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Schrödinger's Cat #1-3
Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy
The Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy is a series of novels by Robert Anton Wilson, each illustrating a different interpretation of quantum physics. Coauthor of The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Schrödinger's Cat is a sequel of sorts, reusing several of the same characters & carrying on many of the themes.
The 1-volume edition in print is significantly shorter than the original 3-volume edition. This is not a difference in print size or removal of redundant "recaps"; it is missing a noticeable amount of material, including many entire chapters.
The name Schrödinger's Cat comes from a famous thought experiment in quantum mechanics. The 1st book, The Universe Next Door, takes place in different universes in accord with the Many-worlds_interpretation of quantum physics. In the 2nd, The Trick Top Hat, characters are unknowingly connected thru Non-locality, i.e., having once crossed paths they're joined in Quantum_entanglement. The 3rd book, The Homing Pigeons, places characters in an "observer-created universe" in which Consciousness Causes the Collapse of the wavefunction.
The 1-volume edition in print is significantly shorter than the original 3-volume edition. This is not a difference in print size or removal of redundant "recaps"; it is missing a noticeable amount of material, including many entire chapters.
The name Schrödinger's Cat comes from a famous thought experiment in quantum mechanics. The 1st book, The Universe Next Door, takes place in different universes in accord with the Many-worlds_interpretation of quantum physics. In the 2nd, The Trick Top Hat, characters are unknowingly connected thru Non-locality, i.e., having once crossed paths they're joined in Quantum_entanglement. The 3rd book, The Homing Pigeons, places characters in an "observer-created universe" in which Consciousness Causes the Collapse of the wavefunction.
560 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
229 people are currently reading
5445 people want to read
About the author
Robert Anton Wilson
118 books1,693 followersRobert Anton Wilson was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson helped publicize Discordianism through his writings and interviews. In 1999 he described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth". Wilson's goal was "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything."
In addition to writing several science-fiction novels, Wilson also wrote non-fiction books on extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs, and what Wilson called "quantum psychology".
Following a career in journalism and as an editor, notably for Playboy, Wilson emerged as a major countercultural figure in the mid-1970s, comparable to one of his coauthors, Timothy Leary, as well as Terence McKenna.
In addition to writing several science-fiction novels, Wilson also wrote non-fiction books on extrasensory perception, mental telepathy, metaphysics, paranormal experiences, conspiracy theory, sex, drugs, and what Wilson called "quantum psychology".
Following a career in journalism and as an editor, notably for Playboy, Wilson emerged as a major countercultural figure in the mid-1970s, comparable to one of his coauthors, Timothy Leary, as well as Terence McKenna.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
April 9, 2020
Every few years, I find it necessary to re-read (or listen to) the great Illuminatus! Trilogy. Always more wisdom to be gleamed from the psychedelic masterpiece...
And moreover, the Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy is an excellent companion to further explore these ideas. So very many ideas.
This one only written by Robert Anton Wilson, without co-writer Robert Shea, it is a tighter read yet incredibly dense. The short chapters jump around from hysterical satire to the mind-boggling cosmic like a crazed A.D.D. prophet on methamphetamine. Ever entertaining.
I have found my latest read in 2020 particularly timely. Ostensibly, the novel as the title states is about various alternate realities of what might have been in the familiar nation of "Unistat" as all those iconic RAW characters affect and are affected by the worlds they inhabit. Because y'know quantum physics.
The politics are incredibly ahead of their time. I can't even believe this was written before I was born:
In one universe, an irrational ecological party wins the presidency and institutes extreme austerity. This results in mass poverty and oppression against the scientists of Unistat, although there is a hopeful underground resistance of voodoo occultists and nuclear terrorists.
In another universe, get this. A brilliant pro-science presidentess is elected and institutes Universal Basic Income of all things. Automation replacing jobs is embraced, space travel, and glorious utopia as humanity (us primates, we are always reminded) quickly evolves. Sadly, real life thirty years later still isn't there but what a concept to aspire to!
And so on. There's quite a bit more prescience, such as on the subject of transgendered politics for example. Much of the writing is sexually graphic, something about learning to reprogram our circuits by rejecting taboos, and also very literary references to Jocye's Ulysses/Homer's the Odyssey by way of a legendary dismembered penis.
Robert Anton Wilson readers will enjoy returning to these ideas, and digesting and reinterpreting new ones. Preferably, read Illuminatus! first and maybe jump into the Cosmic Trigger nonfiction series while you're at it.
It would be nice if more people took these concepts seriously. For now, however, this remains a book for the fringes.
One day, humanity. One day...
And moreover, the Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy is an excellent companion to further explore these ideas. So very many ideas.
This one only written by Robert Anton Wilson, without co-writer Robert Shea, it is a tighter read yet incredibly dense. The short chapters jump around from hysterical satire to the mind-boggling cosmic like a crazed A.D.D. prophet on methamphetamine. Ever entertaining.
I have found my latest read in 2020 particularly timely. Ostensibly, the novel as the title states is about various alternate realities of what might have been in the familiar nation of "Unistat" as all those iconic RAW characters affect and are affected by the worlds they inhabit. Because y'know quantum physics.
