The Other Pandemic

In his new book about the QAnon movement, the investigative journalist James Ball teases out the global network of people who have essentially given up on the notion of objective reality, from bored teenage trolls to duplicitous politicians and crazed billionaires … Ball takes to his task with a convert’s zealotry -- Ethan Croft * The Times * An insightful book about the conspiracy movement compares it persuasively to a self-replicating disease … A disturbing study of the origins and resilience of an exceptionally versatile and pernicious network of paranoid digital malcontents -- Rafael Behr * Guardian * This is a worthwhile, pacy and well-written book. It is an important one, too. We need to understand why people are hoodwinked by and have faith in conspiracy theories because it is happening with increasing frequency * New Scientist * Utterly fascinating -- Dom Joly Ball, with this biography of the internet, takes us beyond Zuckerberg, Bezos et al into a murkier world where we discover how everything online works and who benefits from it. Fascinating, engaging and important, too -- praise for The System * Observer * A fascinating exposé of the world behind your screen. Timely, often disturbing, and so important -- praise for The System, Caroline Criado-Perez, author of Invisible Women