.

In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and everyone else who studies them. The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power. He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath. Ronson not only solves the mystery of the hoax but also discovers, disturbingly, that sometimes the personalities at the helm of the madness industry are, with their drives and obsessions, as mad in their own way as those they study. And that relatively ordinary people are, more and more, defined by their maddest edges.

Now a New York Times bestseller and from the author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame. 'It's about the terror, isn't it' 'The terror of what' I said. 'The terror of being found out.' For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they're being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonized, sometimes even fired from their job. A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratized. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? We are mercilessly finding people's faults. We are defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control. Simultaneously powerful and hilarious in the way only Jon Ronson can be, So You've Been Publicly Shamed is a deeply honest book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws - and the very scary part we all play in it.

Alltsedan 1970-talet har den amerikanska armén utbildat en hemlig grupp soldater i paranormala förmågor. De tränar sig i osynlighet (!), att tindra med ögonen för att göra fienden förvirrad, konsten att förflytta medvetandet utanför kroppen, men också mer ”normala” närstridstekniker. Verksamheten låg nere från mitten av 1990-talet men nu under 2000-talets Krig mot terrorismen har de blivit reaktiverade. Och nu är det krig på riktigt, vilket leder hela vägen till den psykiska tortyren av fångarna i Abu Ghraib och Guantanamo. Den högsta nivån för en Super Soldier innebär superkrafter nog att stirra ihjäl en get. Och Jon Ronson spårar upp och intervjuar den ende som lyckades. Han får dock endast bevittna hur man med mental fokusering dödar ett mindre sällskapsdjur. I sitt underhållande reportage Män som stirrar på getter lyckas Jon Ronson förena skarpsynthet och samhällskritik med en humor som sträcker sig långt över vad man trodde var möjligt. George Clooney med kollegorna Jeff Bridges , Ewan McGregor och Kevin Spacey (och en get) har gjort en storfilm på boken. Svensk premiär 5 februari 2010.

Denna lysande bok om extremister i alla dess former, från islamistiska fundamentalister, /---/ Ku Klux Klan till David Icke gör ingen besviken. Det är bara Jon Ronson som skulle kunna råka ut för att bli avslöjad som jude på ett Jihad-läger. The BooksellerStyrkan med Ronsons bok är att den påminner oss om att det inte bara är extremisterna som går över gränsen, utan att deras fantasier faktiskt får näring av den verkliga världens vansinnigheter. Sunday TelegraphîUnder tiden han tränger bakom de löjeväckande teorierna om jättelika utomjordiska ödlor som kontrollerar världen inser vi att det faktiskt ligger något i att det finns några få som styr alltsammans. Journal of the Australian School of International StudiesFinns det ett särskilt rum någonstans där de hemliga världshärskarna sitter och styr den globala utvecklingen? Och om det finns, kan man ta sig in där och se efter vilka som är där? Och vad de gör? Jon Ronson försökte, och det här är hans rapport från färden till mörkrets hjärta. På vägen mötte han en lång rad extremister: från islamister till konspirationsteoretiker, de som tror på gröna ödlor och de som menar att allt är dold antisemitisk propaganda. Jon Ronsons resa resulterade i en öppen fråga: vem är mest extrem? Och vad ska man tro på?-Sedan finns det De långa blonda, sa Henrik.-Hur ser de ut? frågade Sam.-Lite som svenskar, sa Henrick. Sedan kommer långa robotar.-Är det de som är täckta med aluminiumfolie?-Stämmer, sa Henrick. Så har vi Annunaki.-Annunakiî, sa Sam. Det ä de som David Icke pratar mest om.-Exakt, sa Henrick. George Bush är en Annunaki.Jon Ronson är en brittisk författare, filmare och journalist som har hyllats för sina underhållande och dokumentära samhällsreportage. Hans bästsäljande böcker Them. Adventures with Extremists (Den stora konspirationen), (på sv. 2010) och The Men Who Stare at Goats (Män som stirrar på getter), (på sv. 2010) har översatts till ett stort antal spåk. Den har även blivit en uppmärksammad film med George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor och Kevin Spacey i huvudrollerna.

Useat tahot rahastavat hulluudella, ihmiset tuomitaan hulluimpien piirteidensä perusteella. Televisiossa pilkataan ongelmaisia ja lääkeyrityksillä on ratkaisu kaikkeen. Jon Ronsonin Psykopaattitesti on tarina hulluudesta, siitä miten nykytilanteeseen on päädytty. Kirjassa on toinen toistaan kiehtovampia kertomuksia psykiatrian historian hämäristä aina tähän päivään asti. Tarinan pääosassa ovat psykopaatit, jotka ovat hulluista ehkä arvoituksellisimpia. Ronson tapaa psykopaatteja ja heidän parissaan työskenteleviä ja saa matkan varrella salaisen aseen, voiman tunnistaa psykopaatteja."Psykopaatit eivät muutu. He eivät opi rangaistuksista. Voimme vain toivoa, että lopulta heistä tulee liian vanhoja ja laiskoja, jotta jaksaisivat tehdä rikoksia. He voivat olla vaikuttavia. Karismaattisia. Ihmiset häikäistyvät. Vaikeudet alkavat kun joku heistä saavuttaa korkean aseman yhteiskunnassa."