Some people think that if they use magic words which actually mean something in some context, those words give them real knowledge and power. Some people can be scammed by conmen using supposed magic words. (I remember filling some idle hours many years ago by letting the local Church of Scientology try to bamboozle me, or hire me to bamboozle others with quantum mechanical-sounding doubletalk.) Or, as you say, the book may have been carried ironically.