BOOK REVIEW - Ghost Hunting 2.0 by Chris Bores

We've had our fun and games this past month with the newest literary tome from the Irate Gamer; a couple jokey video vlog things and a couple blips in a commentary... but Halloween has come and gone. The games are over and done with. It's time to give my thoughts on Ghost Hunting 2.0 by Chris Bores.

The first positive I could give Ghost Hunting 2.0 by Chris Bores is that it gave me something to read during a trip to the doctor's office. I suppose one would be hard-pressed to call that a positive, given the poor quality of the content, but hey, I know I could say the same for another book written by a notable internet personality and crediting that individual for ruining Super Mario Bros. 3... though I suspect that's another story for another time.

Chris Bores, best known for his controversial YouTube career involving polarizing "game review" shows, rants ruining breakfast, and a presumably disturbing obssession over Skylanders, authors this look into his other major interest, ghost hunting and paranormal activity. Dubbed Ghost Hunting 2.0 because he couldn't come up with a better title, this book promises a whole new revolutionary means of communicating with the paranormal, which involves tools that have apparently been discredited and supposed mistranslations of ancient texts. I'd dig into this deeper by researching the matter further, but my interest in hunting for ghosts is about as existent as Kenny The NC17 Guy's Dudehood... Is that still even a thing?

For all intents and purposes, Ghost Hunting 2.0 is essentially a prose version of his various ghost hunting videos - his short-lived Haunted Investigators Youtube series that was eventually released on DVD and given a positive review by this Chris Bores fellow whom I've never heard of, as well as the film, Pursuit Of The Paranormal, which revolves around a supposed ninety-minute conversation with the dead... despite the run time of the film being about fifty-ish minutes, but I digress. In any event, you're getting a written word version of those expositions or experiments or whatever he wishes to call them, along with some additional insight into the various tools of the trade such as a flashlight, a highly sophisticated technological device that is used to illuminate dark chambers, as well as an audio recorder, used to record audio in a room. There are also gripping ghost hunting stories of how Mr. Bores used peanut butter to get a reply from a spirit... I am not making this up. I promise.

Admittedly, the whole theme of ghost hunting or paranormal sightings is something that I've no real interest or expertise in; in truth, the only reason why I bothered with the book was because I was curious to see if Chris Bores could sell me the goods on this subject matter that he seems to have a genuine interest in. And, well, he really didn't. But it was enlightening regardless to see his take on the whole ghost hunting scheme, his mindset as to how he handles such things, and even some of his insights on others in the field.

The disadvantage of not being the intended audience for this book is the lack of exposure to anything else in the field to hold the book up for comparison, but even one not familiar with the ghost hunting field can tell that some of this stuff might not be to snuff. This is probably because Chris Bores has a rather high opinion of himself and he is not afraid to show it off. A lot of the stuff feels less like exploring the spiritual world and more like flaunting how his methods are different and better than everyone else's. The ego stroking is readily apparent; hey guys, I have a Youtube channel. I dsicovered a new method of hunting ghosts. I am a genius. This is not a means of producing a book informing people of your take on a subject.

This, combined with occasional typos and grammatical errors as well as some far-out outlooks that will make even the most ignorant of the field question whether any of this stuff is truly on the level, makes Ghost Hunting 2.0 a rather "fuss-strating" read if you take this material seriously. When you take into consideration that the book has five-star reviews on Amazon that seem a bit suspicious - almost as though they were fake reviews designed to fool people into thinking this is a work of art, which is a common marketing tactic that never goes over well - the whole thing reeks of carny snake oil.

I'll admit to having a bit of fun with Ghost Hunting 2.0; it's given me some entertaining bits for the Youtube channel. And if you're wanting a gag gift for a friend or something to force somebody to buy after they lost a bet... well, let's be honest; there's better options out there. For anyone interested in the field of ghost hunting, I'm sure you can find better options available from more reputable sources. Even fans of Chris Bores' online exploits probably won't get anything here that they can't already get from whatever he posts on his Youtube channels.

Thumbs down for this one, kids. Better luck next time, Bores.