The Illuminatus Trilogy

ISBN 0440539811

A really cool book by RobertShea? and RobertAntonWilson.

Why is this book so cool? Please explain.

Written in 1975, it's still sharp and witty today. It's been an underground classic for a long time. I just finished reading it, when I saw this page was updated on Wiki... conspiracy, or synchronicity? Hmm.

The writing seems a bit pretentious at first, like one of those StreamOfConsciousness experiments, but somehow they pull it all together, and the book actually maintains interest throughout its 1000 or so pages. It actually MadeMeThink, which I wasn't expecting.

I actually thought the SchroedingersCatTrilogy was much much better. Regularly made me stop and look up and be amazed by the tricks the author had just played on me. Clever clever. Sort of 4 books in one, with a chapter from each book, so you could just read one chapter in four, but if you read it all in order it still makes sense. Anyone remember transformers? :-)

Why is this book so cool? Please explain.

Twenty years ago, these books introduced me to a lot of pop and counter culture. They raised interesting questions about why we believe what we believe. They led me to question everything I can think to question. Through them I was exposed to magick, quantum physics, conspiracy theory, beat literature, Thomas Pynchon, anthropology, and a host of other topics ignored by my official education. That's why this book is so cool. -- EricHodges

See: BavarianIlluminati

CategoryBook

I started these books in highschool with Schrodinger's cat. It opened my youthful mind up to ideals that I had never thought were reasonable, and, in the end, helped me realize how normal I really was. When I read illuminatus!, Schrodinger's cat made even more sense. What really blew my mind was that everyone can find an example of themselves in the book somewhere. I definitely suggest reading the trilogy out of order, so that you are even more surprised to find out why George Dorn is still screaming. I also suggest reading the history of the illuminati, which describes the life of Hagbard Celine's ancestor, and explains just where the phrase "never whistle while you're pissing" really came from. r.a.w. should rewrite the bible.