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Illuminatus! #1
The Eye in the Pyramid
It was a deadly mistake. Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, had snooped into rumors about an ancient secret society that was still alive and kicking. Now his offices have been bombed, he's missing, and the case has landed in the lap of a tough, cynical, streetwise New York detective. Saul Goodman knows he's stumbled onto something big - but even he can't guess how far into the pinnacles of power this conspiracy of evil has penetrated.
Filled with sex and violence - in and out of time and space - the three books of The Illuminatus! Trilogy are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the cover-ups of our time — from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill — and suggest a mind-blowing truth.
Filled with sex and violence - in and out of time and space - the three books of The Illuminatus! Trilogy are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the cover-ups of our time — from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill — and suggest a mind-blowing truth.
311 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Robert Shea
59 books158 followersRobert Joseph Shea was a novelist and journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus!. It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In 1986 it won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Shea went on to write several action novels based in exotic historical settings.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
March 31, 2010
Take Douglas Adams, give him an unhealthy interest in conspiracy theory, then spike his water supply with acid, and you have an idea of the trippy deliciousness that is this book. I had expected a relatively serious Illuminati exposing mystery novel, and was happily surprised. Dan Brown fans should steer clear. Well clear.
I would like to throw in that I downloaded it from Audible.com, and while you hear background noise every now and then, overall the production is great, and the actors reading it are pretty dang awesome.
I would like to throw in that I downloaded it from Audible.com, and while you hear background noise every now and then, overall the production is great, and the actors reading it are pretty dang awesome.
March 9, 2019
A conspiracy satire. I thought at first it might be a direct retelling of Call of Cthulhu which it isn't... but the Lovecraft influence is strong and not hidden, the necronomicon and lovecraft both appear in the tale but so does everyone else, machen, chambers, james bond, 20,000 leagues and many other things get referenced.
Knowledge of 70's america, the hippies, beats, riots etc all useful as might be watching the Public Enemies movie.
It never takes itself too seriously there's even a couple of reviews of the book in the book complaining about how terrible it is :) , the sections on conspiracy theories and numerology can be boring but again they feel like they are intended to annoy.
The best (and for some people, worse) thing about the book is its structure. You know the way some novels have this floaty omniscient narrator, well this story goes one step farther as all the characters are sort of connected on some psychic level and you follow the connection from place to place.
So you might have 5 different characters in different times and places doing different things all within a single paragraph. Or you might have Bleed. You'll be following two detectives in new york while you keep hearing a chant of We Will Not Be Moved, without knowing where its coming from, until the scene suddenly switches and you find yourself at a peace rally 3 years earlier. To make things even odder sometimes the characters themselves start hearing or seeing whats happening to each other.
Its all delightfully chaotic and i don't know whether its to my credit or shame that after a while most of starting making sense :P . If it was a complete story i think it would be five stars. Confusing, witty, filthy, non-pc with some lovecraftian elements and a porpoise named Howard whats not to like :) .
Knowledge of 70's america, the hippies, beats, riots etc all useful as might be watching the Public Enemies movie.
It never takes itself too seriously there's even a couple of reviews of the book in the book complaining about how terrible it is :) , the sections on conspiracy theories and numerology can be boring but again they feel like they are intended to annoy.
The best (and for some people, worse) thing about the book is its structure. You know the way some novels have this floaty omniscient narrator, well this story goes one step farther as all the characters are sort of connected on some psychic level and you follow the connection from place to place.
So you might have 5 different characters in different times and places doing different things all within a single paragraph. Or you might have Bleed. You'll be following two detectives in new york while you keep hearing a chant of We Will Not Be Moved, without knowing where its coming from, until the scene suddenly switches and you find yourself at a peace rally 3 years earlier. To make things even odder sometimes the characters themselves start hearing or seeing whats happening to each other.
Its all delightfully chaotic and i don't know whether its to my credit or shame that after a while most of starting making sense :P . If it was a complete story i think it would be five stars. Confusing, witty, filthy, non-pc with some lovecraftian elements and a porpoise named Howard whats not to like :) .
October 12, 2010
A sprawling, many-faceted, satirical series, Illuminatus! is difficult to rate and more difficult to review. There are so many aspects which one could address, so many points of divergence, ideas, philosophies, and influences, but at it's heart, it's a rollicking adventure story that, despite it's many political and social themes, rarely takes itself too seriously.
I can certainly say I liked it, but it's hard to say how much. Some parts were better than others, but there are many parts to be considered. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find the numerous asides and allusions to be distracting. If one piqued my interest, I looked it up and more often than not, learned something entirely new. Some didn't intrigue me as much, and I was happy to let them lie.
I treated the book like I treat life, following those threads which seemed, to me, to be the most fruitful, and refusing to become bogged down in the fact that I can't know everything. If a reader tried to track down every reference, they'd be going to wikipedia three and four times per page and likely lose the thread of the story entirely. The sheer volume of research behind the book is an achievement in itself, sure to keep the attention of detail-obsessed trivial pursuit players of the internet generation.
Others have also complained about the structure of the book, switching as it does in place, time, and character with no forewarning. Certainly these switches can cause a moment's uncertainty, but they hardly make following the plot impossible. The authors could have put more line breaks in, it would be a minor change. So minor, in fact, that I find it difficult to take seriously any claim that the lack of such breaks somehow ruined the story.
It was a deliberate effect by the authors, meant to impart information realistically and force the reader to take a more active role. In life, we are constantly inundated by information and it is up to us to decide what is important and where to make strict delineations. Likewise, in this book, the authors want us to take responsibility for our own parsing of data, refusing to spoon-feed it to us like so much propaganda.
The authors, themselves went through huge amounts of data to combine all of these conspiracy theories into a grand ur-conspiracy, too large and detailed to be believed and too ridiculous to be doubted. I've never had much interest in such theories, so it was nice to have them all in one place where I could enjoy them as part of a fun spy story.
I also admit a lack of interest in the beat poets, psychadelic culture, and World War II, so I'm glad to have gotten those all out of the way in the same fell swoop. This book is, at its heart, a chronicle of a certain point in American history, a certain mindset, a baroquely detailed conglomeration of the writings and ideas of the raucous sixties.
The book is at its least effective when it is taking itself seriously, particularly in the appendices. When it seems to believe in it's own conspiracies or Burroughs' bizarre understanding of history, it becomes a victim of its own joke.