The politics are incredibly ahead of their time. I can't even believe this was written before I was born:
In one universe, an irrational ecological party wins the presidency and institutes extreme austerity. This results in mass poverty and oppression against the scientists of Unistat, although there is a hopeful underground resistance of voodoo occultists and nuclear terrorists.
In another universe, get this. A brilliant pro-science presidentess is elected and institutes Universal Basic Income of all things. Automation replacing jobs is embraced, space travel, and glorious utopia as humanity (us primates, we are always reminded) quickly evolves. Sadly, real life thirty years later still isn't there but what a concept to aspire to!
And so on. There's quite a bit more prescience, such as on the subject of transgendered politics for example. Much of the writing is sexually graphic, something about learning to reprogram our circuits by rejecting taboos, and also very literary references to Jocye's Ulysses/Homer's the Odyssey by way of a legendary dismembered penis.
Robert Anton Wilson readers will enjoy returning to these ideas, and digesting and reinterpreting new ones. Preferably, read Illuminatus! first and maybe jump into the Cosmic Trigger nonfiction series while you're at it.
It would be nice if more people took these concepts seriously. For now, however, this remains a book for the fringes.
One day, humanity. One day...
December 17, 2022
(apologies, once again, to Samuel Coleridge)
And all who read shall stop and stare,
And shout as each is made Aware:
"He's right! The System isn't fair!"
Weave a tale of what is not
And laugh or else you'd cry instead.
For we on Wilson's books have fed
And want much more than what we've got.
~*~*~*~*~
C'mon, you've already read Illuminatus!... What could possibly shock you now?
4 stars. Let your mind run off leash a while. I'm sure it'll come back when you call for it.
And all who read shall stop and stare,
And shout as each is made Aware:
"He's right! The System isn't fair!"
Weave a tale of what is not
And laugh or else you'd cry instead.
For we on Wilson's books have fed
And want much more than what we've got.
~*~*~*~*~
C'mon, you've already read Illuminatus!... What could possibly shock you now?
4 stars. Let your mind run off leash a while. I'm sure it'll come back when you call for it.
June 10, 2007
This book might sting if you're not careful. My favorite thing about this book is that I keep loaning it to people, and not only does it never come back, but most of them actually get at least half of the obscure references to out-of-print pagan theologies, tenets of physics and aging Lovecraft novels. Says something about my circle of friends.
Like most of Wilson's work, this book pushes you a little outside of your comfort zone. More than just a fascinating read, it will really affect the way you think and act. It makes you accept the unknown, the unseen and the unexpected so much easier... all of a sudden, change is OK and we're all a little weird and that's OK too.
I've never been so happy to buy a 7th copy of a book. And I intend to keep giving them out to people I come across that should read them, and keep expecting that those "loans" will never be returned. Perhaps I should attach a spare tire to one and see if that makes it come back...just glue the spine to the rubber...
Like most of Wilson's work, this book pushes you a little outside of your comfort zone. More than just a fascinating read, it will really affect the way you think and act. It makes you accept the unknown, the unseen and the unexpected so much easier... all of a sudden, change is OK and we're all a little weird and that's OK too.
I've never been so happy to buy a 7th copy of a book. And I intend to keep giving them out to people I come across that should read them, and keep expecting that those "loans" will never be returned. Perhaps I should attach a spare tire to one and see if that makes it come back...just glue the spine to the rubber...
June 4, 2016
I read this before I read the Illuminatus! Trilogy, and though it only took me one time through that and one and half times through this, I enjoyed this so much better.
For one, it's much sillier.
For another, it's more scifi.
For another, it made much more sense.
Not that I didn't like Illuminatus!, just that Schrödinger's was much more digestible. Less conspiracy theory, less Christian-related mythology. More scifi, in other words. But still crazy and out there.
I got stuck the first time in the middle when suddenly everyone seemed to be having sex ALL THE TIME (another reason why I think I still haven't gotten through Dahlgren), but the second time through it didn't bother me so much (by that time I was also in college, and with a little more time to devote to reading). My favorite thing is still that the story repeats itself over and over and changes each time. Brilliant.
For one, it's much sillier.
For another, it's more scifi.
For another, it made much more sense.
Not that I didn't like Illuminatus!, just that Schrödinger's was much more digestible. Less conspiracy theory, less Christian-related mythology. More scifi, in other words. But still crazy and out there.
I got stuck the first time in the middle when suddenly everyone seemed to be having sex ALL THE TIME (another reason why I think I still haven't gotten through Dahlgren), but the second time through it didn't bother me so much (by that time I was also in college, and with a little more time to devote to reading). My favorite thing is still that the story repeats itself over and over and changes each time. Brilliant.
December 15, 2017
Quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. I can say this with reasonable certainty because any other books that might have qualified for that distinction (anything Hemingway, Joyce's Ulysses come to mind) I would never have finished. I've reached a point in my life where my time is too valuable to waste on stupid things. If I've gotten all I can out of a book, or all I expect I can get, then there is no point reading further.
