Customer Reviews

The Walls Came Tumbling Down

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Robert Anton Wilson's screenplay which he attempted to have produced in a film is about the adventures of a scientist who Flashes back on LSD and experiences future memory blocks. Eventually time and space skip from one place to another to an ending I will not reveal here. Entertaining and a well written script, however, I can understand why Hollywood passed the idea. Scattered somewhat, however visually appealling it may be (even to the unconscious). More likely a better read, nonetheless, Wilson is Wilson, so if you enjoy reading Wilson, then this Wilson will be good enough for you.

Robert Anton Wilson wrote this film script in the late '90's while settling into a new environment (Los Angeles) and recovering from a collapsed film deal. Wilson waited nearly a decade before publishing it. This is not one of Wilson's better works. Wilson's books of philosophy and social criticism shine with brilliance, wit and a clarifying debunking. Praise of these points festoons the covers here, but it is not The Walls Came Tumbling Down that earner that lauding. In the story Michael, an academic scientist, is so barraged with hallucinations and the paranormal that his entire reality is upset for reality only to emerge as a world run by a controlling shadow government with an extraterrestrial treaty. The quick scene changes and short dialogues threaten to unseat even the reader. The Golgotha imagery, folk hallucinogens and parallel universe theorization is a grab bag of alternate reality models that may have been advanced in the late '80's. However, it now reads as predictable, unexciting and not revealing at all. Certainly a necessary addition to the library of the Wilson completists, but a better entry point into his wisdom can be found in Reality is What you can get Away With or Prometheus Rising.

This book is based on a movie script that has not yet been produced. The style of prose lures the reader deeply, exquisitely into what it is that they don't know.

Wilson has done it again. This screenplay tells a story of transformation, a parable of overcoming prejudice and illuminating reality. Check it out.

I love Robert Anton Wilson, I'v read most of his books except for a few i can't get a hold of. I guess because this book is a screenplay or script or whatever you call it, I kept trying to imagine actors saying the dialog lines and it just didn't seem natural to me. I really liked the story though, it was still an entertaining read, full of RAW's humor. It was worth the buy to me, I have been trying to find the more obscure/less popular books he's written before they go out of print or something. He was a great author (my personal favorite), but not so much a movie writer. Hail Eris!

a psychedelic, philosophical screenplay that proves unique and thought-provoking.

I don't so much mind that it wasn't made into a film as the direct dialogue between Wilson and your own brain frequently evokes the most satisfying images.