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Robert Anton Wilson
Prometheus Rising - Reviewed by Blades
The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Reviewed by A Tak
The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Reviewed by Blades
TSOG - Reviewed by Psyche
The Earth Will Shake - Reviewed by Psyche
The Widow's Son - Reviewed by Psyche
Nature's God - Reviewed by Psyche
email to the universe - Reviewed by Psyche
| Title: | Prometheus Rising |
| Author: | Robert Anton Wilson |
| Publisher: | New Falcon Publications |
| ISBN: | 1561840564 |
| Revision/Edition: | September 1992 |
| Reviewer: | Blades |
| Contact Information: | allanj13@hotmail.com |
| Category: | Chaos Magick, I guess. |
| Review: | Where do you begin? This book is, in essence, an examination of Timothy Leary's eight-circuit model of consciousness. However, along the way of exploration, it also calls into question many other different ways of looking at the world. It contains a series of exercises designed to help you understand the import of the eight circuit model, with each set of exercises building on the last. It would make sense to read this book through once, and then re-read it at each stage, stopping to perform each set of exercises. If you're looking for a detailed examination of the model, it's a decent book, but it's also well worth looking up Leary's own thoughts on the subject because Wilson is essentially concentrating on getting you to apply the model more so than explain it in detail or trying to prove it to you. The book is an entertaining read in itself, and should open your eyes a little along the way too. At the very least, it could widen your reality tunnels a little further, and at best could turn your understanding of the world around you inside out and upside down. |
| Review submitted: | 31 January 2002 |
| Title: | The Illuminatus! Trilogy (The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan) |
| Author: | by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson |
| ISBN: | 1-85487-574-4 |
| Reviewer: | A Tak |
| Contact Information: | tak_natzu@yahoo.com |
| Category: | |
| Review: | He combines a multitude of conspiracy theories, 60's hippy culture with a conservative twist, and an odd writing style intended to cause the reader to incidentally deconstruct thier ego by blurring the distinction between whose perspective he's writing from. There's a bit of required reading; if you don't know much about Freud and Jung, and the occult, for ex, you'll miss out a lot of what is said in the book. Starts losing pace about half-way thru and ends in a whimper. RAW goes on to write obscenely boring sequals based on it. It's hard to say whether he's advertising for the GOP, the A.'.A.'./Crowley, Libertarians, or all of them. Definately an FNORD. You'll definately get your money's worth..... if you steal it. |
| Review submitted: | 26 April 2002 |
| Title: | The Illuminatus! Trilogy (The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan) |
| Author: | by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson |
| ISBN: | 1-85487-574-4 |
| Reviewer: | Blades |
| Contact Information: | allanj13@hotmail.com |
| Category: | |
| Review: | it's a classic. that's what everybody says about it. it's got style, class, and a very neat way of fucking up your head. it jumps, changes, moves, twists and turns all the way through until you're no longer sure what the plot is, or why you're even trying to follow it any more. it plays games with you. it entices you in by being all cute and cuddly and voluptuous and entertaining and then [wap] it beats you over the head with a wet penguin from mars to break your complacency. pay attention. it's fun, but there's an undercurrent of seriousness in the gameplay that you'll be able to pick out if you pay attention. four and a half wet fishes out of three. |
| Review submitted: | 26 April 2002 |
| Title: | TSOG |
| Subtitle: | The Thing That Ate the Constitution |
| Author: | Robert Anton Wilson |
| Publisher: | New Falcon Publications |
| ISBN: | 1561841692 |
| Pages: | 216 (+8) pp. |
| Revision/Edition: | 2002 |
| Reviewer: | Psyche |
| Contact Information: | psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com |
| Category: | Current Events, Philosophy |
| Review: | TSOG, which stands for Tsarist Occupational Government, is Wilson's term for the take-over Bush Co. has assumed over the United States of America with a Tsarist-style dictatorship, however he does note the basically interchangeable nature of ‘Bore and Gush’. Wilson opens with a touching and maddening description of the state of his body thanks to post-polio syndrome and the current TSOG in America, though his mind remains as sharp as ever. He comments on the inhumane intervention of the federal government regarding the only thing that relives his otherwise constant pain: marijuana; the state of California having already declared it legal for medicinal use, and the direct effects on the condition of his health as a result of their illegal ruling. Wilson covers his usual range of fascinating, slightly off-beat topics , ranging from conspiracy theories, the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, religion, marijuana and the war on some drugs, and furthers his philosophy of ‘Maybe Logic’ (a brilliant DVD of the same name was [finally] released in the summer of 2003). Interspersed are also clever line drawings by the author, poignant, satirical, and yet another reminder that Wilson is talented in so many respects. The bits of visual art that pepper his work are rarely mentioned, but in my opinion they should to be: he’s pretty damn good. However, TSOG doesn’t seem to contain the usual amount of personal stories and accounts usually found in many of the previous RAW books that made them so cleverly inspiring and entertaining. Or perhaps it is that TSOG is mostly comprised of quotations, news articles, statistics and other bits gathered from websites and outside sources rather than purely written (or typed as the case may be) in his own hand. Yet, as always, Wilson continues to provide the reader with intelligent thought and inspire delineations off toward the beaten path. Though TSOG doesn’t compare as favourably with his previous works, his fans will likely enjoy it anyway. |
