Book Review: Cultish

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell


As expected, a book on linguistics and cults was exactly within the Venn intersect of my interests and fulfilled the promises of the promo. However, I didn’t expect that a book on linguistics and cults would make me laugh out loud in more than one part. The author has an engaging voice, making linguistics more fun than pedantic.

That language ties people together far more than dressing in white robes and eschewing alcohol is one of those things that seems obvious in retrospect. Who hasn’t had the feeling of joining a new company or a new team and having them all use the same acronyms as if they were real words in everyone’s lexicon? Or that feeling you got in middle school when your club had secret code words for things.

One of the most interesting facets of this were what she calls “thought stopping” phrases, like “act as if” or “trust the process” or “meditate on that” which were used to shut down any conflict or argument which might arise from disagreement with the cult’s philosophy.

Mostly though, I just liked hearing about weird cults and cultish-like organizations. I found it interesting the way she describes boutique fitness centers as fulfilling the role of churches. They’re places where you go to hang out in a sacred space with like-minded people, except that you’re getting your heartrate up instead of listening to a speech. The need to connect and belong is a fundamental human desire, and we all need it.

I think this book was just long enough for someone who has a mild curiosity about the subject. You’ll feel more informed but not like someone hit you over the head with their graduate thesis.




View all my reviews