The Men Who Stare At Goats by Jon Ronson (2 stars)

This book tries to create ironic comedy from almost-plausible non-fiction journalism. I didn't find it all that funny, but it did prompt an occasional smile about the ridiculousness of the interviews and the mental image of someone trying to stare a hamster to death.

The 'journalism' is basically a sham, so don't expect a hard-hitting exposé. The source material is mostly interviews with people who are either insane or just doing some great trolling. I get that it's supposed to be dry humour, but I think it errs a little bit too much on the side of non-fiction for this approach to actually work properly. If Ronson took himself a lot less seriously then I think it would have been a lot more funny.

The strangest and most surprising part of the book is when it crosses the line from silly shenanigans to much darker conspiracy theories about links to real-world events like the rock music blared at Manuel Noriega in Panama, 9/11, and torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib prison. Not particularly funny subjects.

Maybe I'll get around to watching the movie one day.

2 stars.