Feels like it was randomly stitched together with bits and pieces of Greek myths. ( )

This book is a series of ramblings looking for a theme under an umbrella of Barthian criticism (Roland Barthes, author of Mythologies [1957]). Conrad is infatuated with Hollywood and Southern California and who can blame him for that? This was published in 2016, so it seems relatively recent while reading even now. Basically the book argues that nothing is objectively true, myths function in place of truths, and myths are therefore recycled or replaced depending on societal need. Conrad’s title focuses on myths but he actually means to imply all reality is relative and moral categories are always biased at their inception. So the first thing he does is attack sceptic GK Chesterton (Roman Catholic convert) on mythology. Conrad asserts that Chesterton used myth to critique (modern) history itself. Conrad means that Chesterton regretted the eroding of Christian myths and their replacement with newer amoral daydreams. Chesterton is a straw-man for Catholicism's moral absolutes. He gives the example of New York City’s Times Square as a new Garden of Eden. This Times Square reference is Chesterton’s example. Chesterton says that the potential beauty of Times Square is wasted on colorfully lit product advertisements. Conrad concludes that, “Myth, whenever it reappears, is evidence of compulsions that remain incurable.” Myths, for Conrad, are always sickening but essential to humanity per se. This interpretation of human male and female existence is not flattering at all but existentialist and depressing at its core. By criticizing Chesterton, at the outset of the book Conrad can both disregard Christianity and Catholicism (implicitly excluding Judaism as well) since the mythmaking nature of this religion continues without replacement. He ends by mentioning that Obama tried to use structuralism (his mother was an anthropologist) and cultural theory (the absence of moral absolutes) to create a new America apart from 200 years of common knowledge and which Hillary tried to continue in her own candidacy.

I was so very happy to have finished this book of essays, and the sooner the better.

This is an interesting collection of essays that examine various aspects of modern culture, from Apple Computer's apple logo, to neon lights, to the Kardashians, analyzing how they echo and reproduce ancient myths that lie at the heart of all human thought and experience and help us explain our world.

Conrad brings rigorous intellectual investigation to the obscurest cultural phenomena, such as a chicken restaurant chain. He is following in the footsteps of French philosopher Roland Barthes, who himself analyzed modern culture in a similar vein a half century ago and there are many references to Barthes here.

The short essays are interesting to read. They bring a philosophical angle to our everyday occurrences and objects which we don't pay all that much attention to. Some readers may be put off by his investing the symbols of popular culture with such significance (such as imbuing Apple's apple with the weight of the original apple in the Garden of Eden story). But if you want to think more deeply about everyday aspects of our world, this is a great read. ( )