Customer Reviews

Game of Life

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dr. Timothy Leary's book 'The Game of Life' (Part 4 of his Future-History Series) is by far one of his best and most accessible. Although, like most of his books, they are chaotic and disorganized and for the most part confusing, this book catergorizes Leary's own philosophy into the scientific-occult world of Aleister Crowley and Tarot. Leary begins with evolution and Darwin, along with Mendeleyev and his classification of chemical elements. Along with neurological thoughts of the nervous system, DNA, synaptic connections, I-Ching and Hindu Mythology. This is the first part, which may seem random and non-linear, he eventually connects all of this to the system of Tarot, which is the ancient occult divination practice in which picture symbols unconsciously give your brain suggestions in e-volving your DNA consciousness while in-volving your body/mind circuitry. Highly regarding Aleister Crowley's work in his "Book of Thoth" and his own Tarot deck, he understands that Crowley was on a similar path, only using different language. The second part is a chapter dedicated to each Tarot card alloting it its own intelligence in the chain of evolutionary process. Leary does expand the set giving it 24 major cards instead of the standard 22. An excellent book and highly reccomended to all!. At first glance this book may look like an issue of Mad Magazine, but once studied and practiced, it all comes together. Although its hard to appreciate on its own, I would suggest reading Crowley's own "Book of Thoth" along with it. Also reccomended is Leary's "Info-Psychology" in which he explains the 24 neuro-circuits more scientifically. And for an even more accessible view and understanding of Leary's 24 neuro-circuits is Robert Anton Wilson's "Prometheus Rising." These books together will give you a 3-Dimensional understanding and insight into the wisdom of the body/brain. This book also has contributiuons by R. A. Wilson.

For a nominal fee: It Will Shock! It Will Amaze! Step right this way...

This is my favorite Timothy Leary book, and that's saying a lot when compared to the likes of The Politics Of Ecstasy, Neuropolitics, Exo-Psychology, The Intelligence Agents, Confessions Of A Hope Fiend, Flashbacks, etc. This is the one that ties it all together. Presented in sensational tabloid fashion, tongue-in-cheek, he masterfully combines and correlates the Periodic Table, chemistry, evolutionary theory, microbiology, psychology, Tarot, astrology, mysticism, religion, history, terrestrial politics, science-fiction, and so forth. An amazing bit of propaganda for progress and higher intelligence (sorely needed on this backward and primitive orb). He should have won the governorship of California and gone on to be President of these United States---not Reagan. This land would have turned out very very different (all kidding aside, man), and we might now be colonizing space (with H.O.M.E.s---that's High Orbital Mini Earths), the moon and Mars instead of talking about it. His laissez faire and mercantilist outlook would certainly have been better for the economy, to say the least, especially nowadays (argh!). More than a nod is given to such divergent luminaries, psychotics and "futants" as Aleister Crowley (whose scholarship, among others, was an inspiration for this book), Werner von Braun, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Edward Teller, Adolf Hitler, etc.

Each consecutive page is presented as a whole, that is (for one thing), they don't end with sentences that need to be completed on the next page. They are complete texts (along with whatever provocative titles and graphics that are attendant). This, as well as the fact that the book is roughly 8 1/2 X 11 inches, makes it ideal for those copy shop guerilla Intelligence Agents who like to make illicit postings in public places. I suppose that was the idea... (heh heh)

The book is not only immensely informative and inspiring---it is fun! Also, since he deals with his subject matter with patient good humour and high (sorry) spirits, it is absolutely hilarious. And though Leary treats terrestrial politics with the biting satire it so richly deserves, it is easy to see that he was quite serious about humankind's future and evolution, as symbolized in his oft referenced acronym S.M.I.L.E (Space Migration, Intelligence <squared> Increase, and Life Extension). The self-described "cheerleader for change" promoted his passion for space migration and evolution with the zeal of an evangelist and the skill of a mass media marketing wizard.

The Game Of Life is absolutely essential to any post-larval wondering what happened to the electric kool-aid 60s party.

And remember: INTELLIGENCE IS THE ULTIMATE APHRODISIAC.

© 2006 RAPWreckerds

An ultimate Trip Manual and yogic navigation guide. A Bible.

This is my favorite book and my second-most influential. It can literally turn on your genius circuit (the 7th circuit of the 8 described). It will seem ridiculous and mostly metaphorical until you realize that Timothy Leary (at least while he was 'high') was, and is, literally communicating here as DNA consciousness, aka the Word of God.

