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Illuminatus! #3
Leviathan
The ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always existed. Every man, every woman, and every child owns it. It's the ability to say No and take the consequences. - Hagbard Celine, LeviathanIlluminatus! Part III cheerfully ushers in the apocalyptic high-camp conclusion of the Illuminatus! Trilogy. The 9th and 10th Trips are performed by a grand ensemble cast. The Appendices (which are most instructive) are performed by the incomparable Ken Campbell, bringing the audiobook trilogy full circle. The Illuminati has never looked so good. All Hail Eris!
253 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
April 15, 2013
Imagine that all existing conspiracy theories are bound into a single book. Add there some mysteries like Atlantis, Third Reich occultism, theology and many other things. The mix will be close to the Illuminatus! Trilogy, still it is too cool to describe it in few words. Leviathan is the last volume of the series and it ends the epic story.
August 8, 2021
Well i can say with absolute certainty now that you don't want to read this as 3 seperate books. This volume is broken in 3, the first part is the end of the main plot. The second part is the aftermath very much like the Scouring of the Shire in Lord of the Rings and the 3rd part is appendices.
I only skimmed the appendices, maybe i'll read them properly when i buy a hard copy, which i'm definitely going to do.
This was a great read and just so much better than i could have expected. It feels like it should be trash but its so well... orgainized? Even when it switches perspective mid sentence you can very quickly tell which character your now following, this kind of clarity, aswell as the overall amount of plot cohesiveness, simply can't be achieved by bad writers.
And there are great ideas and explorations of character here too. Not much more i can say, i really want to read this all in one go next time.
P.S.
Pity none of the newer editions have nice covers like the 60's ones, all the new versions look like Dan Brown knockoffs :| . Oh well, i'm just going to get a cheap secondhand copy, something that looks like its seen a bit of life :) .
I only skimmed the appendices, maybe i'll read them properly when i buy a hard copy, which i'm definitely going to do.
This was a great read and just so much better than i could have expected. It feels like it should be trash but its so well... orgainized? Even when it switches perspective mid sentence you can very quickly tell which character your now following, this kind of clarity, aswell as the overall amount of plot cohesiveness, simply can't be achieved by bad writers.
And there are great ideas and explorations of character here too. Not much more i can say, i really want to read this all in one go next time.
P.S.
Pity none of the newer editions have nice covers like the 60's ones, all the new versions look like Dan Brown knockoffs :| . Oh well, i'm just going to get a cheap secondhand copy, something that looks like its seen a bit of life :) .
January 9, 2018
Last one has some thoughts more real at the end.
"Hooray, hooray, it's the first of May. Outdoor fucking starts today."
All hail Discordia.
"Hooray, hooray, it's the first of May. Outdoor fucking starts today."
All hail Discordia.
October 20, 2010
A sprawling, many-faceted, satirical series, Illuminatus! is difficult to rate and more difficult to review. There are so many aspects which one could address, so many points of divergence, ideas, philosophies, and influences, but at it's heart, it's a rollicking adventure story that, despite it's many political and social themes, rarely takes itself too seriously.
I can certainly say I liked it, but it's hard to say how much. Some parts were better than others, but there are many parts to be considered. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find the numerous asides and allusions to be distracting. If one piqued my interest, I looked it up and more often than not, learned something entirely new. Some didn't intrigue me as much, and I was happy to let them lie.
I treated the book like I treat life, following those threads which seemed, to me, to be the most fruitful, and refusing to become bogged down in the fact that I can't know everything. If a reader tried to track down every reference, they'd be going to wikipedia three and four times per page and likely lose the thread of the story entirely. The sheer volume of research behind the book is an achievement in itself, sure to keep the attention of detail-obsessed trivial pursuit players of the internet generation.
Others have also complained about the structure of the book, switching as it does in place, time, and character with no forewarning. Certainly these switches can cause a moment's uncertainty, but they hardly make following the plot impossible. The authors could have put more line breaks in, it would be a minor change. So minor, in fact, that I find it difficult to take seriously any claim that the lack of such breaks somehow ruined the story.
It was a deliberate effect by the authors, meant to impart information realistically and force the reader to take a more active role. In life, we are constantly inundated by information and it is up to us to decide what is important and where to make strict delineations. Likewise, in this book, the authors want us to take responsibility for our own parsing of data, refusing to spoon-feed it to us like so much propaganda.
The authors, themselves went through huge amounts of data to combine all of these conspiracy theories into a grand ur-conspiracy, too large and detailed to be believed and too ridiculous to be doubted. I've never had much interest in such theories, so it was nice to have them all in one place where I could enjoy them as part of a fun spy story.
I also admit a lack of interest in the beat poets, psychadelic culture, and World War II, so I'm glad to have gotten those all out of the way in the same fell swoop. This book is, at its heart, a chronicle of a certain point in American history, a certain mindset, a baroquely detailed conglomeration of the writings and ideas of the raucous sixties.
The book is at its least effective when it is taking itself seriously, particularly in the appendices. When it seems to believe in it's own conspiracies or Burroughs' bizarre understanding of history, it becomes a victim of its own joke.
It is at its best when it takes nothing seriously, least of all itself. The authors were involved in the flowering of the Discordian Movement, which has been described as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion. The movement plays a large role in the text and is analyzed from all sides, but basically boils down to religion as imagined by Mad Magazine.
The revolutionary thing about Mad was not that it undermined authority, but that it simultaneously undermined itself. It's humor was the insight that you could trust no one and nothing to be the source of wisdom, but that you were perfectly justified in mistrusting everything.
