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Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati by Robert Anton Wilson l Summary & Study Guide
This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.
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First published August 17, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 29, 2012
If you have not read this book, then read it very soon... but make sure you're ready to have one of the best reading experiences of your life, and be ready to read all three of the Cosmic Trigger series, because you'll want to. This is RAW at his best.
May 15, 2018
Very hard to take ‘Siriusly’.
November 26, 2013
I was born on July 23rd, 1976. For those who have read the book, you will recognize this date as the one on which Robert tried to contact Sirius for a second time, the first being July 23rd of '73. He may have not have gotten a reply from Sirius but I heard it. For a book about synchronicity and coincidence, this is the META experience. Experiencing this book opens your mind to a glimmering tapestry of synchronistic phenomena which will soon pervade your life with accelerating frequency. Just try it. It is a catalyst- it IS the COSMIC TRIGGER.
January 20, 2019
Wow! Absolutely jam packed with information for us consciousness expanding truth seekers with a side of open-minded experimental rebel who may he confused as being a crazy person. Lol.
This definitely isn't a book for everyone. One may wish to have a background in quantum physics, science fiction, conspiracy theories, strange synchronicities, mind altering substances, a few dances with a variety of different beLIEf systems, and perhaps a little contact with other worldly beings in order to fully understand as well.as appreciate the information contained within this book.
A great book to gain a wider picture and greater understanding, the crazy potentials that exist, and a validation of your being stalked by the number 23 and your future self from Sirius.
This definitely isn't a book for everyone. One may wish to have a background in quantum physics, science fiction, conspiracy theories, strange synchronicities, mind altering substances, a few dances with a variety of different beLIEf systems, and perhaps a little contact with other worldly beings in order to fully understand as well.as appreciate the information contained within this book.
A great book to gain a wider picture and greater understanding, the crazy potentials that exist, and a validation of your being stalked by the number 23 and your future self from Sirius.
May 7, 2017
Highly entertaining. I am now closer to understanding life, the Universe and everything.
September 4, 2022
If there's a book that completely crystalized — some would say, "warped," or even, "broke," my worldview this book is it.
It was the final piece of the trinity of Vonnegut and Tom Robbins that completely dismantled what I thought I knew and felt about the world and I could not be more grateful.
#23skidoo
It was the final piece of the trinity of Vonnegut and Tom Robbins that completely dismantled what I thought I knew and felt about the world and I could not be more grateful.
#23skidoo
January 24, 2020
A masterly re-dimensioning of the Illuminatus trilogy’s fictional underpinnings into a lived experience. Disguised as an ongoing, arch, ironic joke this will nevertheless change your life if you let it. Fnord
March 10, 2020
Plato said that the start of any learning is the most important part of it. This book opened my mind and led me to read the following:
Nietzsche, Wilhelm Reich, Che Guvara, Robert Pirsig, Sartre, Aleister Crowley, The Sirius Mystery, Sufism, Sogyal Rinpoche, The Dalai Lama and many many more.
Cosmic Trigger is well worth a read. You might not agree with it all, but some of it is very switched on.
I liked that he suggested to read an entire periodical once a month, completely outside of your own sphere of knowledge or interests - to enable you to start to see the world from a different perspective.
I also liked his little exercise -"Try and spend an hour without using 'I' in your conversation, then try a day, and then a week and then a month". Again, it is about shifting one's perspective.
Nietzsche, Wilhelm Reich, Che Guvara, Robert Pirsig, Sartre, Aleister Crowley, The Sirius Mystery, Sufism, Sogyal Rinpoche, The Dalai Lama and many many more.
Cosmic Trigger is well worth a read. You might not agree with it all, but some of it is very switched on.
I liked that he suggested to read an entire periodical once a month, completely outside of your own sphere of knowledge or interests - to enable you to start to see the world from a different perspective.
I also liked his little exercise -"Try and spend an hour without using 'I' in your conversation, then try a day, and then a week and then a month". Again, it is about shifting one's perspective.
November 26, 2025
The author tries to convince the reader, and perhaps himself, that he is himself a skeptic and is therefore capable of taking a hard look at heterodox ideas and spotting the bullshit. The book was at its worse during any of the multiple times that this illusion was shattered, for instance any of the times he suggested strongly that a given event likely had supernatural causes and that rational explanation failed to account for the events outside of an unlikely arrangement of impossible coincidences. Each time he did this, I could easily think of many better rational explanations than what the author put forward. So what does that mean? It means he isn't actually looking.
