Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing satisfaction--
Review: Particularly in these (justifiably) paranoid times, the Illuminatus! trilogy is an appropriate read. The anthrax scare and the little-known island of Fernando Poo are just on the edge of being too close to home. I wouldn't know where to begin to explain the plot, but it's something about Eris, something about government, and something about enlightenment.While reading 805 pages of conspiracy theory is certainly a fine way to immerse yourself in the world of the authors, I have to say that all three books in one volume can be just a little bit too much of a good thing.
Rating: 
Summary: My copy is taped together at the spine
Review: I've read this book over at least twenty times, and each time I find something I missed the last time around. This is the wildest conspiracy-theory-goof ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read but not much more
Review: Like most of the reviewers, I found this book to be an entertaining read. It was difficult to put down and I stayed up way too late many a night just trying to get to the end of a chapter -- the long chapters and stream of consciousness style make it hard to find a point to take a break. I found the book to be thought-provoking, but still unsatisfying. The philosophy/religion clearly expounded upon seemed to rely on semantic trickiness and a reluctance to being pinned down to anything concrete. The acid-trippy philosophy combined with the ready-made insider identifiers (code words, private jokes, which those in the know can use to signal their hipness to others) really seemed a bit too high-school philosophy for my likings. I personally abandoned this sort of philosophical wishy-washyness at age fifteen, and it seems to appeal to that phase of intellectualism. I am also disturbed by accusations of closed-mindedness against people who did not enjoy the book (as I did) or buy into its message (as I did not). Open-mindedness involves being open to considering something on its merits and accepting OR REJECTING it. Blind acceptance, and the insistence that others do the same, is as sure a form of closed-mindedness as blind rejection. My take on this phenomenon: the authors played one final trick on those who they have 'converted' into 'true believers' -- exactly what they rail against in this work. Believe what you want, not what some authors tell you -- therein lies the message.
Rating: 
Summary: So bad it's good
Review: The childish, one-dimensional take on civilization was written badly enough to make me laugh. I recommended it to my friends for the humor. Unfortunately, there are people, like the authors, who take it a bit more seriously than I do (or do they)?Generally, people whose minds are blown by this sort of thing know beforehand what direction they want to be blown towards. The book's predictable conceptual framework of unnecessarily associated dualities such as order and chaos with slavery and freedom, woman and man with biology and society, et cetera.. and the silly Freudian psychology.. were limiting and frustrating crutches that could not compensate for the lack of coherence. It was sad to see such an interesting topic diluted by Wilson's dull portrayal of stereotyped worldviews. It's also sad to know that reasonably intelligent people who could be out there doing something to solve real problems are sitting around fantasizing about fnords. Books like this are comforting to people who want to believe in the power of human intelligence. However, the philosophy in this never gets beyond the musings of an average college kid on acid. Could this explain Illuminatus's popularity? Nevertheless, it was worth the laughs. For a more serious version of the trippy metanovel, try something by Pynchon (who, by the way, Illuminatus! copies from)
Rating:
Summary: You Know Who You Are
Review: Look, if you're even thinking about this book, you're the type of person that will enjoy it. Keep arms and legs inside the car at all times. Hold on.
Rating:
Summary: This book has everything
Review: Philosophy, numerology, kaballah, mystery, science fiction and fact, sex, love and rock-n-roll. I have read this trilogy at least 15 times. My copy is so dog-eared that I have had to stick the cover back on with contact paper more than once. I have underlinings in the text and practically more notes in the margins than there is text on the page. One of my favorite books of all time!
Rating:
Summary: The Masterpiece of "Guerilla Ontology"
Review: This book is apparently some species of science fiction, conspiracy theory clearinghouse, Joycian stream-of-consciousness on LSD, pop-culture polemic. But appearances can be deceiving. This is actually a complete religion/philosophy/cosmology _disguised_ as sci-fi wackyness. They should print a version with numbered verses for easier reference. I would strongly forewarn the highly suggestible, the young, the old, the infirm, the complacent, the rigid-of-mind, the Glorp, the Pink, the Suit, the Dupe, the Prim, the Proper or anyone who is uptight about anything that might shake their faith in their current religion/reality-tunnel, or who is worried about what their neighbors or grandparents might think (or might be doing!) This book is not for you! It is a dangerous, pernicious, seditious, contumacious, pestiferous, procacious, insidious drug that will forever alter the way you THINK. Use with extreme caution.
Rating:
Summary: 800 pages never went so quickly
Review: I think I've read this book 3 times, in full. And I've skimmed through it many other times. I had to buy a hard copy because my paperback started falling apart from reading it so much and lending it to people. Yes it's paranoid and twisted, but it's so much fun. It may be hard to imagine that reading could be a mind-altering experience, but believe me this book will prove it. I can't say that it won't leave a permanent mark on your mind, but I can say that it's legal.
Rating:
Summary: Like Paella
Review: The novel is a self-contradictory mess. There are too many characters. The plot is incoherent at best. Things which desperately need explanations don't get them. The point-of-view keeps changing with no attempt to explain who's narrating now, and why they're doing whatever they're doing. Obscure references to everything from the Sect of the Assassins to John Dillinger keep popping up needlessly. Several self-contained, and mutually exclusive, world histories are presented. The novel's tone changes radically from one page to another, loping awkwardly from deadpan parody to soft-core porn to highbrow pseudo-intellectual to full-blown apocalyptic (including several nasty descriptions of where bad people go when they die [or don't]). And I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: great stuff!
Review: ...personally this book has made me feel more inspired than ever to explore all the possibilities of life... far from escaping some ficticious "reality" ...i seek to illuminate my own reality in new and endless dimensions. this expands the imagination on all frontiers from politics to spirituality to sexuality... this book covers nearly everything important to being alive! it presents things in a chaotic fashion which will certainly spin your head around and intoxicate you. if you have an open mind (even somewhat open), read this book!!
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