The Age of Innocence (1920) was a romance book by Edith Warton. It was adapted into a 1993 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer. Richard E. Grant was in it, too.

The Age of Incense (1969) is a different type of book entirely. Written by a workshy hippy at the peak of hippy culture, whilst the, aforementioned, hippy attended Woodstock ’69, this hippy tome was a celebration off incense and being “far out, man”. Hmmm, well let’s explore a counterculture classic that stinks bad.

Flower Power and Stench in The Age of Incense

“Ah, good conversation—there’s nothing like it, is there? The air of incense is the only air worth breathing. Even though it stinks real bad, man.”

Every copy of this work was personally smoked in incense by author Abbie Hoffman (not related to ’60s icon Abby Hoffman), whose hair was so long it swept down to her knees. Anyone walking into a bookstore was immediately besieged by the rancid stench of musky incense, often forcing them to flee the store and have a burger instead.

Due to the deleterious nature of The Age of Incense on book sales in general, it was removed from circulation in 1970 and remaining copies were pulped and stuffed into a landfill. Thus, the work was removed from existence as a terrible idea amongst many other terrible ideas. Problem solved!

Or so authorities THOUGHT…

In reality, a dedicated hippy commune of big beards and hair fought back. Having secretly stashed 137,000 copies of the work in private, in 1971 the hippies unleashed hell on society! The world has never truly recovered.

The Unleashing of a Previously Banned Book Back on Society to the Dismay of Some

Authorities struggled to locate the source of The Age of Incense copies as they infiltrated their way back into society. By 1972, public demand for the work were skyrocketing. Incense stick sales were skyrocketing. Hippy wig sales were also skyrocketing.

Eventually, authorities gave up and unbanned the book in 1991. Ironically, once it became readily available public interest in the work nosedived and it’s now totally out of print.

By 1993, readers had moved on to books about dinosaurs being brought back to life and going mental. Like, getting really angry about things and roaring really loud. Thus, books about burning incense sticks seemed a bit, nae, boring in comparison.

Plus, Abbie Hoffman was running an IT firm by that point and no longer a hippy.

“I gave that shit up and now I’m a millionaire and burn 13,000 sticks of incense a week just to piss off libtards. Take that, you workshy pricks!”

Far out, man. Far out.

Unprohibited Use of the Term “Far Out”

One of the reasons retrospective reviews of The Age of Incense have been so critical is down to the relentless, tedious, infuriating use of “far out”.

There are 37,541 uses of the term in a 300 page book.

Readers reading through the pages often become overwhelmed, begin ranting gibberish, rush out to buy a hippy wig, and ramble “far out” every 35 seconds. This is now recognised as a medical condition called Hippy Tourette’s, with patients left invalid within 12 months of the symptoms developing.

To note, they’re left invalid as they inhale and imbibe trippy drugs and incense, thus rendering them useless to society and a drain on local benefits resources. GET A JOB!