It is at its best when it takes nothing seriously, least of all itself. The authors were involved in the flowering of the Discordian Movement, which has been described as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion. The movement plays a large role in the text and is analyzed from all sides, but basically boils down to religion as imagined by Mad Magazine.
The revolutionary thing about Mad was not that it undermined authority, but that it simultaneously undermined itself. It's humor was the insight that you could trust no one and nothing to be the source of wisdom, but that you were perfectly justified in mistrusting everything.
Rather like the remarkable sixties series 'The Prisoner', the final message is that you must decide for yourself what is important, what is real, and what is misdirection. Also like 'The Prisoner', Illuminatus owes much to the spy books of the sixties, from their freewheeling sexuality to their ultra-modern secret bases and high-stakes secret missions. There is even an overt parody of the Bond franchise running through the books.
Unfortunately, it also seems to fall into the Boys' Club atmosphere of spy stories. Though it switches between narrators, all of them are men, and the focused sexuality of the book most often points toward women. There are moments where bisexuality, homosexuality, and feminist sexual power dynamics are explored, but these tend to be intellectual exercises while the hot, sweaty moments are by and large men acting upon women. I can enjoy porn, but I wish it were as balanced as the rhetoric to which the authors pay adherence.
Many male authors have shied away from writing female characters from the inside, despite having no compunction about getting inside them in other ways. I cannot reiterate enough the late Dan O'Bannon's insistence that the secret to writing women was writing men and then leaving out the penis.
He scripted 'Alien' without gender markers, all characters being referred to by last name, and Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley has proven one of the most realistic and unaffected of any woman in film. It was a disappointment to see Shea and Wilson so fettered by gender while simultaneously spouting the latest feminist sound bites.
In many ways, Illuminatus provides a bridge between the paranoid, conspiracy sci fi of Dick and the highly referential, multilayered stories of Cyberpunk. Conceptually, it represents a transition from Dick's characters, always unable to escape destruction at the hand of their vast, uncaring society, and Cyberpunk characters who are able to adapt to their distant, heartless society and thrive where they can. The language of Illuminatus is flashier and cooler than Dick's, but has not yet reached the form-as-function linguistic data overload of Gibson or Stephenson.
And as you might expect, the writing here is good: crisp, witty, evocative and mobile. Far from the accusations of being a text 'written on an acid trip', it is lucid and deliberate, even if it does take itself lightly. There certainly are those aspects which are inspired by psychadelic culture, including the free-wheeling structure. The authors invite comparison between moments, events, and characters which, in most other books, would be separated by the strict delineation of the page break.
But then, the surest sign of genius is the ability to synthesize new data from the confluence of apparently disparate parts, as Da Vinci did one day while studying the eddies in a stream for a painting, finding himself suddenly struck by the notion that the heart would pump blood more efficiently by forming such swirling eddies in its chamber instead of working as a simple pump. In the the past decade, internal body scanners have proven the accuracy of his small corner sketch. By inviting you to make such comparisons and synthesize your own conclusions, the book respects the potential intelligence of its reader.
But it is not all such conceptual exercises, and the lesson Cyberpunk authors learned was that a fast-paced, flashy shell can sugar even bitter pills. What delighted me was the realization that at its heart, this is a story of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.
Outside of Lovecraft and Howard, very few of the stories set in that universe are even passable, but this one comports itself ably, taking to heart the notion that an overabundance of data can break the human mind. Which dovetails nicely with the cautionary lesson of conspiracy theory: it seems vast, inexplicable beings of unimaginable power can also be human, and have cults just as Unaussprechlichen.
Overall, the series is interesting, unique, informative, humorous, and entertaining. There are moments where it bogs down, but overall, it is well structured and well written. There aren't many books where you get a fun spy story, a harrowing Cthulhu story, and a rundown of the zeitgeist of a part of American history all in one, but there's certainly this one.
Unless you're a teenager looking for a counterculture to believe in, its conspiracy mish-mash probably won't be a life-changing revelation, but it might be food for thought. Conspiracy fiction is big business these days with 'The Name of The Rose', 'Foucault's Pendulum' and 'The Da Vinci Code', while the originator of the genre gets comparatively little mention.
But this book is not designed to be easy to digest. You are not meant to internalize its message thoughtlessly. It's funny, contradictory, and self-aware, and it's hard for people who take themselves seriously to get caught up in a book that, for the most part, doesn't. I could say this book deserves to be more than a cult classic, but at its heart, this book is a cult classic, and its cultural influence will continue to seep in with or without grander acclaim.
I can certainly say I liked it, but it's hard to say how much. Some parts were better than others, but there are many parts to be considered. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find the numerous asides and allusions to be distracting. If one piqued my interest, I looked it up and more often than not, learned something entirely new. Some didn't intrigue me as much, and I was happy to let them lie.
I treated the book like I treat life, following those threads which seemed, to me, to be the most fruitful, and refusing to become bogged down in the fact that I can't know everything. If a reader tried to track down every reference, they'd be going to wikipedia three and four times per page and likely lose the thread of the story entirely. The sheer volume of research behind the book is an achievement in itself, sure to keep the attention of detail-obsessed trivial pursuit players of the internet generation.
Others have also complained about the structure of the book, switching as it does in place, time, and character with no forewarning. Certainly these switches can cause a moment's uncertainty, but they hardly make following the plot impossible. The authors could have put more line breaks in, it would be a minor change. So minor, in fact, that I find it difficult to take seriously any claim that the lack of such breaks somehow ruined the story.
It was a deliberate effect by the authors, meant to impart information realistically and force the reader to take a more active role. In life, we are constantly inundated by information and it is up to us to decide what is important and where to make strict delineations. Likewise, in this book, the authors want us to take responsibility for our own parsing of data, refusing to spoon-feed it to us like so much propaganda.
The authors, themselves went through huge amounts of data to combine all of these conspiracy theories into a grand ur-conspiracy, too large and detailed to be believed and too ridiculous to be doubted. I've never had much interest in such theories, so it was nice to have them all in one place where I could enjoy them as part of a fun spy story.
I also admit a lack of interest in the beat poets, psychadelic culture, and World War II, so I'm glad to have gotten those all out of the way in the same fell swoop. This book is, at its heart, a chronicle of a certain point in American history, a certain mindset, a baroquely detailed conglomeration of the writings and ideas of the raucous sixties.
The book is at its least effective when it is taking itself seriously, particularly in the appendices. When it seems to believe in it's own conspiracies or Burroughs' bizarre understanding of history, it becomes a victim of its own joke.
