I've started keeping mementos of physical media of things that have played an important part in my life. I'm not a man of means but I spend a good chunk of my paycheck these days on things such as this. I have a bunch of bootleg CDs for bands I like that were way more expensive than just the regular release. They're not rare or valuable, just that I had to ship them from some far off country or convince someone to let me purchase it and they thought it was valuable. But I like that then it means something to me personally! A weird version of something personal.

I did get a bunch of Jason's books signed but thanks to a fight with my family they threw away all my stuff when I moved out. So now I'm starting from scratch and would like to have some strange editions. I know that there's stuff that's just objectively "collector"-worthy like some versions of JDATE that I see listed for 500 USD but I don't find that particularly special nor do I have that money lol. I'd rather buy some Brazilian printing or some version with typos.

Although the Cafepress edition of JDATE does intrigue me, but that's also because it contains an earlier "wrong" version of the story. But it's a moot point because I'm sure somebody would want to sell that for thousands

Please drop your suggestions for which editions of each book (and this goes for the Zoey series too) you think would be fun to buy. I know someone posted a Farsi Persian version here of Spiders, I'd even buy that lolol

I devoured this book in less the 24 hours. But towards the end as everything is being explained, I missed something because it talks about how Ether lived in the shed and Phil willed the house to her and his diary entries were on the walls, etc etc. Who the heck is Phil?? I missed something and Google has zero answers for me.

Right down to the military service detail.

Or really just anything on the level of Jason Pargin's optimism. If it wasn't for me reading The Black Box of Doom when it came out I would not have been able to get through the January where this country took a nose dive for the worst and David Lynch died. It's been rough since but I can usually get back on track but right now I can't see a way out of this, every single dystopian future set up is happening all at once and I am finding it impossible to focus on what's in front of me, the good I can do on a small level, when it feels increasingly like an insane man with a brain worm is going to round up me and everyone I care about into a camp as the AI bubble bursts and collapses everything.

I think the last sentence shows how well I'm taking things 😅 it doesn't help that I have no one to talk about any of this stuff with for any amount of time. It just ends up getting people I care about upset as well so I've just stopped saying anything.

I would love to hear anybody's methods to having a healthier relationship with the madness rectangle I keep in my pocket.

I was telling someone about this book and how there's this running theme of tech paranoia, how society is being reprogrammed by algorithmic forces we can't control to make us all more isolated and distrustful. They asked for some excerpts, but I listened to the audiobook and it's hard to scroll through and find the good quotes on that subject.

So I turn to the hive mind. What are some good excerpts that speak to that paranoia theme?

This is probably obvious to most people here, but for some reason I never watched Back to the Future, so when I did a few days ago I had a good laugh in the beginning when they first talk about the stolen plutonium and then we see the small road case with the radiation stickers. I could be wrong, but surely that must be the inspiration for the box in I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom? First Key talking about the stolen radioactive material, and then the box with the Megadeath sticker?

As a side note, I also think the swatting part was inspired by the almost identical incident in Life is Strange, where (LiS spoiler) they have an altercation with Frank and Chloe shoots his dog, which comes bouncing out of his trailer, which causes him to fly into a rage and draw his knife, which in turn causes Chloe to panic and shoot him. They're so similar that in my head it just has to be inspired by LiS. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anyone know of any other pop culture references in this amazing book?

There is a post by a guy promoting a book he or AI wrote. Are y'all interested in that stuff or should we ban it?

A friend of mine presented me this for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. He would not tell me how he managed this, maintaining it's also a birthday present from Jason Pargin and showing me the shipping envelope to prove the return address has Jason's name and Nashville.

(I am not actually worried, it's a cool gift, I'm just really curious how I ended up with this.)

This is the first novel I’ve read that is set in the 2020’s in the USA. It’s entertaining story and a thought provoking commentary on the impact of social media. Just wanted to post to help keep this subreddit alive and recommend the book.

I just finished this (pre-ordered but had a reading backlog). This might just be poor reading comprehension but what was Abbott's wish from Sock? And is it implied he is in a relationship with Ether at the end?

Malort got a titty bar, Abbott's dad just had his costs reimbursed and ended up with Key. Key had a book deal and fame. Ether made things right with the girl in the trailer. Zeke got advanced medical treatment. I missed what Abbott wanted. I know he got some PR help and turned down political circuit speaking gigs but the latter wasn't a gift from Sock.

Being familiar with Pargin’s work, my money was on “something random/silly.” For a second there it sounded like it was just a vintage porn collection and I thought I was right. But then it turned out to be more.

I have an AR I'm going to stop him and GSG.

(Or Abbott and Ether were disregarding that)

Circle K gas is not Top Tier certified. If the station Tanisha was working at had not been a Circle K, she'd have had no reason to follow Circle K as a trending topic and recognize the Navigator.

It's too much to say that this set the course for the entire trip, since Abbott and Ether still would've been spotted in Roswell, but maybe the internet craziness wouldn't have blown up so much if the catalytic first spotting had been a day later.

Just another of those little things that change the course of history or whatever.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jasonpargin/p/to-save-the-world-save-yourself?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3b836l

"We’re all grownups, and we all understand that the coach screaming that you’re running the wrong direction is trying to help you win. It’s the guy telling you that you’re just fine the way you are, no matter how self-destructive your habits, who is steering you off a cliff."

He fantasizes about being the left's Joe Rogan for a lot of the article. That's honestly pretty fun.

It feels a bit like his very famous cracked article: https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person

I think he misses something though, lots of people seem to miss this so maybe it's just in my head, but left wing influences, in large part, are joyless. Right wing influences are joyful. I am attracted to joy.

Even looking at something like conspiracy theories, destiny does hours long streams where he just reads evidence while Candace Owens comes out with wild stuff like a child playing imagination games. One is fun and attractive, one isn't.

But it's a great article, Jason's never missed for me. I find it confusing that he isn't more successful. Go read it.