| Review submitted: | 27 July 2003 |
| Title: | The Earth Will Shake |
| Subtitle: | The History of the Early Illuminati |
| Series: | The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, Volume 1 |
| Author: | Robert Anton Wilson |
| Publisher: | New Falcon Publications |
| ISBN: | 1561841625 |
| Pages: | 369 pp. |
| Copyright: | 1982, 1984, 2003 |
| Revision/Edition: | First New Falcon Edition 2003 |
| Reviewer: | Psyche |
| Contact Information: | psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com |
| Category: | Fiction |
| Review: | In Naples, Italy, 1764, fourteen year old Sigismundo Celine witnesses the murder of his Uncle Leonardo on Easter as he's about to perform mass. Thus begins the coming of age story of young Sigismund, who, through his efforts to prove his manhood, discovers the world is far more sinister than he was lead to believe. Sigismundo adventures into the world of music from unknown Johann Sebastian Bach, befriends the Monster, the wunderkind Wolfgang Mozart, he even meets the hermetically inclined Dr. Frankenstein – or one of them. All the while, everyone from the Freemasons, the Rossi, Alumbrados, the Carboni, and even the MAFIA want seem to want him to ‘learn their secret handgrips and join their very own special conspiracy’ (pg. 134). The characters are brilliantly entertaining, from Sigismundo himself who is ‘the most brilliant young musician in all Italy since Antonio Vivaldi, in the estimation of only the two people whose opinions mattered, himself and Uncle Pietro’ (pg. 14), to clever Uncle Pietro who spares him time and time again, naïve Maria whom Sigismundo is hopelessly in love with – and terrified of, to Sir John: ‘“Yes,” Sir John said wearily, with a strange, crooked grin. “I do not know what to believe. I have read too much and traveled too far. Certitude belongs to those who have only lived in a place where everybody believes the same thing”’ (pg 315). The chapter headings loosely follow cards of the Tarot (the Fool, the Empress, the Magician, the Priestess, the World, the Hanged Man, the Devil), but out of order. Obviously influenced by Aleister Crowley, Masonic ritual and occult thought with Wilson’s characteristic ‘maybe logic’ philosophy evident even in this earlier work. Any fan of the any branch of Illuminati or secret society lore will immediately find this book appealing. Brilliantly written, clever, funny, and with more than a hint of intrigue, what more could one possible look for in a great novel. |
| Review submitted: | 30 April 2004 |
| Title: | The Widow’s Son |
| Series: | The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, Volume 2 |
| Author: | Robert Anton Wilson |
| Publisher: | New Falcon Publications |
| ISBN: | 1561841633 |
| Pages: | 343 pp. |
| Copyright: | 1985, 2004 |
| Revision/Edition: | First New Falcon Edition 2004 |
| Reviewer: | Psyche |
| Contact Information: | psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com |
| Category: | Fiction |
| Review: | The second volume in Wilson’s Historical Illuminatus Chronicles begins in Paris, 1772 and, once again, our hero, Sigismundo Celine, is under siege by unseen conspirators. As he says, ‘Some want me dead, and some are satisfied if I am just buried alive, and you represent the nice, friendly crowd that merely wants to overthrow every government on the planet and make me the Universal Emperor.’ (pg 293) And it’s does appear that ‘being Sigismundo was a dangerous business…People were always trying to kill Sigismundo, or drive him mad, or generally vex him’ (pg 287). This volume introduces a few new characters, the Irish fisherman Seamus Muadhen, who moves to England in the spirit of revenge and becomes John Moon, only to discover he cannot fulfill his purpose, and instead immigrates elsewhere; as well as a loose band of politically-minded assassins and thieves, among others. With enough footnotes to rival Weisbecker’s Cosmic Banditos, Wilson annotates with his usual clever tongue in cheek wit, though they tend to leave me somewhat bewildered at times. For example, while I understand that Brian O`Nolan is Myles na gCopaleen, who is also Flann O`Brien; I’m having difficultly with the fact that de Selby may be La Fournier, but is most certainly not La Tournier – or even that he may not have existed at all in the first place, and in fact may bet a part of a conspiracy invented by Brian O`Nolan and Robert Anton Wilson. Then again, for all I know Wilson could be O`Nolan (who is Myles na gCopaleen, Flann O`Brien and possibly de Selby and La Fournier). It can seem a little confusing at times, and much more so at others. Wilson has a special talent for depicting things exactly as they are shown in a manner which serves only to complicate matters further; it is one of his greatest gifts, and has produced yet another brilliantly fascinating and engaging volume in this chronicle. Highly recommended. |
