The Art of Hunting Humans presents key aspects of the human mind. With straightforward language, weird metaphors and practical examples, it enables readers to understand human behaviour and evaluate their lives from an outsider’s perspective.
Designed to challenge rather than comfort, The Art of Hunting Humans sets itself apart from anything else written in its field. The result is a sceptical, radical explanation of the mind that provides extraordinary insights into the inner worlds of human beings.
Book Blurb
The age-old art of human hunting is one you must orchestrate with care. In The Art of Hunting Humans, you’ll learn essential facts about Earth’s smartest primate and discover mistakes that are common among hunters while in pursuit of their prey.
Whether you are an experienced hunter or a novice, this guide is essential reading. In it, you’ll learn the major steps for a hunt — from correct observation and selection of your prey to choosing the tastiest bait. It will reveal how to leverage humans’ self-ignorance and strange behaviours and expose flaws of which they are oblivious. At the end of the book, you will have the opportunity to meet the SUPERIORS — creatures like no other. You’d better be ready!
Even if you’re a seasoned hunter, The Art of Hunting Humans provides extraordinary insights into human behaviour as well as tips that will blow your mind.
Almost everything in this book is a trap. Enjoy!
Assessment:
Idea/Concept: This playfully esoteric guide pivots on an intriguing concept: Mazzi invites readers to imagine that they are hunters in pursuit of human prey. Far from sinister, Mazzi's work ultimately offers commentary on the oddities, perplexities, and inconsistencies of human behavior.
Prose: The author describes human beings as if through the objective lens of an outsider species, or as written in a mock field guide. Mazzi admirably maintains this conceit throughout, though the voice has a disembodied quality that can leave the work without a clear sense of urgency or purpose.
Originality: Mazzi's approach to behavioral analysis is highly original. The work defies easy categorization--a credit to the author's creativity, but a potential detriment to marketability.
Execution: As a light exercise in satire, Mazzi delivers, but readers may crave additional references to back up the largely general observations. Additionally, the book may benefit from a clearer depiction of the outside observer who narrates.
Date Submitted: January 09, 2020
"Astonishing! Simple and fun read with tremendously insightful concepts!"
"It is a satirical psychology book that considers human beings through the scope of an alien’s rifle. Despite the nearly confrontational nature of some of the chapters, the author manages to keep things lively and almost humorous.
Recommended."
A work with a preposterous premise offers a look at humans.
What if an alien were to write a manual that instructs compatriots how to “hunt a human”? This fantastical, fictional concept forms the basis of a story by Mazzi (Tainted by Fire, 2016), who maintains the charade until the very last page, wherein he reveals his rationale for writing the book. This is the kind of creative exercise that is likely to split its audience; some will be taken with the prose and play along while others will dismiss it as nonsense. The objective, though, is to expose the many foibles humans share and assess them as if viewed through an alien lens. The introductory chapter sets up the strangely insightful volume nicely by summarizing “some of the weaknesses” of humans that “we will explore.” These include emotions, fear, vanity, and widespread ignorance. The six short parts of the work provide an intriguing take on what generally makes humans tick. The titles of the parts, such as “DIGGING DEEPER INTO YOUR PREY’S REALITY” and “WHAT DRIVES THE ANIMAL,” are clearly constructed to reinforce the text of the simulated guide. The content is cleverly written, if forced at times, describing elements of humanity like language (“Just a system of codes and symbols that are ripe for misinterpretation”), critical thinking (“It’s the emotions inside their heads that matter to humans”), and feelings (“Humans can suffer and feel better—they can take pleasure from sacrifice”). The most intriguing aspect of the book is the way the alien observes human behavior, as if it is being evaluated from an outsider’s perspective. This can be amusing, disconcerting, perceptive, or bizarre depending on how readers process the material. If nothing else, it is an exercise that serves to point out the absurdities of the species. At the end, the author explains that his purpose for the novel format “is to raise attention to the importance of self-reflection and the pursuit of wisdom.” Hopefully, those who plow through this unusual work will be enlightened—or perhaps chagrined.
An offbeat, unconventional, and imaginative exploration of the human race.
An interesting and well executed concept, this book attempts to dissect human behaviour by looking at it from the perspective of a hunter. The author does a fantastic job breaking down human behaviours to their most basic forms in an attempt to help you better understand and use to your advantage, which will then help you 'hunt' a human. I found the author's perspective interesting, and breaking things down in a way that is not complicated and using terms everyone can understand made this book seem very accessable. I would recommend it to people who are interested in human behaviour and to writers who want to add a different dynamic to their writing, which is something I will personally use it for.
"Deceptively simple and almost terrifyingly accurate, it is an unflinching examination of what drives human beings..."