Rather like the remarkable sixties series 'The Prisoner', the final message is that you must decide for yourself what is important, what is real, and what is misdirection. Also like 'The Prisoner', Illuminatus owes much to the spy books of the sixties, from their freewheeling sexuality to their ultra-modern secret bases and high-stakes secret missions. There is even an overt parody of the Bond franchise running through the books.
Unfortunately, it also seems to fall into the Boys' Club atmosphere of spy stories. Though it switches between narrators, all of them are men, and the focused sexuality of the book most often points toward women. There are moments where bisexuality, homosexuality, and feminist sexual power dynamics are explored, but these tend to be intellectual exercises while the hot, sweaty moments are by and large men acting upon women. I can enjoy porn, but I wish it were as balanced as the rhetoric to which the authors pay adherence.
Many male authors have shied away from writing female characters from the inside, despite having no compunction about getting inside them in other ways. I cannot reiterate enough the late Dan O'Bannon's insistence that the secret to writing women was writing men and then leaving out the penis.
He scripted 'Alien' without gender markers, all characters being referred to by last name, and Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley has proven one of the most realistic and unaffected of any woman in film. It was a disappointment to see Shea and Wilson so fettered by gender while simultaneously spouting the latest feminist sound bites.
In many ways, Illuminatus provides a bridge between the paranoid, conspiracy sci fi of Dick and the highly referential, multilayered stories of Cyberpunk. Conceptually, it represents a transition from Dick's characters, always unable to escape destruction at the hand of their vast, uncaring society, and Cyberpunk characters who are able to adapt to their distant, heartless society and thrive where they can. The language of Illuminatus is flashier and cooler than Dick's, but has not yet reached the form-as-function linguistic data overload of Gibson or Stephenson.
And as you might expect, the writing here is good: crisp, witty, evocative and mobile. Far from the accusations of being a text 'written on an acid trip', it is lucid and deliberate, even if it does take itself lightly. There certainly are those aspects which are inspired by psychadelic culture, including the free-wheeling structure. The authors invite comparison between moments, events, and characters which, in most other books, would be separated by the strict delineation of the page break.
But then, the surest sign of genius is the ability to synthesize new data from the confluence of apparently disparate parts, as Da Vinci did one day while studying the eddies in a stream for a painting, finding himself suddenly struck by the notion that the heart would pump blood more efficiently by forming such swirling eddies in its chamber instead of working as a simple pump. In the the past decade, internal body scanners have proven the accuracy of his small corner sketch. By inviting you to make such comparisons and synthesize your own conclusions, the book respects the potential intelligence of its reader.
But it is not all such conceptual exercises, and the lesson Cyberpunk authors learned was that a fast-paced, flashy shell can sugar even bitter pills. What delighted me was the realization that at its heart, this is a story of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.
Outside of Lovecraft and Howard, very few of the stories set in that universe are even passable, but this one comports itself ably, taking to heart the notion that an overabundance of data can break the human mind. Which dovetails nicely with the cautionary lesson of conspiracy theory: it seems vast, inexplicable beings of unimaginable power can also be human, and have cults just as Unaussprechlichen.
Overall, the series is interesting, unique, informative, humorous, and entertaining. There are moments where it bogs down, but overall, it is well structured and well written. There aren't many books where you get a fun spy story, a harrowing Cthulhu story, and a rundown of the zeitgeist of a part of American history all in one, but there's certainly this one.
Unless you're a teenager looking for a counterculture to believe in, its conspiracy mish-mash probably won't be a life-changing revelation, but it might be food for thought. Conspiracy fiction is big business these days with 'The Name of The Rose', 'Foucault's Pendulum' and 'The Da Vinci Code', while the originator of the genre gets comparatively little mention.
But this book is not designed to be easy to digest. You are not meant to internalize its message thoughtlessly. It's funny, contradictory, and self-aware, and it's hard for people who take themselves seriously to get caught up in a book that, for the most part, doesn't. I could say this book deserves to be more than a cult classic, but at its heart, this book is a cult classic, and its cultural influence will continue to seep in with or without grander acclaim.
I can certainly say I liked it, but it's hard to say how much. Some parts were better than others, but there are many parts to be considered. Unlike other reviewers, I did not find the numerous asides and allusions to be distracting. If one piqued my interest, I looked it up and more often than not, learned something entirely new. Some didn't intrigue me as much, and I was happy to let them lie.
I treated the book like I treat life, following those threads which seemed, to me, to be the most fruitful, and refusing to become bogged down in the fact that I can't know everything. If a reader tried to track down every reference, they'd be going to wikipedia three and four times per page and likely lose the thread of the story entirely. The sheer volume of research behind the book is an achievement in itself, sure to keep the attention of detail-obsessed trivial pursuit players of the internet generation.
Others have also complained about the structure of the book, switching as it does in place, time, and character with no forewarning. Certainly these switches can cause a moment's uncertainty, but they hardly make following the plot impossible. The authors could have put more line breaks in, it would be a minor change. So minor, in fact, that I find it difficult to take seriously any claim that the lack of such breaks somehow ruined the story.
It was a deliberate effect by the authors, meant to impart information realistically and force the reader to take a more active role. In life, we are constantly inundated by information and it is up to us to decide what is important and where to make strict delineations. Likewise, in this book, the authors want us to take responsibility for our own parsing of data, refusing to spoon-feed it to us like so much propaganda.
The authors, themselves went through huge amounts of data to combine all of these conspiracy theories into a grand ur-conspiracy, too large and detailed to be believed and too ridiculous to be doubted. I've never had much interest in such theories, so it was nice to have them all in one place where I could enjoy them as part of a fun spy story.
