Has anybody read the Illuminatus! trilogy?

Started reading it a couple of days ago and can't put it down!!

I do believe that in order for one to understand it, you must have some prior knowledge of various conspiracy theories and occult beliefs.

Highly recommended, but fair warning; it's all over the place and may be hard to keep up with I.e viewpoints between characters change within the same sentence.. Which is usually a big "No-no" in the literature world, but seeing as this book is pretty out there, it seems to work.

a reply to: PushPullDestroy

R A Wilson opened my eyes some 20 years ago.

The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental. Robert Anton Wilson

One of my favorite books of all time - it really takes you in: reality becomes aligned with the book & no matter how many times I've gone through it, I just can't put it down. HAGBARD 2016! Wait...j/k

I've met R.A.W. in person at a booksigning/Subgenius Devival in Austin.
One of my favorite writers and a very nice guy.

One of the few books that benefits from a re-read even years later.

a reply to: PushPullDestroy

In a way, it had a lot to do with how I ended up here. Into ancient civilizations as a child, especially ancient Egypt, and as a late-teen, this predominantly blue and white book with the pyramid/eye and other imagery caught my eye.

His other books are fantastic as well. I've read sumbunall of them, and highly recommend them.

As for some of those difficult segments, my recommendation to others has always been to people to just plow through them - I think they're meant to be disorienting, RAW examples of the fluidity of reality and perception.

Enjoy!

I'll be reading it as soon as I finish a few other novels, also halfway through Prometheus Rising; but it is on the shelf waiting for consumption.

a reply to: PushPullDestroy

Glad you found a classic!

I've read it. And the Historic Illuminati Chronicles, and ... ah, all of them! I have a hardback copy, signed, Cosmic Trigger II that is a treasure. I also have refused to part them. Had to move and packed all those books up (along with Leary and Richard Bandler and anything else that is out there that you cannot find at Barnes & Nobel any day of the week) and lugged them to and fro. They are great source material. And inspiration to read the books they mention (Ulysses, Gravity's Rainbow, The Sirius Mystery, etc).

Glad you are enjoying it!

Just thought I'd stop in and give an update,

I'm 140 pages deep into Illuminatus.

It's very compelling, vulgar, and funny so far.

I have been wondering since I started reading this...

WTF am I reading?!?

The biggest takeaway is a lot of... new terminologies to use on coworkers who piss me off.

I'll give a more in depth report after I've finished it, I suspect the author took acid before writing each chapter, or was pioneering some kind of web forum for crazy people(while on acid).

Absolute chaos... it has to be part of Operation Mindf*ck. Has to be..