It is at its best when it takes nothing seriously, least of all itself. The authors were involved in the flowering of the Discordian Movement, which has been described as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion. The movement plays a large role in the text and is analyzed from all sides, but basically boils down to religion as imagined by Mad Magazine.
The revolutionary thing about Mad was not that it undermined authority, but that it simultaneously undermined itself. It's humor was the insight that you could trust no one and nothing to be the source of wisdom, but that you were perfectly justified in mistrusting everything.
Rather like the remarkable sixties series 'The Prisoner', the final message is that you must decide for yourself what is important, what is real, and what is misdirection. Also like 'The Prisoner', Illuminatus owes much to the spy books of the sixties, from their freewheeling sexuality to their ultra-modern secret bases and high-stakes secret missions. There is even an overt parody of the Bond franchise running through the books.
Unfortunately, it also seems to fall into the Boys' Club atmosphere of spy stories. Though it switches between narrators, all of them are men, and the focused sexuality of the book most often points toward women. There are moments where bisexuality, homosexuality, and feminist sexual power dynamics are explored, but these tend to be intellectual exercises while the hot, sweaty moments are by and large men acting upon women. I can enjoy porn, but I wish it were as balanced as the rhetoric to which the authors pay adherence.
Many male authors have shied away from writing female characters from the inside, despite having no compunction about getting inside them in other ways. I cannot reiterate enough the late Dan O'Bannon's insistence that the secret to writing women was writing men and then leaving out the penis.
He scripted 'Alien' without gender markers, all characters being referred to by last name, and Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley has proven one of the most realistic and unaffected of any woman in film. It was a disappointment to see Shea and Wilson so fettered by gender while simultaneously spouting the latest feminist sound bites.
In many ways, Illuminatus provides a bridge between the paranoid, conspiracy sci fi of Dick and the highly referential, multilayered stories of Cyberpunk. Conceptually, it represents a transition from Dick's characters, always unable to escape destruction at the hand of their vast, uncaring society, and Cyberpunk characters who are able to adapt to their distant, heartless society and thrive where they can. The language of Illuminatus is flashier and cooler than Dick's, but has not yet reached the form-as-function linguistic data overload of Gibson or Stephenson.
And as you might expect, the writing here is good: crisp, witty, evocative and mobile. Far from the accusations of being a text 'written on an acid trip', it is lucid and deliberate, even if it does take itself lightly. There certainly are those aspects which are inspired by psychadelic culture, including the free-wheeling structure. The authors invite comparison between moments, events, and characters which, in most other books, would be separated by the strict delineation of the page break.
But then, the surest sign of genius is the ability to synthesize new data from the confluence of apparently disparate parts, as Da Vinci did one day while studying the eddies in a stream for a painting, finding himself suddenly struck by the notion that the heart would pump blood more efficiently by forming such swirling eddies in its chamber instead of working as a simple pump. In the the past decade, internal body scanners have proven the accuracy of his small corner sketch. By inviting you to make such comparisons and synthesize your own conclusions, the book respects the potential intelligence of its reader.
But it is not all such conceptual exercises, and the lesson Cyberpunk authors learned was that a fast-paced, flashy shell can sugar even bitter pills. What delighted me was the realization that at its heart, this is a story of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.
Outside of Lovecraft and Howard, very few of the stories set in that universe are even passable, but this one comports itself ably, taking to heart the notion that an overabundance of data can break the human mind. Which dovetails nicely with the cautionary lesson of conspiracy theory: it seems vast, inexplicable beings of unimaginable power can also be human, and have cults just as Unaussprechlichen.
Overall, the series is interesting, unique, informative, humorous, and entertaining. There are moments where it bogs down, but overall, it is well structured and well written. There aren't many books where you get a fun spy story, a harrowing Cthulhu story, and a rundown of the zeitgeist of a part of American history all in one, but there's certainly this one.
Unless you're a teenager looking for a counterculture to believe in, its conspiracy mish-mash probably won't be a life-changing revelation, but it might be food for thought. Conspiracy fiction is big business these days with 'The Name of The Rose', 'Foucault's Pendulum' and 'The Da Vinci Code', while the originator of the genre gets comparatively little mention.
But this book is not designed to be easy to digest. You are not meant to internalize its message thoughtlessly. It's funny, contradictory, and self-aware, and it's hard for people who take themselves seriously to get caught up in a book that, for the most part, doesn't. I could say this book deserves to be more than a cult classic, but at its heart, this book is a cult classic, and its cultural influence will continue to seep in with or without grander acclaim.
March 22, 2012
There are two responses to the Illuminatus! trilogy. You either really love it or totally abhor it. The people who love it say it changed their whole way of thinking. They say that this series opened the door to a philosophical journey. The people who hate this book say that it's just a bunch of of nostalgic hippie hooey. I think it's somewhere between these two polar opposites. There is no plot. The characters are thinner than the pulp paper the book is printed on. There are misogynistic depictions of sex. The story switches perspective about every two pages without relevance. These details certainly seem like aspects of some drug-induced late sixties drivel, but don't be mislead, there are some really interesting conspiracy ideas hiding in the boorish, self indulgent text. The complex interconnectedness of the multiple secret societies and head-scratching numerology are interesting concepts, but the tiring silliness and unconventional format keep this from being a fun read.
For those who have hated the first 20 pages and think it's going to get better around page 70- STOP WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD, read Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 or Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. There are great conspiracy novels. This is not one of them.
For those who have hated the first 20 pages and think it's going to get better around page 70- STOP WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD, read Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 or Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. There are great conspiracy novels. This is not one of them.
January 27, 2017
There 23 kinds of people who read this book, those who get it and those who don't. I fall into the former category. I get it. its the sumtotal outlier experience of the 60s. All the whacked out political theories and conspiracy theories are on display here - as well as numerology, religion, crypto-archaeology - everything all mixed up into one psychedelic blender for enjoyment of those that get it.
I learned much about such varied things as 23 Skidoo, anarchism, the mafia, and discord - all topics i would have not been directly reading otherwise. But the way all this pseudoscience, rumor, tall tales, adventures, etc are all whirled together, it makes you thirsty to follow each of those threads. The book keeps you spinning on its winding plot.
Funny. Sardonic. Whimsical. Satirical. Political. Sexical. This is the acid-trip version of Dune you never knew you wanted to read. The line is continually blurred between real facts and fiction, so much to the point you arent quite sure what you are reading is true or false at any given time. Brilliant. Reading this book can give you paranoia.