I also admit a lack of interest in the beat poets, psychadelic culture, and World War II, so I'm glad to have gotten those all out of the way in the same fell swoop. This book is, at its heart, a chronicle of a certain point in American history, a certain mindset, a baroquely detailed conglomeration of the writings and ideas of the raucous sixties.
The book is at its least effective when it is taking itself seriously, particularly in the appendices. When it seems to believe in it's own conspiracies or Burroughs' bizarre understanding of history, it becomes a victim of its own joke.
It is at its best when it takes nothing seriously, least of all itself. The authors were involved in the flowering of the Discordian Movement, which has been described as a religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion. The movement plays a large role in the text and is analyzed from all sides, but basically boils down to religion as imagined by Mad Magazine.
The revolutionary thing about Mad was not that it undermined authority, but that it simultaneously undermined itself. It's humor was the insight that you could trust no one and nothing to be the source of wisdom, but that you were perfectly justified in mistrusting everything.
Rather like the remarkable sixties series 'The Prisoner', the final message is that you must decide for yourself what is important, what is real, and what is misdirection. Also like 'The Prisoner', Illuminatus owes much to the spy books of the sixties, from their freewheeling sexuality to their ultra-modern secret bases and high-stakes secret missions. There is even an overt parody of the Bond franchise running through the books.
Unfortunately, it also seems to fall into the Boys' Club atmosphere of spy stories. Though it switches between narrators, all of them are men, and the focused sexuality of the book most often points toward women. There are moments where bisexuality, homosexuality, and feminist sexual power dynamics are explored, but these tend to be intellectual exercises while the hot, sweaty moments are by and large men acting upon women. I can enjoy porn, but I wish it were as balanced as the rhetoric to which the authors pay adherence.
Many male authors have shied away from writing female characters from the inside, despite having no compunction about getting inside them in other ways. I cannot reiterate enough the late Dan O'Bannon's insistence that the secret to writing women was writing men and then leaving out the penis.
He scripted 'Alien' without gender markers, all characters being referred to by last name, and Sigourney Weaver's portrayal of Ellen Ripley has proven one of the most realistic and unaffected of any woman in film. It was a disappointment to see Shea and Wilson so fettered by gender while simultaneously spouting the latest feminist sound bites.
In many ways, Illuminatus provides a bridge between the paranoid, conspiracy sci fi of Dick and the highly referential, multilayered stories of Cyberpunk. Conceptually, it represents a transition from Dick's characters, always unable to escape destruction at the hand of their vast, uncaring society, and Cyberpunk characters who are able to adapt to their distant, heartless society and thrive where they can. The language of Illuminatus is flashier and cooler than Dick's, but has not yet reached the form-as-function linguistic data overload of Gibson or Stephenson.
And as you might expect, the writing here is good: crisp, witty, evocative and mobile. Far from the accusations of being a text 'written on an acid trip', it is lucid and deliberate, even if it does take itself lightly. There certainly are those aspects which are inspired by psychadelic culture, including the free-wheeling structure. The authors invite comparison between moments, events, and characters which, in most other books, would be separated by the strict delineation of the page break.
But then, the surest sign of genius is the ability to synthesize new data from the confluence of apparently disparate parts, as Da Vinci did one day while studying the eddies in a stream for a painting, finding himself suddenly struck by the notion that the heart would pump blood more efficiently by forming such swirling eddies in its chamber instead of working as a simple pump. In the the past decade, internal body scanners have proven the accuracy of his small corner sketch. By inviting you to make such comparisons and synthesize your own conclusions, the book respects the potential intelligence of its reader.
But it is not all such conceptual exercises, and the lesson Cyberpunk authors learned was that a fast-paced, flashy shell can sugar even bitter pills. What delighted me was the realization that at its heart, this is a story of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.
Outside of Lovecraft and Howard, very few of the stories set in that universe are even passable, but this one comports itself ably, taking to heart the notion that an overabundance of data can break the human mind. Which dovetails nicely with the cautionary lesson of conspiracy theory: it seems vast, inexplicable beings of unimaginable power can also be human, and have cults just as Unaussprechlichen.
Overall, the series is interesting, unique, informative, humorous, and entertaining. There are moments where it bogs down, but overall, it is well structured and well written. There aren't many books where you get a fun spy story, a harrowing Cthulhu story, and a rundown of the zeitgeist of a part of American history all in one, but there's certainly this one.
Unless you're a teenager looking for a counterculture to believe in, its conspiracy mish-mash probably won't be a life-changing revelation, but it might be food for thought. Conspiracy fiction is big business these days with 'The Name of The Rose', 'Foucault's Pendulum' and 'The Da Vinci Code', while the originator of the genre gets comparatively little mention.
But this book is not designed to be easy to digest. You are not meant to internalize its message thoughtlessly. It's funny, contradictory, and self-aware, and it's hard for people who take themselves seriously to get caught up in a book that, for the most part, doesn't. I could say this book deserves to be more than a cult classic, but at its heart, this book is a cult classic, and its cultural influence will continue to seep in with or without grander acclaim.
April 18, 2014
Seriously one of the more fun books that I've ever read.
For all of its wild leaps in narrative and demanding/esoteric references, this trilogy does an excellent job of using its form to help the reader experience its content.
*in Stefon voice* This book has EVERYTHING. Hot cephelopod on computer romance. Underwater Nazi zombies. Paranoid conspiracy. And if you were worried about questioning the objective veracity of your human experience, look no further. The Illuminatus! Triology will effortlessly wend you through the grubby nooks and crannies of your subjectivity. Your life is sure to barf up rainbow upon rainbow of synchronicity if you read this book.
