XX & Epistemological War

Not a book review, more a call to arms

Hello!

I’m Faris. But I’m also you, right now, because the voice in your head you are hearing is your own interior monologue. I’ve co-opted it for the time being, to transmit some ideas into your brain, under the radar, disguised as your own thoughts, appearing as you read this on a screen.

However, I regret to inform you, the voice in your head is not entirely your own. It is a product of every word, story, song, film, and idea you have consumed. It is created from culture, which of course includes which language you think in, filtered through your specific genetic make up and lived experiences, assembled into who you think you are.

I’m here to tell you why a book called XX by Rian Hughes is interesting and why I think you should read it.

However, to do the book justice and avoid spoilers this is not going to be a book review. Rather I’m going to hijack your brain with a few of what I think are the very important ideas contained therein.

The nomadic creative consultancy I run with my wife Rosie is called Genius Steals because we believe nothing comes from nothing, ideas are new combinations and originality is a myth.

Ideas are made of other ideas and the set of ideas I want to put forward come very…