I think there are some small inaccuracies in the correspondences, but the scope of knowledge integration here is overwhelming. Your mind will blow and re-fuse relentlessly on the first and subsequent readings.

Like all scriptures, it will seed your mind with key ideas that will pop open and grow synergistically.

What other book sythesizes the key patterns in psychology, ontogeny and phylogeny, technological development, sociology, neurochemistry, physics, linguistics and yoga?

Leary himself never mastered the 8 circuits of consciousness he describes in The Game of Life, or he wouldn't have suffered from cancer or even old age. But he actualized and demonstrated the use of all 8 of these neurological systems in his lifetime and I suppose he is in the same business now in the Hyperlife.

Timothy Leary will be recognized as the Einstein of Psychology early this century. Did you know he wrote the seminal 'Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality' in the 50's? And that was before he 'discovered' his brain and then his DNA via inter- and intra-neuronal yoga, using the biochemical keys that can be used to activate these domains of experience.

This book is real magic and is inspired by the Holy Spirit though it appears blasphemous. It is for many an initiation like the Gospel of John or Yogananda's Autobiography, and it reveals many of the same principles; though with more humor than either.

I read this book for the Tarot aspect of it. Leary does a great job relating the evolution of a person and the evolution of mankind to the Tarot cards. It really helps you understand how deep into our experience the Tarot actually explores. Highly recommended

I'm a big fan of some other works by Tim Leary, this one didn't hit me as being quite as well thought out.

Leary says there's some level of disinformation in this book, but it felt more like put-on. It is a good read if you're interested on more information regarding the 24 circuit model; there are some nuggets in here, definately. And the links to early, more primitive models of evolution are certainly interesting. But there's also a great deal of filler, perhaps just to make the book more accessible, however I don't think it works. It seems to me a "new" reader would just find this book confusing, ridiculous. Maybe that was the purpose, perhaps that's the disinformation. Either way, I do recommend it to Leary fans ... it's got some goodies in there.

Game of Life is one of the wisest, most insightful and uplifting books I have ever read. It is a sacred text for the silicon-space age. After much struggling with ancient wisdom (tarot, kabbala, the Vedas, alchemy, etc) and it's pre-modern explicators (Crowley, Gurdjieff, Guenon et al) I find this book, and suddenly the occult cliche "as above, so below" makes perfect sense, and so many other ideas and phenomena, contradictory on the surface, become clear and harmonious.

For example, the raging culture war between Darwinism and creationism is exposed as a petty juvenile playground drama. Leary, ever the integrator, is a proponent of "intelligent design" although the meaning of that phrase is infinitely deeper than trying to sneak creationism into school curricula.

You could say that all Leary has done is translated old-fashioned mystical woo-hoo into modern psycho-techno-babble, and there is truth in that statement, but at this level in human evolution (the "insectoid welfare hive" as Leary put it), our socio-political-economic reality is created semantically and symbolically. Words and images are keys, and the key that starts up your father's Oldsmobile will not start your hybrid Prius, let alone my fusion powered quantum tunneling chariot!

Of course, primitive social defense mechanisms dictate that Game of Life is "out of print" and primitive information storage technology demands that you "buy a used copy" but thankfully we can read it now for free at scribd dot com.

The eight neural circuits of human development are described in an unusual way as Leary's prose is scattered over various parts of the page. It's the best available introduction on his system. The interested magician may trace her/his own development by the neural circuits understand as general stages of consciousness evolution.

This book is nothing compared to the earlier works of Leary. It almost seems as if Leary, no longer a reputable doctor, is trying to pass off his important message as rebellious drivel. The underlying messages are important and insightful. But why disguise and hide it?

Leary shows his impressive ability to tie together different cultures, philosophies, and religions, and have them coexist in his own synapse fried REALity.

we love everything Timothy Leary has written...
dear seekers after truth,
... but this is our favorite book. It combines Tarot, Science and nearly everything else to create Astrological types based on Terrestrial and Post-Terrestrial understanding and evolutionary development. It's brilliant (as all his work is), funny, enlightened (far beyond his time) and we never get to the end of one of his books without wishing there were a another 2 to 3 hundred pages to read, and this one is no exception. We may not agree with all his conclusions, more often than not we don't even understand all he is telling us, but we are always more enthusiastic about life and its purpose after reading him. He truly was the Magus of the Age.
kyela,
the silver elves
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