Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell #
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, Amanda Montell (audio). I stumbled upon this book just through browsing the Libby app, but thoroughly enjoyed it. The name comes not just from analyzing cult-like groups, but is intended to evoke English and Spanish, in highlighting how language is used to form and shape groupthink. Terms that were new to me—but labeling phenomena which are very much noticeable—include “thought-terminating cliché” (aka “semantic stopsign”) and “love-bombing”. Although it did include detailed analyses of several typical cults (e.g. Scientology, Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate), I especially appreciated the discussion of group fitness trends like CrossFit, SoulCycle, and Bikram yoga. When I first became serious about physical training (for ultimate, in college), CrossFit was nearing its peak influence; luckily, I was able to extract some useful information while smeleling something a bit fishy in its celebration of suffering and zealousness of its supporters. (I also did a non-trivial number of Bikram classes during grad school.) The final section covered social media influencers, highlighting a few from the wellness space that were news to me. The book also has a nice pace, with a clear structure, which also lent itself very well to the audio format. Grade: B+