There is is just so much sheer creativity here - you can tell its a work of love. Speaking of which, theres quite a bit of graphic sex. i usually hate it because its not why i read, but it really fits theme of the book - constant visceral display.
This book has a lot of faults - just from the fact that 500 pages was cut from the trilogy tells you that this book lacks some editing. Certain conversations and plots are split throughout the entire book. The authors jump from character, perspective, from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. It can be quite overwhelming at times.
That being said , there is simply nothing else like this. Jesus on a pogo stick.
I learned much about such varied things as 23 Skidoo, anarchism, the mafia, and discord - all topics i would have not been directly reading otherwise. But the way all this pseudoscience, rumor, tall tales, adventures, etc are all whirled together, it makes you thirsty to follow each of those threads. The book keeps you spinning on its winding plot.
Funny. Sardonic. Whimsical. Satirical. Political. Sexical. This is the acid-trip version of Dune you never knew you wanted to read. The line is continually blurred between real facts and fiction, so much to the point you arent quite sure what you are reading is true or false at any given time. Brilliant. Reading this book can give you paranoia.
There is is just so much sheer creativity here - you can tell its a work of love. Speaking of which, theres quite a bit of graphic sex. i usually hate it because its not why i read, but it really fits theme of the book - constant visceral display.
This book has a lot of faults - just from the fact that 500 pages was cut from the trilogy tells you that this book lacks some editing. Certain conversations and plots are split throughout the entire book. The authors jump from character, perspective, from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. It can be quite overwhelming at times.
That being said , there is simply nothing else like this. Jesus on a pogo stick.
August 24, 2014
Tripppppppppy! Most all of the reviews I have read touch on the fact that it is a crap conspiracy novel and complain about the change in perspective without warning. The reason why I picked up this book was mainly due to Discordianism, of which I am a big fan. It has lots of juicy sexy scenes and lines from the Principia Discordia littered throughout. This makes for a great read, to me. The rapid change in perspectives is one that I've never seen before and has piqued my interest in this book. It ensures the reader is actually paying attention. Once you get used to time traveling and seeing through all of the characters' eyes this book becomes less of a pain in the ass and more of a mind trip. I love love love this book so much and cannot wait to finish the second part of the Illuminatus! Trilogy.
January 28, 2010
My advice to authors everywhere: "do not drop acid while writing a book."
December 3, 2022
What a f**king dirty bomb of conspiracy literature. Recklessly fun, frustrating and dense, playfully literate with equal parts pornographic lewdness. You got mind parasites, William Burroughs, identity-shifting NYC detectives, hippies on top-secret missions, sex scenes every 15 pages (the apple scene takes the proverbial cake), Lovecraft, Machen, Bierce, Tim Leary, Hitler and company, James Bond, and a Captain Nemo manning a golden submarine towards Atlantis....you also get the Mafia, the Illuminati (of course), mob riots, acid trips, Ancients of Mu Mu, sentient dolphins, mind rapes, and enough ancient conspiracy theories to make your head spin off your body - yes, George Washington was a voracious pothead, and John Dillinger had all the makings to be the next Jesus in America. And then even more...a book that in no way could be written today.
Perhaps the book is described by its co-authors in the middle of the book.
"It's a dreadfully long monster of a book, and I certainly won't have time to read it, but I'm giving it a thorough skimming. The authors are utterly incompetent - no sense of style or structure at all. It starts out as a detective story, switches to science-fiction, then goes off into the supernatural, and is full of the most detailed in formation of dozens of ghastly boring subjects. And the time sequence is all out of order in a very pretentious imitation of Faulkner and Joyce. Worst yet, it has the most raunchy sex scenes, thrown in just to make it sell, I'm sure, and the authors - whom I've never heard of - have the supreme bad taste to introduce real political figures into this mishmash and pretend to be exposing a real conspiracy. You can sure I won't waste time reading such rubbish..."
Perhaps the book is described by its co-authors in the middle of the book.
"It's a dreadfully long monster of a book, and I certainly won't have time to read it, but I'm giving it a thorough skimming. The authors are utterly incompetent - no sense of style or structure at all. It starts out as a detective story, switches to science-fiction, then goes off into the supernatural, and is full of the most detailed in formation of dozens of ghastly boring subjects. And the time sequence is all out of order in a very pretentious imitation of Faulkner and Joyce. Worst yet, it has the most raunchy sex scenes, thrown in just to make it sell, I'm sure, and the authors - whom I've never heard of - have the supreme bad taste to introduce real political figures into this mishmash and pretend to be exposing a real conspiracy. You can sure I won't waste time reading such rubbish..."
August 11, 2013
As the book says itself, it's "a dreadfully long monster of a book... The authors are utterly incompetent - no sense of style or structure at all. It starts out as a detective story, switches to science-fiction, then goes off into the supernatural... And the time sequence is all out of order in a very pretentious imitation of Faulkner and Joyce. Worst yet, it has the most raunchy sex scenes..." This is an assessment I'd have to agree with. The book is simply poorly wrought. It's almost entirely exposition and reeks of "zany for zaniness's sake" - which, as a goofy conspiracy satire I understand is the point, but apart from the fun Discordianism factoids it was never satisfying nor even funny (its most unforgivable sin). More than that, the scattershot narrative makes it a chore to read and there are plenty of typos throughout ("Dealy Plaza", "wierd"). I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.
November 28, 2016
The best comedy, conspiracy, paranoia romp ever written. My years of non-fiction reading, political studies, and off-the-beaten path literature have led me to this tale and all of my studies have paid off. Understanding this epitome of post-modernism is a challenge, possibly impossible for those without dipping their toes into the (alluded to) Pynchon lore, Faulkner realism, Russian histories, and age-old tragedies. Robert Shea has blown me out of the water with his twists and turns through unreliability of history, satire of conspiracy, the true way of paranoia. In a sprawling novel with enough insult to every conspiracy to be trustworthy, but the narration of a dolphin to take it away, you're left with little clarity. Between the lines, Shea is dissecting every corrupt thought and throw-away rumor you could imagine with the cold logic and wit to make this honestly the best book I've read in years.
September 7, 2015
It's got everything! Atlantis! Nuclear Weapons! Fernando Po! Singing Dolphins! Computer programming! Satanism! Rosicrucianism! Rastafarianism! Robert A. Heinlein! William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginserb!The Silmarillion! Read this book and you'll understand how IT ALL FITS TOGETHER! They might call me paranoid, but sanity is merely a state of mind.