But I'll let the authors speak for themselves:
"The trouble starts when, out of fear of further movement--out of fear of growth, out of fear of change, out of fear of Death, out of any kind of fear--a person tries to stop the Wheel literally, by stopping everybody else. That's when the two great bum trips begin: Religion and Government. The only religion consistent with the whole Wheel is private and personal; the only government consistent with it is self-government. Whoever tries to lay his trip on others is acting from terror, and will soon resort to terror as a weapon if others won't accept the trip through persuasion. Nobody who understands the whole Wheel will do that, however, for such people understand that every man and every woman and every child is the Self-Begotten One--Jesus motherfucking Christ, in Harry's gorgeous brand of English."
For all of its wild leaps in narrative and demanding/esoteric references, this trilogy does an excellent job of using its form to help the reader experience its content.
*in Stefon voice* This book has EVERYTHING. Hot cephelopod on computer romance. Underwater Nazi zombies. Paranoid conspiracy. And if you were worried about questioning the objective veracity of your human experience, look no further. The Illuminatus! Triology will effortlessly wend you through the grubby nooks and crannies of your subjectivity. Your life is sure to barf up rainbow upon rainbow of synchronicity if you read this book.
But I'll let the authors speak for themselves:
"The trouble starts when, out of fear of further movement--out of fear of growth, out of fear of change, out of fear of Death, out of any kind of fear--a person tries to stop the Wheel literally, by stopping everybody else. That's when the two great bum trips begin: Religion and Government. The only religion consistent with the whole Wheel is private and personal; the only government consistent with it is self-government. Whoever tries to lay his trip on others is acting from terror, and will soon resort to terror as a weapon if others won't accept the trip through persuasion. Nobody who understands the whole Wheel will do that, however, for such people understand that every man and every woman and every child is the Self-Begotten One--Jesus motherfucking Christ, in Harry's gorgeous brand of English."
April 5, 2023
Και εκεί που νομίζεις ότι τα πρώτα δύο βιβλία τερμάτισαν την παράνοια, έρχεται το τρίτο να σε διαψεύσει. Με νοήματα να κρύβονται εντέχνως σε υπερρεαλιστικές παραγράφους το βιβλίο σε γοητεύει με ένα κατάδικο του τρόπο. Προσωπικά, δεν ήταν εύκολο να μην ανατιναχτεί ο εγκέφαλος μου από τη συνεχή μίξη επινοημένων και πραγματικών περιστατικών, την αναφορά αναρίθμητων ιστορικών προσώπων και τις τόσες παράλληλες ιστορίες που, ομολογώ με όμορφο τρόπο, περιπλέκονται και καταλήγουν να συνδέονται. Συμπληρώνεται έτσι μια πρωτόγνωρη (για εμένα τουλάχιστον) εμπειρία ανάγνωσης που όμοια της δεν συνάντησα ως σήμερα.
Πάμε λοιπόν για μια σουρεαλιστικότατη συνταγή από Άκη για Hash Browns με μπέικον.
Ξεφλουδίζουμε 350gr πατάτες και τι�� τρίβουμε στη χοντρή πλευρά του τρίφτη μέσα σε μεγάλο μπωλ.
Ξεπλένουμε καλά τις τριμμένες πατάτες για να φύγει όλο το άμυλό και σουρώνουμε.
Ρίχνουμε σε κατσαρόλα 1.5lt νερό, 1 κ.γ. μέλι και αλάτι και μεταφέρουμε την κατσαρόλα σε δυνατή φωτιά και την αφήνουμε μέχρι να πάρει μια βράση.
Ρίχνουμε μέσα στην κατσαρόλα τις τριμμένες πατάτες και τις βράζουμε για 3-4 λεπτά, μέχρι να μαλακώσουν ελαφρά.
Μεταφέρουμε και πάλι τις τριμμένες πατάτες στο σουρωτήρι, τις πιέζουμε ελαφρά με μια κουτάλα να φύγει η περιττή υγρασία, και τις αφήνουμε στην άκρη να κρυώσουν, για περίπου 10 λεπτά.
Βάζουμε τις τριμμένες πατάτες σε ένα μπωλ μαζί με 1 κ.σ. αλεύρι γ.ο.χ., 100 γρ. μπέικον σε φέτες ψιλοκομμένο, 1 κ.σ. κορν φλάουρ, αλάτι και πιπέρι.
Ανακατεύουμε με ένα κουτάλι μέχρι να ομογενοποιηθούν τα υλικά μεταξύ τους.
Καλύπτουμε τη βάση ενός ταψιού με λαδόκολλα. Φροντίζουμε το ταψί μας να χωράει στην κατάψυξη.
Τοποθετούμε ένα στρογγυλό τσέρκι διαμέτρου 5 εκ. σε μια μεριά του ταψιού και βάζουμε μέσα 1 κ.σ. από το μείγμα.
Πιέζουμε ελαφρά το μείγμα με ένα κουτάλι ώστε να ισιώσει η επιφάνειά του, αφαιρούμε προσεκτικά το τσέρκι, και επαναλαμβάνουμε την ίδια διαδικασία για το υπόλοιπο μείγμα, τοποθετώντας το ένα hash brown δίπλα στο άλλο αφήνοντας ένα μικρό κενό ανάμεσά τους.
Μεταφέρουμε το ταψί στην κατάψυξη για 30-40 λεπτά, μέχρι να σταθεροποιηθούν τα hash browns.
