Off the Edge

Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything

By: Kelly Weill

Narrated by: Xe Sands

“A deep dive into the world of Flat Earth conspiracy theorists . . . that brilliantly reveals how people fall into illogical beliefs, reject reason, destroy relationships, and connect with a broad range of conspiracy theories in the social media age. Beautiful, probing, and often empathetic . . . An insightful, human look at what fuels conspiracy theories.” —Science

Since 2015, there has been a spectacular boom in a centuries-old delusion: that the earth is flat. More and more people believe that we all live on a pancake-shaped planet, capped by a solid dome and ringed by an impossible wall of ice.

How? Why?

In Off the Edge, journalist Kelly Weill draws a direct line from today’s conspiratorial moment, brimming not just with Flat Earthers but also anti-vaxxers and QAnon followers, back to the early days of Flat Earth theory in the 1830s. We learn the natural impulses behind these beliefs: when faced with a complicated world out of our control, humans have always sought patterns to explain the inexplicable. This psychology doesn’t change. But with the dawn of the twenty-first century, something else has shifted. Powered by Facebook and YouTube algorithms, the Flat Earth movement is growing.

At once a definitive history of the movement and an essential look at its unbelievable present, Off the Edge introduces us to a cast of larger-than-life characters. We meet historical figures like the nineteenth-century grifter who first popularized the theory, as well as the many modern-day Flat Earthers Weill herself gets to know, from moms on vacation to determined creationists to neo-Nazi rappers. We discover what, and who, converts people to Flat Earth belief, and what happens inside the rabbit hole. And we even meet a man determined to fly into space in a homemade rocket-powered balloon—whose tragic death is as senseless and absurd as the theory he sets out to prove.

In this incisive and powerful story about belief, Kelly Weill explores how we arrived at this moment of polarized realities and explains what needs to happen so that we might all return to the same spinning globe.

©2022 Kelly Weill (P)2022 Algonquin Books

Critic reviews

"Veteran narrator Sands is an ideal voice for this nonfiction title. Her careful pacing favors that of natural speech, which helps the listener stay connected . . . Sands brings just enough of the author's opinions into her narration to convey the tone without going overboard, even as sometimes disturbingly outlandish claims are recounted. A pleasant and engaging presentation of a topic that will be high on the list of contemporary concerns for many library patrons." —Booklist

“A deep dive into the world of flat Earth conspiracy theorists . . . that brilliantly reveals how people fall into illogical beliefs, reject reason, destroy relationships, and connect with a broad range of conspiracy theories in the social media age. Beautiful, probing, and often empathetic . . . An insightful, human look at what fuels conspiracy theories.” —Science

"This provocative book is sure to inspire debate about conspiracy theories as well as how citizens of a fractured world can learn to overcome their fear of radical planetary change. A timely and disturbing study of flawed, dangerous thinking." —Kirkus Reviews

Interesting But Not What I Thought

The description implies the book covers different radical or conspiracy theories and the reasons how and why people fall into these ideals. It really only covers Flat Earth with little on other topics. The book covers some of the “how” but it’s surface level only.

Coherent analysis

Narration is more slowly paced than that needed to prompt attentiveness.

Content is well organized, persuasive, and truly describes abuse and disregard for ethics and fair play.

Interesting read.....

Its sad to see how so many people are duped by religion and charismatic assholes. Too bad we have 30 % of America choosing Fox news, Trumpism, & religion over basic science, logic, and reason.
It's extremely sad👎🏻

Important topic

Interesting information on the history of the flat earth movement, with developments leading up to the present day.

The author points out that unfortunately, attention from "globe earthers" has inadvertently helped to propel the flat earth movement. People will dispute it, mock it, imitate it in jest, make documentaries about it, and that will just lead to more people joining the movement. But the author points out that it's still important to discuss, to make people aware of these false beliefs and the movements behind them.

In addition to such accidental publicity, social media has really helped to propel the rise of conspiracy theories in the modern era. Social media loves attention. They need eyeballs to sell ads. And guiding people down rabbit holes of conspiracy theory videos, or encouraging them to join more and more extreme groups, is a good way to do that. Some people would spend many hours each and every day watching conspiracy videos.

Also interesting notes about how easily conspiracy theorists get tricked by con artists, despite their intense paranoia of scientists and governments.

compelling story told with lots of vocal fry

Really enjoyed the journalism -- a very compelling listen. The narrator gave a sensitive reading but her vocal fry grated on my nerves.

Very interesting book

I really enjoyed this deep dive in how people fall over the edge of conspiracy theories. Great narration and interesting points taken.

Embrace the Truth of a Globe

a well written and informative book of the idiotic believe in a flat Earth. it seems that instead of making the world more informative and livable . the internet has made humans worse . the power of presenting a idea with no evidence allows such things as the flat Earth theory and trump to flourish and grow . the idea of no presention of evidence is a terrible affront to the thinking human. the Arthor shows this in the great work presented here. Hopefully this will allow you or someone you know to realize they believe in such things as this flat Earth has no sense and will bring people back to the common sense of the real world.

Interesting

The story was thought provoking and interesting but the extreme left perspective soured it somewhat for me. It would have been much better if it had been politically neutral.

Great information on flat Earth and conspiracies

If you wanted to know about flat Earth conspiracy theorists and conspiracies in general, then this book is for you.

The author accurately captures the stories behind some of the key players behind the flat Earth. She also addresses the real dangers behind all of the conspiracies, primarily flat Earth.

Weill treated Flat-Earthers as real people

I grabbed this book thinking it would be a light listen, something fun listening to stories about nutjobs.

Weill surprised me. She treated the subjects empathetically, as real people, not clowns. And in the process, she explores why people fervently believe in bizarre, illogical conspiracy theories, even at the cost of family and friends and respectability.

Weill argues that these flat earth true believers, like others in QAnon, Heaven's Gate, anti-vaxxer groups and other cults, often follow similar paths. They are not necessarily stupid, crazy, mean or delusional, but they often follow similar paths. Do listen if you want to be challenged, whatever your own beliefs,. Pass on it if you only want arguments for or against flat-eartherism. This is a book about people and psychology, not theories, and is so much better for that.