With Wilson, I had to finish for several reasons:
1) I needed to see for myself how his fiction related to his non-fiction (nearly indistinguishable, and that's not a compliment)
2) I wanted to see if he had anything of value to say (sadly, no)
3) I wanted to see if he managed to tie things up (again, no)
4) I need to read the entire trilogy in case my initial assessment would change (it didn't)
In short, Wilson is pretentious, absurd, a bit obscene, not funny at all, not anywhere near as clever as he thinks (thought; he died in 2007), and wrote bizarre surreal text that Vonnegut did better. He got cute at one point, knowing that critics would pan it as drivel, and inserted a comment that implied that anyone reading his work (or the work of a character that was his mirror) wouldn't understand it, and would necessarily dislike it.
Well, I didn't "get it" because there was nothing to "get". 545 pages of nonsense. And I have a problem calling this science fiction. Fiction, yes. Fantasy, maybe, probably. But inserting a couple of references to quantum physics does not make it science fiction. Mumbo jumbo. And the fans who read more into it than is there seem like the caricatures of pretentious art admirers standing in a museum and pretending to "see" what the artist was trying to "convey". Wilson liked his LSD and it showed through in this mess. Sprinkling a few parrot droppings from a reading of Niels Bohr does not a physicist make.
Now, in the Dell rollup, on page 225, Wilson relates a story of a character, Hugh Crane, who at age ten watches a Mysterious Tramp who keeps asking people questions, all of whom shook their heads and walked on. Hugh couldn't understand why if the Tramp got his answer, he kept asking. "Didn't he believe the people who already answered the question?" (The Tramp, unbeknownst to the ten year old, was begging for food or money.) I got a kick out of this, because at age five, I determined that the job I would have when I grew up would be that of the guys directing traffic on the side of the highway (they were hitchhiking and pointing the way for the cars with their thumbs!)
I did find one specific line funny: page 396, James Earl Carter in that particular universe was a physicist, and said, "Ah don't understand politics. [...] Ah'm a scientist."
And on page 478, I found one passage prophetic (okay, I don't believe in prophesy, but it sure was applicable to the 2001-2009 administration): "The President in Leary's book, called Noxin [Nixon], was a monster. He got the country into totally unnecessary wars without the consent, and sometimes even without the knowledge, of Congress. He lied all the time, compulsively, even when it wasn't necessary. He put wiretaps on everybody - even *himself*."
If you like Vonnegut, you might like this. If you like Adams' Hitchhiker, you might (probably not. Adams was funnier, even though I don't find any of his stuff "hilarious".)
As for me, I'll never again get back the time I lost being stubborn enough to finish this. But then, Wilson may be right and in the quantum, world, I will.
With Wilson, I had to finish for several reasons:
1) I needed to see for myself how his fiction related to his non-fiction (nearly indistinguishable, and that's not a compliment)
2) I wanted to see if he had anything of value to say (sadly, no)
3) I wanted to see if he managed to tie things up (again, no)
4) I need to read the entire trilogy in case my initial assessment would change (it didn't)
In short, Wilson is pretentious, absurd, a bit obscene, not funny at all, not anywhere near as clever as he thinks (thought; he died in 2007), and wrote bizarre surreal text that Vonnegut did better. He got cute at one point, knowing that critics would pan it as drivel, and inserted a comment that implied that anyone reading his work (or the work of a character that was his mirror) wouldn't understand it, and would necessarily dislike it.
Well, I didn't "get it" because there was nothing to "get". 545 pages of nonsense. And I have a problem calling this science fiction. Fiction, yes. Fantasy, maybe, probably. But inserting a couple of references to quantum physics does not make it science fiction. Mumbo jumbo. And the fans who read more into it than is there seem like the caricatures of pretentious art admirers standing in a museum and pretending to "see" what the artist was trying to "convey". Wilson liked his LSD and it showed through in this mess. Sprinkling a few parrot droppings from a reading of Niels Bohr does not a physicist make.
Now, in the Dell rollup, on page 225, Wilson relates a story of a character, Hugh Crane, who at age ten watches a Mysterious Tramp who keeps asking people questions, all of whom shook their heads and walked on. Hugh couldn't understand why if the Tramp got his answer, he kept asking. "Didn't he believe the people who already answered the question?" (The Tramp, unbeknownst to the ten year old, was begging for food or money.) I got a kick out of this, because at age five, I determined that the job I would have when I grew up would be that of the guys directing traffic on the side of the highway (they were hitchhiking and pointing the way for the cars with their thumbs!)
I did find one specific line funny: page 396, James Earl Carter in that particular universe was a physicist, and said, "Ah don't understand politics. [...] Ah'm a scientist."
And on page 478, I found one passage prophetic (okay, I don't believe in prophesy, but it sure was applicable to the 2001-2009 administration): "The President in Leary's book, called Noxin [Nixon], was a monster. He got the country into totally unnecessary wars without the consent, and sometimes even without the knowledge, of Congress. He lied all the time, compulsively, even when it wasn't necessary. He put wiretaps on everybody - even *himself*."
If you like Vonnegut, you might like this. If you like Adams' Hitchhiker, you might (probably not. Adams was funnier, even though I don't find any of his stuff "hilarious".)
As for me, I'll never again get back the time I lost being stubborn enough to finish this. But then, Wilson may be right and in the quantum, world, I will.
July 27, 2011
These books, in essence a sequel to the brilliant Illuminatus! Trillogy (The book that invented the Illuminati), start of quite dated and generally absurd, with some fairly typical set-pieces you'd expect from a bunch of pot-addled, coke-snorting alcoholic genius quantum nerds but then it really does start to get very interesting. The second book in the series recasts many of the original characters in different roles, genders, races and so on but keeps a general theme of 'quantum those says all pasts and futures exist, so who cares what happens'. By the third book you are really into the swing of it and the fluxes in character again make more overall thematic sense. The books by the end seem less absurd and more densely structured than they really are, quite a feat really.
Fans of Robert Wilson should not miss these books.
Fans of Robert Wilson should not miss these books.
December 28, 2020
Стиль РЭУ идиосинкратичен и напоминает, конечно, Воннегута, только тот в сравнении вполне ванилен, хоть и любим. Текст в этом издании трилогии пусть и не полон, все равно развлекает. Хотя история с отравлением доблестными чекистами трусОв Навального и предпринятого им расследования собственой практически смерти даст 100 очков вперед любому нелепому эпизоду у РЭУ.
Хотя местами и его прогностическая сила велика - взять хотя бы эпизод про президентский отсос и "Никогда не стоит недооценивать важность минета" во втором томе (задолго до Моники, понятно). Ну и привет Пинчону очень трогательный. Так же потешен и тот факт, что последняя часть трилогии вышла в 1979-м, и в ней РЭУ придумал панк-группу Primal Scream. Три года спустя в Шотландии она образовалась (нет, не как оммаж и не от вдохновения книгой). А вот зато сан-францисская группа Dead Kennedys, напротив, уже год как существовала.
В общем, при чтении даже этих жалких обрывков действительно лучше не упускать из виду, что в трех "томах" действие перетекает из "Иллюминатуса!" и происходит в альтернативных вселенных, сдвинутых относительно друг дружки на ход коня с переменой пола.
Ну и остается вопрос, стоило ли переводить на русский неполную версию.
Хотя местами и его прогностическая сила велика - взять хотя бы эпизод про президентский отсос и "Никогда не стоит недооценивать важность минета" во втором томе (задолго до Моники, понятно). Ну и привет Пинчону очень трогательный. Так же потешен и тот факт, что последняя часть трилогии вышла в 1979-м, и в ней РЭУ придумал панк-группу Primal Scream. Три года спустя в Шотландии она образовалась (нет, не как оммаж и не от вдохновения книгой). А вот зато сан-францисская группа Dead Kennedys, напротив, уже год как существовала.
В общем, при чтении даже этих жалких обрывков действительно лучше не упускать из виду, что в трех "томах" действие перетекает из "Иллюминатуса!" и происходит в альтернативных вселенных, сдвинутых относительно друг дружки на ход коня с переменой пола.
Ну и остается вопрос, стоило ли переводить на русский неполную версию.
February 16, 2011
If you've read Wilson before, then you should know exactly what to expect from this book. I wouldn't call him a one-trick pony, but he certainly has his themes and he sticks with them. This book is more about its ideas than its writing: a mash-up of Timothy Leary, Joyce, a mostly-correct understanding of quantum mechanics, sex, drugs, conspiracies, politics, mysticism and the absurd.
The title draws upon quantum mechanics, and Wilson seems to be attempting an illustration of Everett & Wheeler's many-worlds interpretation of QM. Hence, every character occupies multiple personalities, perspectives and genders as we jump through books and universes.
While this is a more thoughtful treatment than the slew of "quantum" new age books we see today, I'm always extremely reluctant to apply quantum anything to day-to-day life or psychology: quantum mechanics is a theory about subatomic things, not about people or brains. While there are many interpretations of what it all means, these do not form a part of the physics proper, are open to debate, unclear in their implications, and are far from settled. So, I'm hesitant to take a glance at the Everett-Wheeler interpretation and then exclaim "there's a universe where I grew up to be a circus clown!" Even if such a statement is true, it's hard to say in what sense it is true since all these separate universes are by definition isolated and cannot communicate in any way: you may as well postulate the existence of an undetectable pink unicorn. It affects nothing.
That digression aside, I thought this was a fun read, though it lacked the sheer variety of the Illuminatus trilogy. I did actually laugh out loud at points, which I rarely do with books. The characters and their worldviews are all interesting and unique, but thoroughly familiar if you've read enough Wilson.
EDIT: I'm not sure I even want to get into the question of quantum entanglement here. Needless to say, it's not what you've read in this or other books. It does not mean you're connected to everything you've ever interacted with. It does not provide a method for telepathy or synchronicity.