Ρίχνουμε σε ένα μεγάλο και βαθύ τηγάνι 1 λίτρο ηλιέλαιο, τοποθετούμε το τηγάνι σε μέτρια φωτιά, και το αφήνουμε μέχρι να ζεσταθεί καλά το ηλιέλαιο.
Βγάζουμε τα hash browns από την κατάψυξη.
Τηγανίζουμε συνολικά τα hash browns για 4-5 λεπτά, μέχρι να πάρουν χρυσαφένιο χρώμα.
Τοποθετούμε απορροφητικό χαρτί κουζίνας σε μια πιατέλα και την αφήνουμε στην άκρη.
Αφαιρούμε τα hash browns από το τηγάνι και τα ακουμπάμε στην πιατέλα με το απορροφητικό χαρτί για να αποβάλλουν το περιττό λάδι.
Πάμε λοιπόν για μια σουρεαλιστικότατη συνταγή από Άκη για Hash Browns με μπέικον.
Ξεφλουδίζουμε 350gr πατάτες και τι�� τρίβουμε στη χοντρή πλευρά του τρίφτη μέσα σε μεγάλο μπωλ.
Ξεπλένουμε καλά τις τριμμένες πατάτες για να φύγει όλο το άμυλό και σουρώνουμε.
Ρίχνουμε σε κατσαρόλα 1.5lt νερό, 1 κ.γ. μέλι και αλάτι και μεταφέρουμε την κατσαρόλα σε δυνατή φωτιά και την αφήνουμε μέχρι να πάρει μια βράση.
Ρίχνουμε μέσα στην κατσαρόλα τις τριμμένες πατάτες και τις βράζουμε για 3-4 λεπτά, μέχρι να μαλακώσουν ελαφρά.
Μεταφέρουμε και πάλι τις τριμμένες πατάτες στο σουρωτήρι, τις πιέζουμε ελαφρά με μια κουτάλα να φύγει η περιττή υγρασία, και τις αφήνουμε στην άκρη να κρυώσουν, για περίπου 10 λεπτά.
Βάζουμε τις τριμμένες πατάτες σε ένα μπωλ μαζί με 1 κ.σ. αλεύρι γ.ο.χ., 100 γρ. μπέικον σε φέτες ψιλοκομμένο, 1 κ.σ. κορν φλάουρ, αλάτι και πιπέρι.
Ανακατεύουμε με ένα κουτάλι μέχρι να ομογενοποιηθούν τα υλικά μεταξύ τους.
Καλύπτουμε τη βάση ενός ταψιού με λαδόκολλα. Φροντίζουμε το ταψί μας να χωράει στην κατάψυξη.
Τοποθετούμε ένα στρογγυλό τσέρκι διαμέτρου 5 εκ. σε μια μεριά του ταψιού και βάζουμε μέσα 1 κ.σ. από το μείγμα.
Πιέζουμε ελαφρά το μείγμα με ένα κουτάλι ώστε να ισιώσει η επιφάνειά του, αφαιρούμε προσεκτικά το τσέρκι, και επαναλαμβάνουμε την ίδια διαδικασία για το υπόλοιπο μείγμα, τοποθετώντας το ένα hash brown δίπλα στο άλλο αφήνοντας ένα μικρό κενό ανάμεσά τους.
Μεταφέρουμε το ταψί στην κατάψυξη για 30-40 λεπτά, μέχρι να σταθεροποιηθούν τα hash browns.
Ρίχνουμε σε ένα μεγάλο και βαθύ τηγάνι 1 λίτρο ηλιέλαιο, τοποθετούμε το τηγάνι σε μέτρια φωτιά, και το αφήνουμε μέχρι να ζεσταθεί καλά το ηλιέλαιο.
Βγάζουμε τα hash browns από την κατάψυξη.
Τηγανίζουμε συνολικά τα hash browns για 4-5 λεπτά, μέχρι να πάρουν χρυσαφένιο χρώμα.
Τοποθετούμε απορροφητικό χαρτί κουζίνας σε μια πιατέλα και την αφήνουμε στην άκρη.
Αφαιρούμε τα hash browns από το τηγάνι και τα ακουμπάμε στην πιατέλα με το απορροφητικό χαρτί για να αποβάλλουν το περιττό λάδι.
November 14, 2020
Но общая красота трилогии, конечно, даже не в заговорах, сговорах и прикладной конспирологии, а в изображении идеального естественного прайда дискордианцев. Именно в такой компании и хочется проводить все свои дни.
И вообще, конечно, книга это ценностнообразующая для первого постхиппейского поколения, которое уже выросло на "Страннике в странной стране" и ему не хватило либертарианства.
Из прикольного. Пока Лурк и Циклопедия сшибаются копьями насчет происхождения мема "Дайте две", Отто Уотерхаус спокойно произносит здесь эту фразу - в моей читательской практике это самое раннее ее употребление в правильном контексте: Gimme two.
И вообще, конечно, книга это ценностнообразующая для первого постхиппейского поколения, которое уже выросло на "Страннике в странной стране" и ему не хватило либертарианства.
Из прикольного. Пока Лурк и Циклопедия сшибаются копьями насчет происхождения мема "Дайте две", Отто Уотерхаус спокойно произносит здесь эту фразу - в моей читательской практике это самое раннее ее употребление в правильном контексте: Gimme two.
May 16, 2024
I can't believe it took me three books to snap to the fact that this trilogy is an anarcho-collectivist answer to (and anti-)Atlas Shrugged. It's impossible to overstate just how much I like that fact, also, meaning I immediately wanted to reread the entire trilogy. Which will happen, though perhaps not in calendar 2024.