The author's "been there, done that" attitude to rational thinking underpins many of the books failings, including the absurd statements he makes about the state of science and the now-obviously ludicrous predictions that he made.
On the other hand, there was a lot I liked in the book. In particular, I think the idea of entering Chapel Perilous when encountering events that clash with your basic metaphysics is brilliant. I love reading attempts at creating wide and sweeping theories of understanding the world around us and I was happy the give the author a good amount of latitude as he explains his position. Still, I feel like much the book simply hasn't aged well, and will continue to age poorly, and that there are really just some nuggets of interest that can probably be found elsewhere.
The author's "been there, done that" attitude to rational thinking underpins many of the books failings, including the absurd statements he makes about the state of science and the now-obviously ludicrous predictions that he made.
On the other hand, there was a lot I liked in the book. In particular, I think the idea of entering Chapel Perilous when encountering events that clash with your basic metaphysics is brilliant. I love reading attempts at creating wide and sweeping theories of understanding the world around us and I was happy the give the author a good amount of latitude as he explains his position. Still, I feel like much the book simply hasn't aged well, and will continue to age poorly, and that there are really just some nuggets of interest that can probably be found elsewhere.
May 11, 2019
Best book I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
If you are lost in this reality, or are beginning to suspect that you may be, this is the experience for you.
If this book doesn't "click" for you, perhaps you should spend time living like Leary.
If you are lost in this reality, or are beginning to suspect that you may be, this is the experience for you.
If this book doesn't "click" for you, perhaps you should spend time living like Leary.
February 23, 2018
A sort of autoviography reccounting of the things in his life that have led him to his very strange worldview.
July 30, 2018
Such a strange book, definitely need to approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism. Very entertaining though.
April 15, 2020
It was only reading this that I realised how much I missed my favourite characters from The Illuminatus trilogy. Good to know what the MGT is up to these days.
June 9, 2020
His books are certainly entertaining enough to be readable, but not so impressionable that you desire to read more of his work.
January 12, 2023
Classic RAW! A nice mind expanding read that inspires you to think differently.
November 1, 2024
Open your mind?
September 16, 2026
You get all you need in the first 20 odd pages. Then get ready for a spurious infodump of numerology, sex magick and telepathy
September 23, 2013
Robert Anton Wilson es, sin lugar a dudas, el último gran pensador del siglo XX ( y venideros, se proyecta tanto hacia atrás como hacia adelante). Este libro es ideal para comenzar a acercarse a la cosmogonía del autor, a su modo de pensar y crear la realidad. Un autor sin dudas necesario para todos aquellos que intenten buscar más teorías, más conocimiento y más formas de aprehender todo lo que nos rodea.
March 28, 2012
Fun and intriguing for those who have read the Illuminatus Trilogy. Real life can get even weirder than satire it seems. Delves into the making of the trilogy and more that has happened since it was written and published. Not a great read but not bad either.
Read
July 20, 2012I go back to this one a couple times a year. The 70s-future part always makes me a little sad because we dropped the ball on Space, but his way of looking at the world has enriched my own view many a time.
February 24, 2013
An amazing auto-biographical account of explorations of human consciousness and reality. The story carried by pop culture references and sub-culture iconography. Will certainly leave you wondering what's REALY going on.
March 12, 2013
All my friends went crazy about this book and it made the rounds. It was a phenomena that stirred the imagination, woke up coincidences and peeled back layers of the onion called reality. Today I remember 23.
March 31, 2013
a must read
November 2, 2013
Robert Anton Wilson's writing has helped me develop into a better human being. I wish more people would read his writing, it does wonderful things for an open mind.
March 23, 2014
Life-changing, whimsical, humorous, thought provoking, and... Beautiful.
Read
September 28, 2014What an inspiring journey. Brilliant thinker. Shattered me.
October 8, 2015
Not to be missed. You owe it to yourselves.
Read all three...
Fantastic!!!
Kind regards,
23
Read all three...
Fantastic!!!
Kind regards,
23
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews