The Book of the Breast

by Robert Anton Wilson

Book of breasts

Genres: History, Nonfiction

188 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pizza and ice-cream are great, but I don't want them on the same plate.

This is a book about tits, and it was written by Robert Anton Wilson.

Think about that before you read this one.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Anton Wilson is a hack, and a troll. Half of what he writes is intentional bull, messing with the reader's head and spiking information with misinformation. It's all designed to make a reader think critically and ask questions, and in this provocatively titled book, Wilson turns his focus towards issues of feminism, human sexuality and the ethics of "sexiness culture." Like all things Wilson, it loops back to suppressed ancient religions and mysticism, but his sociological and psychological analysis of sex-obsessed but slut-shaming Western culture does have quite a few good points.

[Artur Coelho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soa bizarro, mas talvez apropriado à personalidade. Um ícone da contra-cultura dos anos 70, entre o psicadelismo e o underground, a escrever um livro sobre um detalhe anatómico feminino para a Playboy. O resultado é interessante. Este é, realmente, um livro playboy que se lê pela qualidade dos textos (geralmente, essa piada masculina indicava que o grande texto que liam estava nas páginas centrais da revista). Talvez desiludindo os editores e potenciais leitores, o livro não é uma viagem de tititalação libertina, essencialmente uma desculpa para publicar fotos de detalhes anatómicos femininos. Não que o autor não deixe uns parágrafos mais picantes, mas no fundo, o livro é um longo ensaio sobre repressão e humanismo, com inúmeras referências históricas e estéticas. Wilson analisa os seios sob diferentes perspetivas, mas volta sempre a ideias freudianas, e sublinha muito a esquizofrenia entre pulsões naturais e os espartilhos culturais da tradição judaico-cristã mais puritana. Wilson consegue também trabalhar o tema de forma delicada, fugindo ao simplismo da objectificação. O seu ponto de vista, consentâneo com seu papel como guru contracultural, está na libertação dos constrangimentos das imposições sociais excessivas. Suspeito que este seria um livro impossível, hoje. Em parte pelo sensacionalismo da cultura popular, em parte seria dizimado por hordes de cientistas sociais especializados em estudos de género, trucidado nas redes sociais por ativistas dos quadrantes mais extremados do meetoo e outras vertentes.

E talvez o livro seja mesmo isso, uma enorme justificação de um homem, cobrindo as suas preferências sob um manto de erudição. Mas não foi essa a sensação com que fiquei da leitura, descoberta após ler uma entrevista sobre este e outros livros com a filha de RAW. É, talvez, um artefacto bizarro que espalhou ideias contra-culturais para um público que, francamente, deveria estar à espera de outro tipo de conteúdo naquelas páginas.

[LordSlaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Anton Wilson's The Book Of The Breast is a fascinating and captivating tome. It explores human sexuality, psychology, suppression, repression, censorship, art, religion, feminism, and mysticism in that Wilsonian blend of erudition and bullshitting uncle spinning a yarn. Perhaps not as enlightened as it might be, some of the commentary on the women's lib movement seems to be a bit mean, The Book Of The Breast nonetheless contains much thought-provoking material. Within the text Wilson claims that the book was written in a spirit of "laughter and love" and I believe it is so. An engaging read.

[Andrew Mossberg]

"A society based on love and freedom is, as it has always been, possible. Someday, maybe not next August but maybe the August after, the influence of the young may become stronger than the influence of the old and we may be able to begin building a society in which the dirt and smut thrown on the breasts and the rest of the human body will finally be washed off. Let us look forward to that golden dawn. We have lived too long in the dark." https://amzn.to/3vudEkG

[Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow ended up on my list of the less loved Wilson books. I loved most others but this was perhaps ended up to rambling, but admittedly with a few gems. It did make me sad that the author is dead and cannot write any more, to be sure....

[Ilya Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heaps of fun