Readers should probably be warned that more than a third of this entry is appendices for all three volumes, and so the narrative, proper concludes well before the final pages should you be wondering what on Earth is going on with how quickly it hurtles toward the ending.
Readers should probably be warned that more than a third of this entry is appendices for all three volumes, and so the narrative, proper concludes well before the final pages should you be wondering what on Earth is going on with how quickly it hurtles toward the ending.
February 12, 2023
All Hail Discordia, I've finally put this beast down! Incredibly fun and inventive series, even if the ending falls into a pseudo-satirical, self-aware, meta-joke of a camp ending guised as a knowing camp ending.
Definitely coming back to this series in the future and buying all of RAW's bibliography.
Definitely coming back to this series in the future and buying all of RAW's bibliography.
April 21, 2023
still not sure what happened, borderline incoherent, totally deranged. I loved it
June 27, 2007
What a waste of time. I had said before that ten years ago I really would have enjoyed and "gotten" this book. While that is true, I would not have understood much of what was going on. This book alludes to so much that I've read within the past ten years. These were not casual references, but real analyses of each book's philosophies. Ultimately, this book was a not very clever attempt at a Cthulu Mythos story, only done in the vein of (or attempt rather) Heinlein, Joyce, Lovecraft, Faulkner, and hey, lets just through in every single great writer of the twentieth century. Even Ayn Rand is heavily used; a courtroom scene in this book could be called up for plagerizing Rearden's court speech in "Atlas Shrugged."
I'm glad to be rid of this book. I was not enlightened (or illuminated) and everything that was supposedly a big revelation about conspiracies I already knew. Now granted, this book was written thirty years ago, but I was generally hoping for some new information. At the very least, I wanted a good yarn. This it was not. It was pretentious. Over written. Too Flamboyant with its many attempts at doing different styles.
Now, I can go back to read the things that I know are good.
I'm glad to be rid of this book. I was not enlightened (or illuminated) and everything that was supposedly a big revelation about conspiracies I already knew. Now granted, this book was written thirty years ago, but I was generally hoping for some new information. At the very least, I wanted a good yarn. This it was not. It was pretentious. Over written. Too Flamboyant with its many attempts at doing different styles.
Now, I can go back to read the things that I know are good.
June 3, 2012
Okay, I finished the series and if I had more time I'd fill this entire review with my impressions. Alas, I don't have that much time and so I must be brief.
It's a work that most sci-fans ought to read. It's a perspective that has colored the conspiracy genre since the early 70's. Without this book, The Invisibles, Vol. 1: Say You Want a Revolution would have never been written. And without Grant Morrisons graphic novels, the world would be slightly less colorful.
I love the lynchpin aspect of John Dillinger's life. I love how everything seems to revolve around the government's manufactured story of his outlaw ways and eventual staged death.
I love how they threw so many disparate conspiracy tropes in a blender and poured out a complete tale. I love how it all boils down to higher intelligences.
I also love how it's basically an unconventional love story.
It's a work that most sci-fans ought to read. It's a perspective that has colored the conspiracy genre since the early 70's. Without this book, The Invisibles, Vol. 1: Say You Want a Revolution would have never been written. And without Grant Morrisons graphic novels, the world would be slightly less colorful.
I love the lynchpin aspect of John Dillinger's life. I love how everything seems to revolve around the government's manufactured story of his outlaw ways and eventual staged death.
I love how they threw so many disparate conspiracy tropes in a blender and poured out a complete tale. I love how it all boils down to higher intelligences.
I also love how it's basically an unconventional love story.
December 22, 2015
Part 3 of the Illuminatus trilogy failed to steer the story back on track. Having started out on such a strong note, this third installment lacks all the imagination, creativity and humour of the first book. Sadly, this book just continued the decline of part 2 leaving the reader eager to just finish the damn book.
August 15, 2014
a pretty satisfying ending to this crazy trilogy. the appendices i could take or leave, personally -- it's possible the books would be better off without them.
April 12, 2016
The un-thrilling conclusion to a dozen meandering narratives.
January 8, 2018
By the last part, it seems that authors have lost steam to a certain extent. But a good book though
September 16, 2012
This is like Pynchon only better. Also, best conspiracy novel series ever.
November 14, 2025
SHE’LL BE COMING ’ROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES
SHE’LL BE COMING ’ROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES
SHE’LL BE DRIVING SIX WHITE HORSES
SHE’LL BE DRIVING SIX WHITE HORSES
SHE’LL BE DRIVING SIX WHITE HORSES WHEN SHE COMES
Immanentize the Eschaton!
After finishing the second part of Illuminatus! The Golden Apple, which escalates the Fernando Poo crisis, the bombings, and all the character abductions (with George Dorn next up for illumination) we’re finally heading to Ingolstadt for the damn festival and about to embark on another trip in part three, Leviathan. I finished the second book more quickly than the first or third, and I’m still not sure I grasp everything. I will definitely return to this bizarre, wild journey again. I genuinely feel a shift in my belief structures because of this book, all thanks to Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. There are countless conspiracies unfolding, and at times in book three things become clearer despite the druggy narrative structure. Almost every character goes through some sort of transformation, which I found one of the most fascinating aspects of the book. We see more of Hagbard Celine an incredibly complex and sometimes contradictory character, whether he’s surfacing as Leif Erikson, smuggling weapons, or gathering allies. Joe Malik is also changed somehow. George Dorn is probably the most deprogrammed character of all, amid his trips, rock bands, drugs, and chaos.
