The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan [Paperback]

Robert Shea (Author), Robert Anton Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1983

Filled with sex and violence--in and out of time and space--the three books of The Illuminatus are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the coverups of our time--from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Filled with sex and violence--in and out of time and space--the three books of The Illuminatus are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the coverups of our time--from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill.

From the Inside Flap

Filled with sex and violence--in and out of time and space--the three books of The Illuminatus are only partly works of the imagination. They tackle all the coverups of our time--from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 805 pages
• Publisher: Dell (December 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440539811
• ISBN-13: 978-0440539810
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (280 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

402 of 429 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never- NEVER!- judge Wilson by his fans, May 26, 2002

By 

Varius (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan (Paperback)

People love to point out, and attack, this book's muddled ideology, its ever-shifting style, its countless digressions, its violent swings between adolescent fantasies and serious philosophy, etc, etc, ad infinitum. To these people, I can only say, "Duh." This book, like most things RAW has worked on, is A TEST. It runs the gamut from Occultism to Solipsism to Libertarianism to Objectivism, and most of the things in between. Through it all, the narrative refuses to attach itself to one specific outlook. Why, you ask?

Well, the book has a surprise ending, that comes a couple months after you read the last page. I didn't want to ruin it for you, but here goes: ... Every twenty pages or so, Shea and Wilson try to win you over to a new belief system, only to tear it down a few pages later. If any of it makes you a true believer, then you weren't paying attention. Thinking for yourself has nothing to do with seeing fnords, finding erotic undertones in Catholic imagery, or getting yourself a Libertarian woman. It certainly has nothing to do with accepting the existence of a massive global conspiracy. Thinking for yourself is just that- maintaining a healthy skepticism, but keeping an open mind at the same time. You can decide what you want believe, but you must also remember that you will never have the complete picture.

Sure, this novel (trilogy) provides a taste of hallucinogenic mind-expansion on its most superficial level. But dig a little deeper and you'll find much more, not in the words of Shea and Wilson, but within (and possibly without) your own mind. The biggest mistake you can make is to assume that 'Illuminatus' is the end of your journey, when it is probably just the first step. This book is a tool for just that, the starter pistol that sets you on your own search (which, sadly, will probably not involve dolphins).

'Illuminatus' lays out a seemingly infinite number of red herrings for your perusal. It is your job, as a good little reader, to find them all (hint: there's nothing that isn't one).

This is the obligatory 5th paragraph. Superstition may not be useful, but it's fun.

89 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind is the traitor. Slay mind., January 26, 2005

By 

Trystero (Fredericktown, MO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan (Paperback)

First, let it be said that the Illuminatus! Trilogy is not an easy book for anyone to read unless they are familiar with the philosophy of Robert Anton Wilson. Anyone who wants to read this book should first read at the very least Prometheus Rising and Cosmic Trigger I beforehand. A familiarity with the concepts of Aleister Crowley, Georges Gurdjieff, Tim Leary, etc., would also be advisable. That said, here's the review.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a combination of philosophy, science, occultism, and obscure ideas that is unlike anything I have read before. It's also a wonderful combination of fact and fiction, so the wise reader will enter with a skeptical but open mind. I say skeptical because they should not BELIEVE any of the novel, but they should be open to ideas because the novel will appall them otherwise. I guess you could actually say that being skeptical but open is the whole point of RAW's philosophy.

The review from Rolling Stone on the page of reviews on the first page describes the novel as a "shaggy dog joke," and you won't really understand how true that is until you read the book. The basic storyline is the storyline that has been repeated throughout mythology and history: "good versus evil." Of course, being a RAW novel, sides get flipped and everybody seems to be a secret agent working for twenty four different conspiracies. It can basically be described as very funny and blasphemous in the best possible sense. Your basic view of "reality" will probably not survive this book.

And, as a word to the wise (or the foolish), don't buy the paperback version of Illuminatus! that is available these days. Get a hardback copy; an 800 page paperback gets destroyed fairly easily, as I've come to find out.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, March 14, 2005

By 

Christopher K. Koenigsberg (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan (Paperback)

Other reviews address the content, significance, imagination etc.

No one else has mentioned this yet, but I am most impressed with just the in-depth quality of the writing craft itself, once you get past some strange quirks, like the sudden jumps among different first- and third-person perspectives.

Parts of it might read as if they are just "stream of consciousness", but they were certainly not all just streamed out that way onto the page, without significant work ... when you step back, and look at the assembling/disassembling/re-assembling of so many intricate parts, into a twisted non-Euclidean curved pyramidal whole, the craft and work involved is quite impressive.

Also having "been there" a few times, many years ago, I can say that their vivid verbal portrayals, of some extremely emotional psychedelic hallucinogenic schizoid states, are right on.

(ignoring the actual content of the specific trip, I mean, just focusing on the verbal portrayal of the emotional state, it reads like something out of my own long-ago experiences, except that they are much better writers than I could hope to be, they actually managed to get it written down in words, in a reasonably effective way!)

Plus, so many of the characters etc. are familiar from my youth, it is a huge nostalgia trip for me too, a nice ride through familiar old stomping grounds of my youth. That is, back around then, circa 1972, I was a 12-year old pre-pubescent H.P.Lovecraft freak, Abbie Hoffman freak, science fiction freak, etc., had a crazy mother totally into Atlantis and all that fernando POO, and at the same time also had friends in the neighborhood, who were into Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey Satanism, etc. Consequently I knew a lot more about the Satanic Bible, for instance, than I ever did about any of the Christian/Jewish mis-translations.

So, it's like, the story of my tribe, it's like I could have been a very minor character, in the book. And there are a lot of us wandering around, still dazed & confused out here somewhere at least in the back of our minds .... so I see, this book is for US.

This is a book I SHOULD have read, back then when it was new. But that's OK, I lived it instead... and the book is still a great read, even today, over 30 years later.