February 18, 2024
Finito a forza, perchè non lascio mai letture a metà. Non mi è piaciuto e non ho mai trovato il giusto feeling con questo libro. L'inizio l'ho trovato quasi illeggibile, con una girandola di fatti e teorie che sembrano uscite da una mente allucinata senza contatto con la realtà. Poi migliora leggermente e si prende il ritmo, ma è libro che piace o non piace, senza vie di mezzo. A me sembrava di essere nella mente di una persona alquanto disturbata e sotto effetto di allucinogeni. La cosa buffe è che in questo caos di fantascienza ce n'è poca.
January 10, 2015
One of the most weirdest books I've ever read; it seems that Douglas Adams, Umberto Eco, Terry Pratchett, Dan Brown and others could be among the writers that have been influenced by it. If only the changes between the different points of view/narrators were more visible on paper... but then again, I guess this is part of the atmosphere the two authors want to create. It surely is something!
February 26, 2022
Totally insane and possibly absolutely stupid. All the conspiracies, all the time, or is it really? If you like it you will probably love it, if you dont like it you will probably hate it.
January 1, 2018
I read it about 15 years ago, but remember nothing about exactly this one (trilogy) and want to compare RAW (exactly other books) to my current state of mind.
Let's analyze it.
Problems of conspiracy theorists:
* furtive fallacy, a belief that significant facts of history are necessarily sinister;
* conspiracism, a world view that centrally places conspiracy theories in the unfolding of history, rather than social and economic forces;
* fusion paranoia, a promiscuous absorption of fears from any source whatsoever.
Example of such delusions. If I am pro human body transformation ("transhumanism"), which is often taken as an "argument" that I am the member of some secret society, when actually much simpler explanation can hold true - I am pro, because it can make life better. Like latest idiotic conspiracist's scare on CRISPR DNA modification technology. Those fears most often arise from lack of understanding of the area.
But also they can sometimes guess something unimaginable right. But that also can be just a coincidence due to mutual idiotism. Mutual idiotism - when other party ("The Order") don't know what they should know and as a consequence it appears like "evil doing".
This book reminds me Ulysses, now wonder RAW is big fan of James Joyce. "In the beginning there was a word, and it was written by a baboon." (this one) ~ "His Eminence Michael cardinal Logue, archbishop of Armagh, primate of all Ireland (...)" (Ulysses)
Not the first time I'll say it, but here's what this book about.
After those years when I first rad RAW, now I see those books had greatly made me.
Other mentions, of course, include Alfred Korzybski and Timothy Leary. Where I had been without discovering RAW and trying everything out in the path of thought freedom?
Book was exceptionally hilarious and sexy (if you read other RAW and do some research, you should know theory behind it, testosterone = brain).
Heil Discordia,
23
May 23, 2019
Teda tohle je vážně diskordiánský úlet, chlapci museli být sjetí jako dráha, když to psali.
Vůbec mě nepřekvapuje, že jsem to dočetl zrovna 23.5., podle zákona pětic to bylo vlastně nevyhnutelné; dva, tři a jejich spojení, pět. Otec, Syn a Ďábel svatý… dualita dobra a zla, svatá Trojice… bicykl a tříkolka… a pamatujte, že King Kong zemřel za vaše hříchy!
Koukám, že nejsem ve stavu napsat komentář, autoři ho ale naštěstí pro podobné případy sami v knize nabízí, takže jak praví Wildeblood:
„Je to strašně dlouhá kniha. Autoři jsou absolutně neschopní – nemají nejmenší smysl pro styl nebo strukturu. Začíná to jako detektivka, pak to přejde do sci-fi, potom něco z nadpřirozena, a celý je to plný strašně podrobnejch údajů o tuctech děsivě nudnejch věcí. Taky se snažej napodobovat Faulknera a Joyce a časová osa je tím pádem úplně v háji. Ještě horší je, že tam jsou hrozně oplzlý sexuální scény, nejspíš aby se to líp prodávalo, a autoři – o kterejch jsem v životě neslyšel – v tom svým nevkusu zacházejí tak daleko, že do toho guláše cpou i skutečný politiky a dělají, jako by odhalovali opravdový spiknutí."
Takže sláva Diskordii! Ať žije Eris!
Vůbec mě nepřekvapuje, že jsem to dočetl zrovna 23.5., podle zákona pětic to bylo vlastně nevyhnutelné; dva, tři a jejich spojení, pět. Otec, Syn a Ďábel svatý… dualita dobra a zla, svatá Trojice… bicykl a tříkolka… a pamatujte, že King Kong zemřel za vaše hříchy!
Koukám, že nejsem ve stavu napsat komentář, autoři ho ale naštěstí pro podobné případy sami v knize nabízí, takže jak praví Wildeblood:
„Je to strašně dlouhá kniha. Autoři jsou absolutně neschopní – nemají nejmenší smysl pro styl nebo strukturu. Začíná to jako detektivka, pak to přejde do sci-fi, potom něco z nadpřirozena, a celý je to plný strašně podrobnejch údajů o tuctech děsivě nudnejch věcí. Taky se snažej napodobovat Faulknera a Joyce a časová osa je tím pádem úplně v háji. Ještě horší je, že tam jsou hrozně oplzlý sexuální scény, nejspíš aby se to líp prodávalo, a autoři – o kterejch jsem v životě neslyšel – v tom svým nevkusu zacházejí tak daleko, že do toho guláše cpou i skutečný politiky a dělají, jako by odhalovali opravdový spiknutí."
Takže sláva Diskordii! Ať žije Eris!
June 10, 2016
This has to be one of the most difficult and strangest books I have read in my life.
The Eye in the Pyramid is a detective story where our detectives don't even know what they are looking for. The book is filled with references to almost every conspiracy theory in existence and all of them work as plot points. Names and references to places, individuals and events are thrown out the window at every page. It will make you look outside information for sure.
The confusion doesn't end there either. The story is told in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person and there's never a warning of when that changes are going to happen, it might happen in the middle of a paragraph you don't know!!!
The book is still entertaining but I don't think it flows well as novel or a narrative in general. It works better as an ongoing stream of consciousness discussion on this topics.
All Hail Discordia.
The Eye in the Pyramid is a detective story where our detectives don't even know what they are looking for. The book is filled with references to almost every conspiracy theory in existence and all of them work as plot points. Names and references to places, individuals and events are thrown out the window at every page. It will make you look outside information for sure.