The battle scenes both from book one and in this one between the Illuminati forces and Hagbard’s team (the Discordians, the JAMs, or even Howard the dolphin saving Hagbard’s submarine crew!) are incredibly bizarre in the best way. The narrative in book three retroactively merges and concludes in a kind of liberation. There could have been more done with Mama Sutra’s character, I think, but there’s already so much happening. Her scenes with Danny Pricefixer around the JFK assassination, the bombing investigations, and all that ancient occult history or her interactions with Drake and the tarot were fascinating. The metafiction is great too, whether it's the propaganda Atlantic film shown to Joe or the book Telemachus Sneezed that Simon Moon fixates on throughout book three, the whole thing gets so meta by the end that it feels as if Leviathan itself is speaking directly to you. Identity remains fluid throughout. Stella, Mavis, and Mary Lou are one in George’s mind they’re Eris. George loves Mavis and he loves Stella, Hagbard wants to marry Mavis, Joe Malik is furious, and Otto Waterhouse is still yelling, “Where’s my gal Stella?” It’s a great, chaotic love triangle (or quadrilateral?). And to stop the Illuminati forces, Joe even has to sleep with Mavis. The whole thing spirals beautifully. The ending, as expected, becomes a postmodern form of meta-programming. The interconnections are satisfying! I loved the final collapse of authority, the government’s narrative control fnords, media, law gets short-circuited by Hagbard’s Discordian hackers. Saul, who began the trilogy as a skeptical cop, now accepts that the Eschaton has indeed been immanentized! And Rebecca is still confused.
There are so many Kabbalistic visions as Malkuth’s four worlds (Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah, Atziluth) collapse into one. The tarot cards Saul draws are all The Fool (0): infinite possibilities.
Every orgasm is a bullet in the Illuminati’s brain.
The phallus is a leash; the vulva is a doorway.
Because the fifth stoned man was on acid, and he said nothing, merely worshipping the elephant in silence as the Father of Buddha.
And then the Hierophant entered and drove a nafl of mystery into all their hearts, saying, “You are all elephants!”
Nobody understood him.
SHE’LL BE COMING ’ROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES
SHE’LL BE DRIVING SIX WHITE HORSES
SHE’LL BE DRIVING SIX WHITE HORSES
SHE’LL BE DRIVING SIX WHITE HORSES WHEN SHE COMES
Immanentize the Eschaton!
After finishing the second part of Illuminatus! The Golden Apple, which escalates the Fernando Poo crisis, the bombings, and all the character abductions (with George Dorn next up for illumination) we’re finally heading to Ingolstadt for the damn festival and about to embark on another trip in part three, Leviathan. I finished the second book more quickly than the first or third, and I’m still not sure I grasp everything. I will definitely return to this bizarre, wild journey again. I genuinely feel a shift in my belief structures because of this book, all thanks to Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. There are countless conspiracies unfolding, and at times in book three things become clearer despite the druggy narrative structure. Almost every character goes through some sort of transformation, which I found one of the most fascinating aspects of the book. We see more of Hagbard Celine an incredibly complex and sometimes contradictory character, whether he’s surfacing as Leif Erikson, smuggling weapons, or gathering allies. Joe Malik is also changed somehow. George Dorn is probably the most deprogrammed character of all, amid his trips, rock bands, drugs, and chaos.
The battle scenes both from book one and in this one between the Illuminati forces and Hagbard’s team (the Discordians, the JAMs, or even Howard the dolphin saving Hagbard’s submarine crew!) are incredibly bizarre in the best way. The narrative in book three retroactively merges and concludes in a kind of liberation. There could have been more done with Mama Sutra’s character, I think, but there’s already so much happening. Her scenes with Danny Pricefixer around the JFK assassination, the bombing investigations, and all that ancient occult history or her interactions with Drake and the tarot were fascinating. The metafiction is great too, whether it's the propaganda Atlantic film shown to Joe or the book Telemachus Sneezed that Simon Moon fixates on throughout book three, the whole thing gets so meta by the end that it feels as if Leviathan itself is speaking directly to you. Identity remains fluid throughout. Stella, Mavis, and Mary Lou are one in George’s mind they’re Eris. George loves Mavis and he loves Stella, Hagbard wants to marry Mavis, Joe Malik is furious, and Otto Waterhouse is still yelling, “Where’s my gal Stella?” It’s a great, chaotic love triangle (or quadrilateral?). And to stop the Illuminati forces, Joe even has to sleep with Mavis. The whole thing spirals beautifully. The ending, as expected, becomes a postmodern form of meta-programming. The interconnections are satisfying! I loved the final collapse of authority, the government’s narrative control fnords, media, law gets short-circuited by Hagbard’s Discordian hackers. Saul, who began the trilogy as a skeptical cop, now accepts that the Eschaton has indeed been immanentized! And Rebecca is still confused.
There are so many Kabbalistic visions as Malkuth’s four worlds (Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah, Atziluth) collapse into one. The tarot cards Saul draws are all The Fool (0): infinite possibilities.
Every orgasm is a bullet in the Illuminati’s brain.
The phallus is a leash; the vulva is a doorway.
Because the fifth stoned man was on acid, and he said nothing, merely worshipping the elephant in silence as the Father of Buddha.
And then the Hierophant entered and drove a nafl of mystery into all their hearts, saying, “You are all elephants!”
Nobody understood him.
February 19, 2022
This I would recommend reading this series all at once so as not to obscure the content any further than it is already obscured. Of all the three books, this one seems to succeed most in making the reader feel the characters' pain. It also seems to express its philosophical truths most clearly. This book, and the trilogy in general, was definitely worth the time it took to read them. It has a classsic feel to it in that it serves as a piece of cultural history.