The title draws upon quantum mechanics, and Wilson seems to be attempting an illustration of Everett & Wheeler's many-worlds interpretation of QM. Hence, every character occupies multiple personalities, perspectives and genders as we jump through books and universes.
While this is a more thoughtful treatment than the slew of "quantum" new age books we see today, I'm always extremely reluctant to apply quantum anything to day-to-day life or psychology: quantum mechanics is a theory about subatomic things, not about people or brains. While there are many interpretations of what it all means, these do not form a part of the physics proper, are open to debate, unclear in their implications, and are far from settled. So, I'm hesitant to take a glance at the Everett-Wheeler interpretation and then exclaim "there's a universe where I grew up to be a circus clown!" Even if such a statement is true, it's hard to say in what sense it is true since all these separate universes are by definition isolated and cannot communicate in any way: you may as well postulate the existence of an undetectable pink unicorn. It affects nothing.
That digression aside, I thought this was a fun read, though it lacked the sheer variety of the Illuminatus trilogy. I did actually laugh out loud at points, which I rarely do with books. The characters and their worldviews are all interesting and unique, but thoroughly familiar if you've read enough Wilson.
EDIT: I'm not sure I even want to get into the question of quantum entanglement here. Needless to say, it's not what you've read in this or other books. It does not mean you're connected to everything you've ever interacted with. It does not provide a method for telepathy or synchronicity.
October 14, 2007
Necessary for everyday survival.
Also, as a total bonus, totally messes with your head.
I have two different editions of this book (first edition and the edition listed above) and they're substantially different. Heh.
Also, as a total bonus, totally messes with your head.
I have two different editions of this book (first edition and the edition listed above) and they're substantially different. Heh.
June 14, 2010
After reading the Illuminatus Trilogy, I was really anticipating this novel. Robert Anton Wilson's high mind style of writing is enjoyable, if a bit fractured. I really had high hopes.
This book fell kind of flat however, as Mr. Wilson attempts to visualize the concept of the multiverse my creating different versions of each of his characters, many of whom first appeared in the Illuminatus. However what the author does not do is adhere to any kind of real plot, and just when you think you might have a bit of a narrative or the resemblance of a coherent story he changes the world again.
The point of the book is to show you how everything you do or do not do, is inversely done or not done in a connected universe. I believe the author is also trying to convince us that we are all Schrodinger's cat, living in a state that is neither living or dead, up until the moment we are observed, upon observation we will either die or live.
However, I could not stop reading this book, as the vivid imagination of Wilson's is enticing and extremely visual. Having read the Illuminatus first, I recognized the characters, and how he was attempting to show the variations based on quantum variability.
A good read overall, but not nearly the quality of his first Trilogy.
This book fell kind of flat however, as Mr. Wilson attempts to visualize the concept of the multiverse my creating different versions of each of his characters, many of whom first appeared in the Illuminatus. However what the author does not do is adhere to any kind of real plot, and just when you think you might have a bit of a narrative or the resemblance of a coherent story he changes the world again.
The point of the book is to show you how everything you do or do not do, is inversely done or not done in a connected universe. I believe the author is also trying to convince us that we are all Schrodinger's cat, living in a state that is neither living or dead, up until the moment we are observed, upon observation we will either die or live.
However, I could not stop reading this book, as the vivid imagination of Wilson's is enticing and extremely visual. Having read the Illuminatus first, I recognized the characters, and how he was attempting to show the variations based on quantum variability.
A good read overall, but not nearly the quality of his first Trilogy.
August 27, 2015
4.5 stars for sheer commitment to a universe that it inspires you to write a parallel universe TRILOGY. The story dips, ducks, and dives in and out of readability, and seems at times to be too rib-jabbingly inside jokey, peppered with too many inspirations barely fictionalized, and sometimes preachy; but the fact remains, no one had attempted writing these ideas into a comedic drama like this, and RAW's pen often leaves a crowing Phoenix trail of majestic, world-saving ink across the page that draws your own soul higher (and lower) towards the crazy Truthz he has grokked. Plus, he literally semantically saves our society using his Hubbard character to express simple genius in democratic leadership. Give it the old read - probably after 'Illuminatus!', if I had to be shepardly.
December 17, 2020
Interesting book. I tried reading it at 21, and it was too much for me. But it stayed with me all this time. Now, thirty years on, I made it through. It's mad, psychedelic romp. Fascinated ideas, it really made me think. Some of the humor hasn't aged particularly well, and it's a wee bit sexist (hence the 4 stars), but if you want to challenge your ideas, this is a good place to start.
Oh, and the storyline? Works much better in 2020 than it did in 1990. Things that seemed like wild exaggerations before are eerily close to lived reality now.
Oh, and the storyline? Works much better in 2020 than it did in 1990. Things that seemed like wild exaggerations before are eerily close to lived reality now.
September 30, 2013
I figured I'd like this one given how much I liked "The Illuminatus! Trilogy," and I wasn't wrong. I think Illuminatus was a little more enjoyable as a work of fiction, but this book is definitely more sophisticated on a conceptual level. Metafiction, reality selection, quantum physics, there is an awful lot going on in this book. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I'd picked up on more, but I understood enough to think a great deal of it.