| Review submitted: | 29 September 2004 |
| Title: | Nature's God |
| Series: | The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, Volume 3 |
| Author: | Robert Anton Wilson |
| Publisher: | New Falcon Publications |
| ISBN: | 1561841641 |
| Pages: | 225 pp. |
| Copyright: | 1991, 2004 |
| Revision/Edition: | First New Falcon Edition 2004 |
| Reviewer: | Psyche |
| Contact Information: | psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com |
| Category: | Fiction |
| Review: | In Nature’s God, the third book of Wilson’s Historical Illuminatus Chronicles, it is 1776, and our dear Sigismundo Celine has done a runner and made for America. Here he meets up with Seamus Muadhen, now James Moon, who also left the old world after not killing his sworn enemy. They chat, briefly but insightfully, over alcohol before parting ways, Sigismundo further drowning himself: ‘Those of happy histories can ask what lies behind the surface of things. Those of us who know what lies behind the surface always choose to enjoy every illusion as long as possible. The color of a perfect English rose in my brain, not in the flower, but I would prefer to enjoy the color than to think dull thoughts like that. Leave philosophy to the innocent. We veterans of infernos and abysses prefer the roses, the sunsets, and the beautiful meaningless music’ (pg 36). Shortly after, James joins revolutionary army of George Washington and Lafayette. After leaving a few false leads in his wake, Sigismundo flees to the wilderness where he build himself a cabin, and sit in meditation ‘seeking the solitude to make his mind an empty mirror at the age of twenty-six. That was the result of being involved with conspirators and magicians since he was fourteen’ (pg 69-70). However he is occasionally interrupted by the adorably named Miskasquamish of the Maheema, a shaman of a fictional Native North American tribe. Meanwhile, back in England, Maria is initiated into a surviving witch cult in England and begins spreading feminist propaganda under a false name, while her husband advances in Freemasonry and turns to the drink and boys. This is an immensely quotable book, perhaps even more so than the previous volumes, despite its smaller size. don't think this will be the last book in the chronicles, it seems decidedly unfinished, with the possibility of a fourth in the future. Wilson has packed a lot of excellent material into this work – where else are you going to read an in depth piece on God’s Willy? Highly recommended in addition to the previous two. |
| Review submitted: | 15 October 2004 |
| Title: | email to the universe |
| Subtitle: | and other alterations of consciousness |
| Author: | Robert Anton Wilson |
| Publisher: | New Falcon Publications |
| ISBN: | 1561841943 |
| Pages: | 252 (+1) pp. |
| Copyright: | 252 (+1) pp. |
| Reviewer: | Psyche |
| Contact Information: | psyche[at]spiralnature[dot]com |
| Category: | Philosophy, Politics |
| Review: | In email to the universe we have a bit of everything: poetry, essays, former articles, and campaign posters featuring ostriches. Topics range from Celtic physics, injustice in the American legal institution, and even a favourable review of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Haikus preface each 'chapter', some featuring movies, many discussing dolphins and the weather. Many essays here were unpublished previously, maybe. Sometimes he can't remember. Other essays have been out of print for a number of years, though several stories and themes will be well-known to long-time fans. There are some formatting errors with italics and typos that are somewhat distracting, but they do not detract from the bulk of the work. My favourite conspiracy theory in this collection is found in 'Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary', which deals with a cursed church, Mary Magdalene, Dutch princes, the CIA, the Mafia, the Priory of Sion, the Committee to Protect the Rights and Privileges of Low-Cost Housing, and a host of other sinister characters. Wilson is clearly in his element here, and the essay is a lot of fun. Before getting into his reasons for creating and heading the Guns & Dope Party, Wilson tackles another question that he's often been pestered about in various ways; namely, whether he "really is" left-wing, or "really is" right wing in his politics. The essay "Left and Right" more or less firmly places him outside of either of those boxes, and therefore it is bound to annoy those searching for pigeon-holes. In 2002 Wilson ran for Governor of California as leader of the Guns & Dope Party, which advocated, essentially "guns for those who want them, no guns forced on those who don't want them", and "drugs for those who want them, no drugs forced on those who don't want them". The tenets of his campaign are reproduced here, along with posters featuring ostriches in prominent positions, and cowgirls with weapons and joints. He notes that currently he supports "everybody for president". Some of the stories may be familiar to long-time readers of his works, but they never seem to lose their humour or poignancy the second, and even third, time around. This is classic Bob. |
| Review submitted: | 30 September 2006 |
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