The confusion doesn't end there either. The story is told in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person and there's never a warning of when that changes are going to happen, it might happen in the middle of a paragraph you don't know!!!
The book is still entertaining but I don't think it flows well as novel or a narrative in general. It works better as an ongoing stream of consciousness discussion on this topics.
All Hail Discordia.
June 28, 2018
Always fun; always strange; always infuriating, but the gags, slang, and observations are beginning to become dated and forced. If the reader can put themselves back into a '70s state of mind they'll enjoy the book much more.
Don't expect much by way of plot, the book is more of a picaresque than a traditional novel and, on occasion, the philosophy gets in the way of the story. The head jumping/point of view is annoying and sloppy but if you don't mind this the book can still be very engaging. It is no Gravity's Rainbow but Shea & Wilson are a lot more fun.
Recommended for the paranoid and delusional.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars....still very much worth a read!
Don't expect much by way of plot, the book is more of a picaresque than a traditional novel and, on occasion, the philosophy gets in the way of the story. The head jumping/point of view is annoying and sloppy but if you don't mind this the book can still be very engaging. It is no Gravity's Rainbow but Shea & Wilson are a lot more fun.
Recommended for the paranoid and delusional.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars....still very much worth a read!
February 24, 2015
Wow.
Maybe sometime I'll get around to more of a review but, for now, I'll just say that before I read the next parts of this trilogy I have the undeniable urge to read this first all over again and map out every character, place, and literary or philosophical reference. Sigh.
Maybe sometime I'll get around to more of a review but, for now, I'll just say that before I read the next parts of this trilogy I have the undeniable urge to read this first all over again and map out every character, place, and literary or philosophical reference. Sigh.
January 16, 2024
At first, this was like a blend of Catch 22, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a Monty Python sketch. I'll let you imagine what that's like. Much of the writing in it is fun, even delightful. However, by the end, the lack of coherence became tiring.
Here's a (very incomplete) list of things to look up before you start reading this book:
Abdul Alhazred
Abner Zwillman
Abzu
Adam Weishaupt
Adolph Freiherr Knigge
Aga Khan
Aklo
Alamut
All flesh will see it in one instant
Ambrose Bierce
Ammon Hennacy
Andre Breton
Andy Frain
Anthony Quinn
Antonin Artaud
Apollonius of Tyana
Arthur Flegenheimer
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr
Astor family
Atus of Tahuti
August von Wassermann
Austin 7
Basmala
Belshazzar
Bernard Barker
Berrigan brothers
Billie Freschette
Birch Society
Bishop Berkeley
Brotherhood of the Black Lotus
Cathected
Catholic worker movement
Cecil Rhodes
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Charlie Mortdecai
Clyde Barrow
Comsymp
Conning tower
Conrad of Montferrat
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro
Cultus
Cyrus the Great
Days of Rage
Dementia praecox
Demurrage
Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel
Doris Day
Doris Horus
Dorothy Day
Eleusinian Mysteries
Eliphas Levi
Eugene Aram
excarnation
Fra Dolcino
François-Noël Babeuf
Frater Perdurabo
Friedrich Wilhelm von Junzt
Garden of Delights
George Lincoln Rockwell
geschichte
Giuseppe Zangara
Gnosis of Manes
Goyische narrs
Gracchi brothers
Greg La Strade
Greenback plan
Griselio Torresola
Hab' rochmunas
Harry Palmer
Harry Pierpont
Hart Crane
Hassan i Sabbah
Haymarket affair
Hengist and Horsa
Henry Armitage
Henry George's Single Tax
Herman Lamm
hyalinosis
Ibn Azif
Idries Shah
illth
Immhotep
Instrumentum regni
interoception
Iok-Sotot
Iram of the Pillars
Irem
Ishtar
J Balvin
Jacque De Molay
Joachim of Florence
John Dee
John Ehrlichman
John Guilt
John McCone
John Robison
John Ruskin
John Shrank
John Steinbacher
Joseph Kafka
Julius Streicher
King Robert (1404)
Klemens von Metternich
Kropotkin
Leon Czolgosz
Leopold Engel
Lidice
Linus Pauling
Lloigor
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Lucky Luciano
Martin H. Benson
Magnus Hirschfeld
Mammon
Manicheanism
Marduk
Marion Davies
Mark Lane
Mark Rudd
Martin Borman
Mary Read
Max Stirner
Mayor Daly
Menominee
Mikhail Bakunin
Milton Babbitt
Mindanao Deep
Miracle Mile, Los Angeles
Miskatonic university
Moishe Dayan
Morituri
Mucidly
mullioned
Mummu
Murder, Inc.
Mušḫuššu
National Crime Syndicate
Nauru
Nesta Webster
Nothingarian
Olor
Omar Khayaam
Op. Cit.