February 26, 2010
One of the most influential books I've read in the past few years. If the plot has a focus--which I do not mean to assert--it is likely that we as humans do not fully recognize or comprehend our primate lineage and ancestry and the social and societal implications of this are enormous. Mind changing book. [Dated here at second reading:]
April 4, 2010
This book can be read without reading the Illuminatus Trilogy to which some of its characters and themes relate. Interesting in concept, this one-volume edition fails, perhaps because of its having been edited down in size from the three-volume edition, perhaps simply because Wilson is not a very good writer.
May 22, 2015
I have both finished and not finished this volume, a book I simultaneously loved and detested. Please get thee hence (or not) to your local bookstore and either pick one up, or don't. You will not be privy to the outcome of the purchase (or non-purchase) until such time as the store closes, thus letting you out through the door for your state to be revealed.
December 28, 2014
Shaggy shoggoth story indeed.
June 24, 2024
Since reading The Illuminatus! Trilogy back in 2020 it has stuck in my mind. By no means a perfect book or a total favorite of mine, its lasting impact has stuck with me. I went on to learn about The KLF and how they took influence from it, dove deeper into the world of Robert Anton Wilson, and read from a handful of other contemporary postmodern writers. I knew I was due to read another one of these books and after admiring my copy of Schrödinger's Cat on the shelf for the last two years of owning it I decided to finally get around to reading it.
Unfortunately, Schrödinger's Cat does not leave me with the same feeling as Illuminatus!. Schrödinger's Cat works as a sequel trilogy to Illuminatus! and like any sequel to a success, it has big shoes to fill. There are moments here where RAW hits on what made Illuminatus! great but ultimately this was a far cry from that original trilogy.
The book starts promisingly. It explores an alternate universe from an outside, alien lens, looking to evaluate and learn human history. While a bit convoluted in how it is presented, I found it to be an interesting subject. Book One (they’re all labeled Book One) ends with the characters acknowledging that they know they are characters in a book. This metafictional exploration is something that RAW was known for and is really great at portraying. Unfortunately, I felt like this idea disappears as soon as it's introduced, a theme for this book. He brings back this metafictional concept at the end of this series but it feels too little too late for my taste.
The biggest difference for me between Schrödinger's Cat and Illuminatus! is how fractured the story is. Illuminatus! had a large cast of characters and would jump around in the plot a lot but RAW takes it to a whole other level here. Most chapters are short vignettes that only last for a handful of pages, shifting narrative and perspective between each, occasionally returning to familiar plotlines. I’m already someone who doesn’t really enjoy these kinds of stories but that level of confusion is intentionally raised even higher here.
There really isn’t much of a narrative to this book and often it borders on being “unreadable”. While partially an intended effect. It's clear that RAW is capable of more from his previous works. Maybe some of this is now that I’m a more experienced reader but the prose and narrative of a book like this pales in comparison to the likes of Pynchon or Barth. I think that RAW benefitted from having Robert Shea contribute to Illuminatus!. While I’m not sure of their workload or balance in writing, I'm sure the collaborative nature led to having some ideas more finely tuned.
The last book in the trilogy returns to a longer chapter structure and definitely feels like the strongest effort since the beginning but often it just felt like a weak way to tie up this series. While I’m glad I read this I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they are a RAW completionist. While I got some of the same enjoyment I had reading Illuminatus!, I ultimately wish I’d just reread that as opposed to checking this one out.
Unfortunately, Schrödinger's Cat does not leave me with the same feeling as Illuminatus!. Schrödinger's Cat works as a sequel trilogy to Illuminatus! and like any sequel to a success, it has big shoes to fill. There are moments here where RAW hits on what made Illuminatus! great but ultimately this was a far cry from that original trilogy.
The book starts promisingly. It explores an alternate universe from an outside, alien lens, looking to evaluate and learn human history. While a bit convoluted in how it is presented, I found it to be an interesting subject. Book One (they’re all labeled Book One) ends with the characters acknowledging that they know they are characters in a book. This metafictional exploration is something that RAW was known for and is really great at portraying. Unfortunately, I felt like this idea disappears as soon as it's introduced, a theme for this book. He brings back this metafictional concept at the end of this series but it feels too little too late for my taste.
The biggest difference for me between Schrödinger's Cat and Illuminatus! is how fractured the story is. Illuminatus! had a large cast of characters and would jump around in the plot a lot but RAW takes it to a whole other level here. Most chapters are short vignettes that only last for a handful of pages, shifting narrative and perspective between each, occasionally returning to familiar plotlines. I’m already someone who doesn’t really enjoy these kinds of stories but that level of confusion is intentionally raised even higher here.
There really isn’t much of a narrative to this book and often it borders on being “unreadable”. While partially an intended effect. It's clear that RAW is capable of more from his previous works. Maybe some of this is now that I’m a more experienced reader but the prose and narrative of a book like this pales in comparison to the likes of Pynchon or Barth. I think that RAW benefitted from having Robert Shea contribute to Illuminatus!. While I’m not sure of their workload or balance in writing, I'm sure the collaborative nature led to having some ideas more finely tuned.
