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Cosmic Trigger Volume I: Final Secret of the Illuminati by John Thompson, Robert Anton Wilson
tittypete's review
4.0
Feel like I should have read this after I read “Illuminatus!” I loved that book but I can hardly remember any of it’s details. There’s a bunch of overlapping and far-reaching conspiracies that are bent on controlling the world and reality and something or other. I remember it being fun and that I had to look up a lot of the references. Those references lead to other books and soon I was spiraling in a conspiracy/new-age rabbit hole. Cosmic Trigger reads like the personal reflections of the author of “Illuminatus!” on the myriad concepts he touched on in that novel. Perhaps with some vague conclusiveness? I dunno. Basically, citing not so much proofs but alternatives to conventional thought like Tim Leary, Gurdjieff and space aliens, Wilson seems to say that we create our own realities and can therefore change shit on a whim. Also the notion of god or aliens or a higher power may ultimately stem from our ancestors penchant for psychedelic mushrooms. It’s hard to sum up and more fun to just let wash over you. RA Wilson is a wonderful narrator. Like a crazy uncle that’s actually pretty smart but just way beyond you and your parents’ level. Key takeaway is we should all take more drugs.
mosalah314's review against another edition
4.0
Meandering, yet absorbing. Intensely cerebral, and funny. Reminds me of Vonnegut or Douglas Adams.
anotherpath's review against another edition
3.0
Not a single one of Wilson's predictions actually occurs within the time-frame he's suggested in this work. This serves best as a first hand account of the various stages a person intentionally manipulating their conciousness into different states in order to map meanings onto the Universe and Experience.
It also serves as a bold warning against the optimism of massive advances in technology and how that sort of personal quest for immortality ultimately ends in heartbreak and disillusionment. Wilson was savvy, but at least in this first volume, he lacks wisdom.
It also serves as a bold warning against the optimism of massive advances in technology and how that sort of personal quest for immortality ultimately ends in heartbreak and disillusionment. Wilson was savvy, but at least in this first volume, he lacks wisdom.
hyperpoints's review against another edition
5.0
this book is pretty out there and that’s why i like it. Originally read this in my early twenties and it left a big impact on me and so felt like rereading it. What I like about this book is how it blends psychoanalysis, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, science fiction, and a number of other wierd topics into one stream of consciousness. It has definitely influenced my writing a lot no doubt about it. I also really feel like there is a real desire in this book to make the world a better place underneath all the jokes. there’s a sense that we can improve all our lives if we’re willing to try crazy ideas and reinvent everything. this book can come across as childish but that’s exactly what i like about it, because in many ways it’s also much more than that. it’s just one of those books you can’t really explain to anyone, including yourself
uderecife's review
3.0
This is the kind of book you aren’t expecting to read. That is, if you, like me, had your head somewhere else than all conspiracy-lovers and occult seekers had. For this is the a book about someone not refusing the existence of weird phenomena, but embracing the kaleidoscope of possible explanations and the many people behind such quests.
This is also a compilation of small essays about different topics. This, notwithstanding the bizarreness of the topic at times, allows you have a enough breathe room to find your own pace without losing too much between reading sessions.
If you are already familiar with occult topics and weird phenomena, I imagine that this book does not add much to what you already know or believe. But if you, like me, happen to fall on this by accident and find yourself enjoying RAW’s style and wittiness, this book may hold a pleasant surprise for you.
godhelm's review against another edition
4.0
It's a fascinating time capsule into the 60s and 70s, with boundless optimism for the future, for the development of mankind, for immortality and psychic powers. It's also, of course, extremely dated, and wrong in most of its predictions. The biographical notes weave in and out of the narrative but it never really becomes a RAW biography - and that's to its advantage.
Audio note: It's engagingly read but has a couple of audio mistakes with redone lines.
Audio note: It's engagingly read but has a couple of audio mistakes with redone lines.
wonderfulteeth's review against another edition
2.0
Super dry & forgettable. Robert Anton Wilson was a lot funnier than he was smart.
ant's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very much of a time, it's from the 70's and a lot of the optimistic predictions died with that decade. However, there is still enough of interest to make this a worthy read, but I'm a big R.A.W. fan so I'm biased.
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