Order of DeMolay
Oscar Collazo
Otto Passman
Panurgia
paresis
Peckerwood
Philip Campbell Argyle-Stuart
Pnakotic
Prajna
prima fascia
Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM)
Rhodesia
Richard Coeur de Lion
Roshinaya
Strawberry Statement
Students for a Democratic Society
Tethys
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz
The mermaid of Copenhagen
The Yellow Sign
Thomas E. Dewey
Thomas Wolfe
Thompson gun
thuggee
Timothy Leary
Tlaloc
Unausprechlichen Kulten
Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll
Weatherman / The Weather Underground
Went das Judenblut vom Messer spritz
While there is a soul in prison I am not free
wihwin
Yippies
Zweitracht
Zyklon B
Here's a (very incomplete) list of things to look up before you start reading this book:
Abdul Alhazred
Abner Zwillman
Abzu
Adam Weishaupt
Adolph Freiherr Knigge
Aga Khan
Aklo
Alamut
All flesh will see it in one instant
Ambrose Bierce
Ammon Hennacy
Andre Breton
Andy Frain
Anthony Quinn
Antonin Artaud
Apollonius of Tyana
Arthur Flegenheimer
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr
Astor family
Atus of Tahuti
August von Wassermann
Austin 7
Basmala
Belshazzar
Bernard Barker
Berrigan brothers
Billie Freschette
Birch Society
Bishop Berkeley
Brotherhood of the Black Lotus
Cathected
Catholic worker movement
Cecil Rhodes
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Charlie Mortdecai
Clyde Barrow
Comsymp
Conning tower
Conrad of Montferrat
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro
Cultus
Cyrus the Great
Days of Rage
Dementia praecox
Demurrage
Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel
Doris Day
Doris Horus
Dorothy Day
Eleusinian Mysteries
Eliphas Levi
Eugene Aram
excarnation
Fra Dolcino
François-Noël Babeuf
Frater Perdurabo
Friedrich Wilhelm von Junzt
Garden of Delights
George Lincoln Rockwell
geschichte
Giuseppe Zangara
Gnosis of Manes
Goyische narrs
Gracchi brothers
Greg La Strade
Greenback plan
Griselio Torresola
Hab' rochmunas
Harry Palmer
Harry Pierpont
Hart Crane
Hassan i Sabbah
Haymarket affair
Hengist and Horsa
Henry Armitage
Henry George's Single Tax
Herman Lamm
hyalinosis
Ibn Azif
Idries Shah
illth
Immhotep
Instrumentum regni
interoception
Iok-Sotot
Iram of the Pillars
Irem
Ishtar
J Balvin
Jacque De Molay
Joachim of Florence
John Dee
John Ehrlichman
John Guilt
John McCone
John Robison
John Ruskin
John Shrank
John Steinbacher
Joseph Kafka
Julius Streicher
King Robert (1404)
Klemens von Metternich
Kropotkin
Leon Czolgosz
Leopold Engel
Lidice
Linus Pauling
Lloigor
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Lucky Luciano
Martin H. Benson
Magnus Hirschfeld
Mammon
Manicheanism
Marduk
Marion Davies
Mark Lane
Mark Rudd
Martin Borman
Mary Read
Max Stirner
Mayor Daly
Menominee
Mikhail Bakunin
Milton Babbitt
Mindanao Deep
Miracle Mile, Los Angeles
Miskatonic university
Moishe Dayan
Morituri
Mucidly
mullioned
Mummu
Murder, Inc.
Mušḫuššu
National Crime Syndicate
Nauru
Nesta Webster
Nothingarian
Olor
Omar Khayaam
Op. Cit.
Order of DeMolay
Oscar Collazo
Otto Passman
Panurgia
paresis
Peckerwood
Philip Campbell Argyle-Stuart
Pnakotic
Prajna
prima fascia
Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM)
Rhodesia
Richard Coeur de Lion
Roshinaya
Strawberry Statement
Students for a Democratic Society
Tethys
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz
The mermaid of Copenhagen
The Yellow Sign
Thomas E. Dewey
Thomas Wolfe
Thompson gun
thuggee
Timothy Leary
Tlaloc
Unausprechlichen Kulten
Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll
Weatherman / The Weather Underground
Went das Judenblut vom Messer spritz
While there is a soul in prison I am not free
wihwin
Yippies
Zweitracht
Zyklon B
November 13, 2017
At one point in this genuinely brilliant book, there is a list of authors who died under mysterious circumstances after revealing some part of a grand secret... Lovecraft's mysterious demise after revealing Cthulhu and the Old Ones, etc. Earlier in the book, Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49" is brought up, with the Tristero Postal System hinted at as one possible faction of the Illuminati. Later on, it is confirmed several secret societies utilize the postal system.
There we have it: The reason that Pynchon keeps his head down, refuses to give interviews or even show his face! He remains in the shadows, revealing the secret plans of the elite bit by bit, leaking out books that, though they might seem to be alive with whimsical talking light-bulbs and sentient balls of lightning, actually contain a bit of the secret that THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW... Paranoia is critical within Pynchon's work - That's because he wants to to be paranoid! That's because he wants to understand just a hint of how bad things really are. And his reclusive nature is a sign, a warning, that he is to be taken seriously, that if, should he show his head, the great machine of conspiracy and greed might have him... bumped off.
--------------------------
This is an exciting, harrowing, and interesting book that could have gained five stars had the authors not drowned certain sections in rather immature juvenalia that seemed to aspire to raise the book to an "adult" level, but instead ended up making it sound written by a hormonal teenager. Nevertheless, the book presents an actually realistic view of how a secret society like the Illuminati might work, but then, immediately upon introducing that view, shatters it and proves it wrong. Part of the fun of the book is deciding which of the several drug-fueled narratives is actually presenting the "real" truth about the Illuminati; each one gives a different account of its true power, purpose, and origins.
Some of the book felt rather uncanny, given that it was written so long ago. For example, one of the characters expresses his viewpoint that the Illuminati is wrapped up within the Catholic Church, so that should their crimes be found out, they would make it look like the Catholic's fault. Given all the scandals wracking the Catholic establishment, some plucky conspiracy theorist might argue that they are really taking the fall for the secret organization that has infiltrated them... but I think that would be far too hasty: "The Eye in the Pyramid" constantly sells you a version of reality, then shatters it. It doesn't want you to 'make up your mind'. The moral is "Think for yourself, schmuck!"
There we have it: The reason that Pynchon keeps his head down, refuses to give interviews or even show his face! He remains in the shadows, revealing the secret plans of the elite bit by bit, leaking out books that, though they might seem to be alive with whimsical talking light-bulbs and sentient balls of lightning, actually contain a bit of the secret that THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW... Paranoia is critical within Pynchon's work - That's because he wants to to be paranoid! That's because he wants to understand just a hint of how bad things really are. And his reclusive nature is a sign, a warning, that he is to be taken seriously, that if, should he show his head, the great machine of conspiracy and greed might have him... bumped off.
--------------------------
This is an exciting, harrowing, and interesting book that could have gained five stars had the authors not drowned certain sections in rather immature juvenalia that seemed to aspire to raise the book to an "adult" level, but instead ended up making it sound written by a hormonal teenager. Nevertheless, the book presents an actually realistic view of how a secret society like the Illuminati might work, but then, immediately upon introducing that view, shatters it and proves it wrong. Part of the fun of the book is deciding which of the several drug-fueled narratives is actually presenting the "real" truth about the Illuminati; each one gives a different account of its true power, purpose, and origins.
Some of the book felt rather uncanny, given that it was written so long ago. For example, one of the characters expresses his viewpoint that the Illuminati is wrapped up within the Catholic Church, so that should their crimes be found out, they would make it look like the Catholic's fault. Given all the scandals wracking the Catholic establishment, some plucky conspiracy theorist might argue that they are really taking the fall for the secret organization that has infiltrated them... but I think that would be far too hasty: "The Eye in the Pyramid" constantly sells you a version of reality, then shatters it. It doesn't want you to 'make up your mind'. The moral is "Think for yourself, schmuck!"