The last book in the trilogy returns to a longer chapter structure and definitely feels like the strongest effort since the beginning but often it just felt like a weak way to tie up this series. While I’m glad I read this I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they are a RAW completionist. While I got some of the same enjoyment I had reading Illuminatus!, I ultimately wish I’d just reread that as opposed to checking this one out.
August 8, 2020
After watching Uncle Bob's vids on youtube for years I finally got around to reading his fiction. This book, like Prometheus Rising, is a masterwork. It's profound, beautiful and hightly recommended.
July 7, 2024
If you can get your hands on Anything written by Robert Wilson never hesitate twice
June 5, 2017
Don't read this book.
I want to help others that may fall into this trap. This book is strange and enigmatic, and is very alluring early on. It will entice you with genuinely interesting ideas and writing, with the subtle promise it's all going to be justified in some quantum/parallel-universe sense by the end.
It never reaches that justification. It's an endless, pointless, spinning mess. I felt sick picking it up again and again. It doesn't reward your careful attention. It doesn't have a story or thesis, and is impossible to spoil. It's a series of perverse, drug-fueled vignettes with no cohesion and a veneer of pseudo-science/mysticism to trick you into connecting the dots yourself.
Starting on page 510 is a chapter in which a character explains "..the line between avant-garde literature and nonsense is ambiguous..." Good point but the author isn't treading that line as neatly as he thinks he is. That whole chapter is a huge FU to anyone who has made it that far, by the way.
The author implies more than once elsewhere that people who don't understand the book they are holding are unsophisticated primates. He also eye-rollingly inserts himself into the story a dozen or so times, with some characters realizing they are *gasp* characters in a novel.
It's bad. It's really bad. I had to keep going because if I skipped any of it I might overlook the key to it's madness that might unlock some hidden meaning. I've done the work, friends. Don't do it!
I want to help others that may fall into this trap. This book is strange and enigmatic, and is very alluring early on. It will entice you with genuinely interesting ideas and writing, with the subtle promise it's all going to be justified in some quantum/parallel-universe sense by the end.
It never reaches that justification. It's an endless, pointless, spinning mess. I felt sick picking it up again and again. It doesn't reward your careful attention. It doesn't have a story or thesis, and is impossible to spoil. It's a series of perverse, drug-fueled vignettes with no cohesion and a veneer of pseudo-science/mysticism to trick you into connecting the dots yourself.
Starting on page 510 is a chapter in which a character explains "..the line between avant-garde literature and nonsense is ambiguous..." Good point but the author isn't treading that line as neatly as he thinks he is. That whole chapter is a huge FU to anyone who has made it that far, by the way.
The author implies more than once elsewhere that people who don't understand the book they are holding are unsophisticated primates. He also eye-rollingly inserts himself into the story a dozen or so times, with some characters realizing they are *gasp* characters in a novel.
It's bad. It's really bad. I had to keep going because if I skipped any of it I might overlook the key to it's madness that might unlock some hidden meaning. I've done the work, friends. Don't do it!
October 30, 2023
RAW! RAW! RAW!
This trilogy was a lot of fun to read, great satire, humour, and jammed packed with head bending ideas ( which are delved into deeper in his non novel works). Infotainment that will fracture and fractal your reality tunnels
This trilogy was a lot of fun to read, great satire, humour, and jammed packed with head bending ideas ( which are delved into deeper in his non novel works). Infotainment that will fracture and fractal your reality tunnels
August 28, 2025
this book would blow my mind if I were 14. At 36 it seems clownish. Couldn’t finish.
September 19, 2016
This had been lying around on my shelves for years. probably a pass-on from a friend in a long-ago hostel. Like a prize clown, I realised once I had got started that the Illuminatus Trilogy, which I also have here, precedes it. So we're working backwards.
This was a riot, regardless, partly hilarious, partly very clever and partly way too complicated. The author draws himself, the book (recursively) and his over-complexity into the plot. despite it being essentially fiction, and touches on race relations, sex and sexual politics, philosophy and religion in every different flavour, and much more besides. It is partly a book about the "Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy", partly a book about Schrödinger's Cat and partly a book about everything. The core to it lies is three different interpretations of quantum physics, illustrated in 3 parallel versions of a story affecting the same characters by what I suppose I should call non-locality.
I'm not a professional quantum mechanic - indeed, these days my eyes are so bad I can hardly handle nails and a hammer - so I found the quantum interpretations getting a bit swamped in all the other detail. This is not a criticism, however, as this was an extremely entertaining read, and the author appears to be a true omniscient.
This was a riot, regardless, partly hilarious, partly very clever and partly way too complicated. The author draws himself, the book (recursively) and his over-complexity into the plot. despite it being essentially fiction, and touches on race relations, sex and sexual politics, philosophy and religion in every different flavour, and much more besides. It is partly a book about the "Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy", partly a book about Schrödinger's Cat and partly a book about everything. The core to it lies is three different interpretations of quantum physics, illustrated in 3 parallel versions of a story affecting the same characters by what I suppose I should call non-locality.
