Lost at Sea with Jon Ronson

If I ever find myself lost at sea (which I hope I don't), it would be all right with me if Jon Ronson was along in the life raft.  He has spent time with so many unusual and eccentric people that I'm sure his storytelling would help while away the hours as the sharks circled, waiting for us to perish.

You may know him from The Psychopath Test, his 2011 release that explored the dark corners of the madness industry.  Perhaps you've seen the George Clooney movie The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was adapted from Ronson's book of the same name about a top-secret military project in the 70's by the US Army which believed that a soldier could adopt the cloak of invisibility, pass cleanly through walls and, perhaps most chillingly, kill goats just by staring at them.

My favorite so far is Them: Adventures with Extremists.  Ronson spends time with such notaries as Randy Weaver, David Icke, and Alex Jones in an attempt to get to the bottom of the belief that a small group of politicians and business people actually rule the world, with secret meetings in dark rooms and annual pagan rituals in the woods of northern California.  Are these people crazy, or could they be on to something?

Up next is his latest - Lost at Sea: the Jon Ronson Mysteries.  This is a collection of shorter pieces, investigating the dark underbelly of humanity that lurks beneath the surface of mundane circumstances.  Ronson is a true investigative journalist, who reports it as he sees it.  He just happens to find himself with strange people and in strange situations - and it always makes for a humorous read!  I'm especially looking forward to his chapter on Juggalos, the fanatic fans of the band Insane Clown Posse...