This section is light on plot but we do get a coherent theme: the perversions that emerge from consumer capitalism's relentless optimisation process.

will our hero Jed maintain his artistic integrity and stop feeding the beast? does Houellebecq think of himself as a kind of ethnographer? Does the g-spot actually exist? etc

benny's audio still sucks. actual book content starts at 00:06:19

CHAPTERS

(00:00:00) what if we kissed under the mistletoe

(00:06:19) is art just expensive furniture

(00:17:48) refining Houllebecq's actual beef with consumer capitalism

(00:21:51) how true creativity can be corrupted by profit motive

(00:27:42) b*stiality bodycount digression

(00:29:53) Houllebecq as neutral ethnographer

(00:36:34) hot people are smarter too. its not fair

(00:42:18) height discourse

(00:48:14) William Morris

(00:52:47) trying and failing to talk about death

(00:55:28) how many holes are down there anyway??

Some good stuff coming up already in part 1 of The Map and The Territory:

• how our models of the world can change underlying physical reality

benny's audio is completely cooked on this. I lost the files so I can't fix it sorry

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) playdough’s cave