I'm not a professional quantum mechanic - indeed, these days my eyes are so bad I can hardly handle nails and a hammer - so I found the quantum interpretations getting a bit swamped in all the other detail. This is not a criticism, however, as this was an extremely entertaining read, and the author appears to be a true omniscient.
April 8, 2015
Robert Anton Wilson's (RAW as he is known) work constitutes one of my greatest guilty pleasures. His fiction is liberally seasoned with blatantly provocative situations, but the foundation is his attempt to pull me out of my complacency and see that life, the universe, and everything are all much bigger places than my puny little mind can comprehend. The three books making up RAW's Schrodinger's Cat trilogy are much easier to access than his more famous collaboration with Robert Shea, the masterpiece, The Illuminatus! trilogy. I also found SC to be much more of a comic romp, even though there are some cross-over themes and characters from Illuminatus! We are still dealing with many of the same ideas: quantum theory and multiple universes, secret organizations and conspiracies, and, of course, the greatest human preoccupation, sex. If you can handle extreme wackiness and absurdity, you are able to deal with literary whiplash, and you aren't shocked by the many facets of the human condition, you should get a kick out of RAW's trilogy.
March 21, 2013
I'm a big RAW fan. This didn't do it for me, though. I found it: dated in a tawdry 70s sort of way; too much like Ulysses; too surreal; too disjointed. Maybe those last 3 are redundant.
It is well soaked in RAW's 8-circuit model of human behaviour, but it's better to read about that model in his non fiction books like Quantum Psychology or Prometheus Rising.
On this re-read, after reading it maybe 15 years ago with no clear memory of it, I read about 60 pages of book 1, then skimmed a bit of book 2 which I liked better because it was at least happening in a things go well universe instead of a things go badly universe. Was not motivated to skim book 3. Getting put on the "books to sell or donate" pile.
It is well soaked in RAW's 8-circuit model of human behaviour, but it's better to read about that model in his non fiction books like Quantum Psychology or Prometheus Rising.
On this re-read, after reading it maybe 15 years ago with no clear memory of it, I read about 60 pages of book 1, then skimmed a bit of book 2 which I liked better because it was at least happening in a things go well universe instead of a things go badly universe. Was not motivated to skim book 3. Getting put on the "books to sell or donate" pile.
March 10, 2007
Truly more than a trilogy, more like 7 books, but I don't know if there is a -logy for 7.
Its a colorful book that anyone who understands String Theory, or Super Gravity, or the 11 dimension model would truly dig.
Heavy on 60s ish drug culture, it follows the detached penis of a former man through many dimensions of space and time. How fun does that sound?
Its a colorful book that anyone who understands String Theory, or Super Gravity, or the 11 dimension model would truly dig.
Heavy on 60s ish drug culture, it follows the detached penis of a former man through many dimensions of space and time. How fun does that sound?
April 25, 2016
Very intellectual read, blending fact and fiction. Dry humor and quirky alternate universes. I was put off by the crude male perspective presented by virtually all the characters. The plethora of foul language and sexual references got old very quickly. Robert Anton Wilson was truly a highly intellectual man with an uncanny flare for satire.
May 15, 2016
The strangest book I've read.
May 31, 2018
The Illuminatus trilogy was created after two editors of Playboy, at the time big into free speech*, went through the conspiracy letters to the editor and decided to write a novel based on them all being true. This, The Schrödingers Cat Trilogy is the set of all possible quantum sequels to the original**.
It is funny, satirical, an instruction book for magical initiation, a manual for political philosophy and sort of a thriller in that the fate of mankind is at stake in each of the alternate universes. It probably works best as a satire. It has sex, violence and taboo-breaking. You have been warned.
Read This: If you want to read a genuine cult classic, a psychedelic haze of magic, mind and alternate dimensions
Don’t Read This: If you want things to make sense or don’t like when people break taboos, which are there for a reason, maybe?
* Run by and publishing things by people interested in free speech to sell porn, and also people interested in porn as a way to sell free speech.
** Schrödingers Cat is a well known quantum paradox/thought-experiment that I will not explain here. The books notes that the characters within look likt Pavlov's Dog from one angle, Schrödingers Cat from another.
It is funny, satirical, an instruction book for magical initiation, a manual for political philosophy and sort of a thriller in that the fate of mankind is at stake in each of the alternate universes. It probably works best as a satire. It has sex, violence and taboo-breaking. You have been warned.
Read This: If you want to read a genuine cult classic, a psychedelic haze of magic, mind and alternate dimensions
Don’t Read This: If you want things to make sense or don’t like when people break taboos, which are there for a reason, maybe?
* Run by and publishing things by people interested in free speech to sell porn, and also people interested in porn as a way to sell free speech.
** Schrödingers Cat is a well known quantum paradox/thought-experiment that I will not explain here. The books notes that the characters within look likt Pavlov's Dog from one angle, Schrödingers Cat from another.
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