I love your zinger, "If you’re not lucky enough to receive a copy by divine intervention..." In one of my upcoming videos, I review a book without ever mentioning its title, noting how the best books have a knack for finding you on their own. :-)

"My job is to follow the trail wherever leads, even if that’s right into the gaping maw of the impossible" !!! What a fantastic line!

I really like how your photo shows the number of page markers you added -- there's major visual impact, showing how you found valuable information throughout the book. Too many books have a strong beginning but then fizzle out (at least with fiction; I rarely read non-fiction, so I don't know if that genre suffers the way fiction does).

I was unaware of this book! Gene Wolfe's /Book of the New Sun/ is an all-time favorite around here.

Philip K. Dick confirmed that this is the age of iron. He called our present universe "the black iron prison."

Great bullet list of standout tidbits! I read Steinmeyer's introduction to the volume of the complete Charles Fort, and this biography is still on my to-read list. Sounds well-worth pursuing, so thanks for the reminder!

Children's books can also be used to trigger altered states of consciousness. Dr. Raymond Moody uses Dr. Seuss books to replicate the experience of the ancient Mystery Cults -- reading just a few pages of the nonsense rhymes, in the setting of Moody's "Psychomanteum" (a dark chamber with a specially angled mirror, used as a sort of sacred space for communing with departed loved ones or exploring other dimensions) establishes a frame of mind for new and extraordinary perspectives. My own theory, based upon Moody's data, is that if stage magicians brought back the formal use of mysterious "magic words" in their presentations, their audiences' experience of genuine wonderment would be greater due to the triggering of an eerier state of consciousness.

Very charming account! Great link to the other account that also involved the black showing introducing the residents of the cemetery to the visitors.

I had this, too! Loved, loved, loved it.

This is a wonderful quotation. I've been reading some ancient Tibetan literature, and they held that speaking makes everything worse, too.

LOVE the story of Ragnar taking advantage of the restaurant's promotions. I feel as though Ragnar is soul family. Congratulations on the milestone!

Really interesting to see how P.T. Murphy handles his albeit very, very small number of poor reviews over on Trip Adviser (his reviews are overwhelmingly very positive, but there is the very occasional grumpy audience member). He answers them all, most often with humor, occasionally with blunt directness in kind, and here and there he even offers to guarantee a better time if they return for another show. I found his approach exemplary.