My only criticism of the book, and the trilogy in general, is that for a trilogy with its philosophical basis in the worship of a goddess, the women characters' stories do not clearly stand on their own. They seem to serve the purpose of featuring in the stories of the males, rather than clearly getting their own risks. The female characters were extremely likable, but were not as clearly illustrated as the males.
My only criticism of the book, and the trilogy in general, is that for a trilogy with its philosophical basis in the worship of a goddess, the women characters' stories do not clearly stand on their own. They seem to serve the purpose of featuring in the stories of the males, rather than clearly getting their own risks. The female characters were extremely likable, but were not as clearly illustrated as the males.
August 26, 2020
A truely meaningless rant which is in no doubt a simple unedited transcription of someone’s trip on a mixture of LSD and peyote. Obviously a slice of life true story.
Also, I am quite convinced that this was a partial influence on Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Perhaps just the Song of Susannah. But the discordian influence is clear.
Also - a personal message to the current developers of the simulation we are in (note - I’m writing in late 2020]. Your ripoff of this book shows you are imaginative clods writing a simple derivative.
Finally. I need to stay away from any drugs for a while now.
(In case it’s not clear, I enjoyed it in a strange way)
Also, I am quite convinced that this was a partial influence on Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Perhaps just the Song of Susannah. But the discordian influence is clear.
Also - a personal message to the current developers of the simulation we are in (note - I’m writing in late 2020]. Your ripoff of this book shows you are imaginative clods writing a simple derivative.
Finally. I need to stay away from any drugs for a while now.
(In case it’s not clear, I enjoyed it in a strange way)
December 29, 2025
This is the weakest book of the three, presumably because there's no real way to wrap up all the threads. Still worth reading, though. I'm glad the audiobook included all the appendices. I did notice this time around that the source of Hagbard's large golden ship is entirely handwaved. There's one mention of the Mafia having given it to him, but that just moves the mystery one level higher. Oh, well.
This reread was partly done in memory of Arthur Hlavaty (supergee), whose life was much more attuned to the ideas of these books than mine is, and I tried to remember that and keep my mind properly open as I listened.
This reread was partly done in memory of Arthur Hlavaty (supergee), whose life was much more attuned to the ideas of these books than mine is, and I tried to remember that and keep my mind properly open as I listened.
March 23, 2022
With a quarter of the book being appendices and the characters realizing they're in a book this is where this series goes from metafiction into a winking declaration of Truth, or maybe fiction that might as well be fact. If you come into it expecting a conclusion that would make sense of the nonsense you've spent 600 pages trying to decipher you will be disappointed. Much like a koan, the book isn't supposed to make sense on the surface level, it's supposed to make sense to you, in a flash of enlightenment. Or illumination.
February 10, 2020
Wonderful finale to the trilogy that leaves you wanting more, and then grants you more in the form of the appendices included.
The appendices provide an avenue for the reader to continue exploring this narrative through external research & imagination, and will motivate a second reading of the series with fresh eyes backed by enhanced understanding of certain concepts driving the overall narratives.
The appendices provide an avenue for the reader to continue exploring this narrative through external research & imagination, and will motivate a second reading of the series with fresh eyes backed by enhanced understanding of certain concepts driving the overall narratives.
October 11, 2022
Hard to give this a fair review. It's original and has some very good and complex writing. After reading the first two volumes, the third seemed to drag and frankly it was too much effort to try and keep the story/timeline/narration straight. I'll take most of the blame - not for the faint of heart, but for someone looking for something quirky and challenging and not quite ready for Finnegans Wake, this isn't a bad choice.
September 11, 2023
D/D+
Honestly surprised by how highly rated this is / how much of a lingering societal presence this series has. This book is very anticlimactic and kinda dumb, not nearly as virtuosic as it thinks it is, and feels unfinished.
There’s a lot of stuff brought up that just kinda disappears, plot threads left loose, and heretical details included for unknown reasons.
I did enjoy the first book of this series a lot but it gets worse as it goes on.
Honestly surprised by how highly rated this is / how much of a lingering societal presence this series has. This book is very anticlimactic and kinda dumb, not nearly as virtuosic as it thinks it is, and feels unfinished.
There’s a lot of stuff brought up that just kinda disappears, plot threads left loose, and heretical details included for unknown reasons.
I did enjoy the first book of this series a lot but it gets worse as it goes on.
July 11, 2024
My only guess is this book is a psyop to make Discordianism look lame. Nothing feels earned or captured my interest. It isn't funny, edgy, or original. They could have edited down this series by half, and it might have been a great novel. Instead, we have this, acting as though it is in on the joke.
Also, the Stella-Mavis-Mao reveal would have maybe been shocking if the authors had any idea how to write women.
Also, the Stella-Mavis-Mao reveal would have maybe been shocking if the authors had any idea how to write women.
November 29, 2024
If you enjoyed the first two, the appendices in book three are deep dives into the topics, characters (real and fictional), practical occult information, and impractical occult information. The whole book introduces countless deliberately contradictory secret societies, agendas, and revised actual really real truths... it's disorienting, and I love it.
February 11, 2018
The slam bang conclusion. More twists and turns. Still funny. The only problam I have with this trilogy is that, when they refer to something encountered earlier, it's too hard to find the earlier reference.
March 12, 2019
The concluding book in this confounding and sprawling trilogy features the same kind of satirical wit and conspiratorial fun that drove the first two but brings things to a close at the end with lots of action and, of course, sex sex sex.
September 12, 2017
Ровное продолжение и завершение первых 2х частей. Какого-то грандиозногт финала не вышло. Пожалуй, эта часть даже чуть спокойнее первых. Или я просто привык к манере повествования.
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