February 13, 2020
3.75 (or maybe -.17/23) So I am reading the Trilogy (as one book) but since these are a bit much to get through I am breaking them up by book. These are very, for lack of a better word, trippy. I really want to know what the heck the squirrel in NY?!?! Very hard to follow a lot of the book, but very enjoyable none the less. All of the place, even gives a description (about a diff book) that sounds a lot like what you might think reading this!
June 3, 2021
Questo libro contiene la propria recensione («perfettamente devastante»), quindi mi limito a trascriverla.
«È un mostro di libro terribilmente lungo, dice Wildeblood petulante, e certo non avrò il tempo di leggerlo, ma gli sto dando un’occhiata accurata. Gli autori sono completamente incompetenti… non hanno nessuna idea di stile e struttura. Comincia come un giallo, poi passa alla fantascienza, poi parte con il soprannaturale ed è pieno delle più dettagliate informazioni su dozzine di argomenti orribilmente noiosi. E la sequenza temporale è completamente sfasata in un’imitazione molto pretenziosa di Faulkner e Joyce. Peggio ancora, ha delle scene di sesso volgari, sicuramente buttate dentro solo per vendere, e gli autori, dei quali non ho mai sentito parlare, hanno il supremo cattivo gusto di inserire delle figure politiche vere in questa purea e fingono di scoprire una vera cospirazione. Puoi star certo che non sprecherò tempo a leggere questa spazzatura, ma avrò una recensione perfettamente devastante pronta per domani a mezzogiorno.»
«È un mostro di libro terribilmente lungo, dice Wildeblood petulante, e certo non avrò il tempo di leggerlo, ma gli sto dando un’occhiata accurata. Gli autori sono completamente incompetenti… non hanno nessuna idea di stile e struttura. Comincia come un giallo, poi passa alla fantascienza, poi parte con il soprannaturale ed è pieno delle più dettagliate informazioni su dozzine di argomenti orribilmente noiosi. E la sequenza temporale è completamente sfasata in un’imitazione molto pretenziosa di Faulkner e Joyce. Peggio ancora, ha delle scene di sesso volgari, sicuramente buttate dentro solo per vendere, e gli autori, dei quali non ho mai sentito parlare, hanno il supremo cattivo gusto di inserire delle figure politiche vere in questa purea e fingono di scoprire una vera cospirazione. Puoi star certo che non sprecherò tempo a leggere questa spazzatura, ma avrò una recensione perfettamente devastante pronta per domani a mezzogiorno.»
July 18, 2015
I got the Illuminatus Trilogy on my kindle ages ago, after reading a biography [bandography?] of The KLF (The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds). I finally got round to trying it, by which time I couldn’t remember what to expect from it.
At first I thought it was more enjoyable — funnier — than I expected, as well as more formally interesting: it switches between people, places and times from paragraph to paragraph. But after a while, all that switching just got confusing, and the action got a bit repetitive. And it’s dated: it is a mass of 60s and 70s American political and cultural references, which don’t necessarily mean much to me; and the portrayal of women is pretty dreadful.
So it became a bit of a chore by the end, and I certainly didn’t feel inclined to read the other two volumes. But I can see why it has a cult following: it’s inventive and knowing; and entertaining in small doses.
At first I thought it was more enjoyable — funnier — than I expected, as well as more formally interesting: it switches between people, places and times from paragraph to paragraph. But after a while, all that switching just got confusing, and the action got a bit repetitive. And it’s dated: it is a mass of 60s and 70s American political and cultural references, which don’t necessarily mean much to me; and the portrayal of women is pretty dreadful.
So it became a bit of a chore by the end, and I certainly didn’t feel inclined to read the other two volumes. But I can see why it has a cult following: it’s inventive and knowing; and entertaining in small doses.
May 23, 2015
WHAT THE FUCK?! That is really the only appropriate reaction to this book. Douglas Adams meets Hunter S. Thompson and it is nothing but paranoid, nonsensical fun. This book made me think more than any other I've read this year and am definitely going to continue with this series, after I read something mainstream to reboot my reading mind. I wish I could go into detail about why I loved this book, but there is no way to do that and make sense at the same time. You'll either love it or loathe it, but wherever you land, we all have to agree that it is one jacked up ride. All hail Discordia!
June 26, 2019
This book is absolutely batshit insane and I loved every minute of it. Could the frenetic, madcap, tangential nature of this be a turn off for some, even many? Of course. I think that's why this trilogy is so polarizing. But I can't imagine a better way to tell a story like this than the way Shea and Wilson did. Not to mention, you learn tons of interesting, if crazy, stuff about history, secret societies, magick, etc. just by enjoying the ride and following the narrative as it zips around like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Definitely recommend it—it's practically like doing a risk-free hallucinogen.
August 5, 2018
Impossible to describe -- a hallucination on paper. Lots of sex, graphically described. Lots of drugs, graphically described. Some hippie vibes that will feel archaic to the modern reader.
If you want to go down this rabbit hole -- and the Lewis Carroll reference is 100% appropriate -- I do recommend the audiobook. The readers, Ken Campbell and Chris Fairbank, do a great job.
If you want to go down this rabbit hole -- and the Lewis Carroll reference is 100% appropriate -- I do recommend the audiobook. The readers, Ken Campbell and Chris Fairbank, do a great job.
December 30, 2008
The classic uber-conspiracy. If all the conspiracies you had ever heard of were true, then this is what you would have.
Dan Brown this isn't. This is not a conventional novel. This is discordian.
All Hail Eris!
Dan Brown this isn't. This is not a conventional novel. This is discordian.
All Hail Eris!
May 18, 2022
Written by an idiot in an idiotic style with idiot characters and never-even-slightly-funny slapstick gags. Just awful, and clumsy, and stupid.
No redeeming features - until I abandoned it after the first or second chapter, then it got much better.
No redeeming features - until I abandoned it after the first or second chapter, then it got much better.
December 17, 2014
Carino.
Divertente.
Un "vorrei ma non posso" a metà strada tra Burroughs e Eco.
Tutto sommato una piacevole parodia dei tanti testi complottistici che ancora a desso vanno tanto di moda.
Divertente.
Un "vorrei ma non posso" a metà strada tra Burroughs e Eco.
Tutto sommato una piacevole parodia dei tanti testi complottistici che ancora a desso vanno tanto di moda.
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