Description
The SubGenius Foundation. The Book of the SubGenius, Being the Divine Wisdom, Guidance, and Prophecy of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, High Epopt of the Church of the SubGenius, Here Inscribed for the Salvation of Future Generations and in the Hope that Slack May Someday Reign on This Earth. Simon & Schuster/ Fireside Books. New York. 1987.
Second Overall Edition and First Fireside Edition. Large 8vo. pp192. Glossy printed wrappers with title and image of Bob Dobbs on the front; title, publisher and foundation credits repeated on spine. Back wrapper features publisher copy and review quotes as well as original price “$10.95”. Corners bumped and rubbed. Wear to top and bottom spine with beginnings of separation apparent to top interior. Minor crack in spine from over opening. Pages clean apart from some yellowing along top edge. Very Good condition.
Sometimes called the “bible” of the Church of the SubGenius, this book is a fascinating, surreal descent down a spiral of strange thoughts that is as amusing as it is thought-provoking.
Per SubGenius lore, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs was a drilling equipment salesman whose life changed after a 1953 encounter with the deity JHVH-1 on a television set he’d built. This vision and other experiences eventually lead to the creation of the church and the “prescriptures” from which this book is purportedly descended. Dobbs was assassinated in 1984 (or so the story goes…).
More accurately, the Book of SubGenius emerged from the church’s zine The Stark Fist of Removal, serving as a compilation of its most entertaining and illuminating texts. First published by McGraw-Hill in a smaller first edition of 1983, this follow-up 1987 edition was the first to feature the iconic cover art featuring Bob front and center.
A large part of SubGenius “theology” centers around “The Conspiracy”.
It’s not that one conspiracy is true and others are not. Rather, their’s is the nearly Gnostic position that all apparent conspiracies are part of the single larger illusion perpetrated upon the world’s population by its leaders seeking to impose false ideas and constraints like morality on a brainwashed population.
By following the teachings of the semi-Divine master salesman Bob and achieving “slack”— the wuwei-like ability to effortlessly achieve your goals— church members believe they can achieve freedom from the system of control— or at least from the need to work and not having as much sex as possible.
Or at least, so they say. Sometimes there is a fine line between satire and legitimate spirituality.
