So, I'm putting together two suitcases (100 lbs) of books for trip to McKay's when I go back to the USA next year. One boxful is prepared, and I'm focusing on reading the ones that have been sitting on my shelf for 1, 2, 5, or in the case of this gem, 12 1/2 years (acquired April 2010).

I haven't written a ton of reviews on LT anyway, and even fewer for books that I'm only a couple of pages in. For context: I'm a Gen X brat, latchkey kid, MTV generation, yadda yadda yadda. I lived through the Satanic Panic where even a trademark from Proctor and Gamble supposedly meant 666 if you connected the stars on the thing just so.

I'm also a professional biblical scholar, professor, and writer. So I bristled at the incorrect citation of the Bible on page ix of the Introduction. The page says Ecclesiastes 2:16. It's off by one chapter and one verse (should be Ecclesiastes 1:15). I mean, close enough, right? Well, no, not if you're going to make the claim that there is a s#!t-ton of very specific, very intentionally layered, unquestionably deliberate, subliminal messages running all through advertising and popular culture.

I'm also a little upset to see Marshall McLuhan cited as helping with Whatshisname's prior work.

Anyway, off into Psycholand. Please send a search party and a tray of cold cuts if you don't see me back in a few days. ( )

Don your tin-foil hats, we're delving into the world of subliminal advertising. "Sex" on a Ritz cracker and penises in the ice cubes of magazine ads. The three stars is strictly for the entertainment value of the book, not the validity of its claims. Hilarious! ( )