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The Golden Apple
(Illuminatus! #2)
by
WAS IT LUCIFER Saul Goodman was after? He was beginning to almost believe it was.
But Goodman was a New York cop; only juries believed in fairy tales.
And this crazy case that had fallen in his lap—the Iluminatus; did it really exist, a great and dreaded secret cult, counting kings as members over the centuries, a colossus of crime and occult conspiracy?
Witchcraft or world b ...more
But Goodman was a New York cop; only juries believed in fairy tales.
And this crazy case that had fallen in his lap—the Iluminatus; did it really exist, a great and dreaded secret cult, counting kings as members over the centuries, a colossus of crime and occult conspiracy?
Witchcraft or world b ...more
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Paperback, 272 pages
Published
October 1975
by Dell Publishing Co.
(first published 1975)
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Showing 1-30
Start your review of The Golden Apple (Illuminatus, #2)
This one kept up the insanity of the first installment in spades. It's hard to even know how to describe these books. Everything from the plot to the narrative structure to the characters just defies any sort of normal convention. It's as much Joyce on acid as it is Douglas Adams on a conspiracy theory kick. Thought-provoking, hilarious, ridiculous—really excited to finish out the trilogy soon.
...more
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 con ...more
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 con ...more
(view spoiler)
"Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence." Cosmic Trigger Volume I: Final Secret of the Illuminati
Above pretty summarizes it all. To read Robert Anton Wilson highly recommend I. All of it.
Sometimes you can die from laughter:
(view spoiler) ...more
Aug 05, 2014
Jake Berlin
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
20th-century-fiction,
chicago,
new-york-city,
politics,
america,
sci-fi,
fantasy,
historical-fiction,
satire,
adventure
what's kind of amazing about these books is that amidst all the insanity there's actually some very interesting insight into human nature, politics, sociology, and history.
...more
Who thought I could care so much about Atlantean conspiracies and the death of JFK? The obsession with masculinity and cuckolding by alternate races is satirized so hard in these novels within novels that I want to give this book to a modern American Nazi and watch their head explode.
3.74 rating overall (just cuz its fun, or wait, should it be a multiple of 5?). A little easier to follow than the 1st one, but still times where you have to put the book down and step back a second and rethink what you just read lol. On to #3
The hardest thing about this book was 'picking up all the threads' where the last book left off after a few months passing in between. (Then again, I think it's so dense that trying to read all three books in a row would present other challenges.) Once I checked a few names, though, it wasn't too hard to get everything back in order. As in order as you can get anything in these books.
This book seems a little heavier on plot, with some of the major events finally coming together in a coherent fas ...more
This book seems a little heavier on plot, with some of the major events finally coming together in a coherent fas ...more
This book, like the other two in the trilogy, is a mess. Other reviewers have mentioned that there is more plot in this one than in the first volume. If so, I didn't notice it. If you go looking for a plot in this you'll work harder than the two authors did.
What there is is exposition. Tons of it, and full of contradictions. There is also satire, pornographic passages, and descriptions of drug use. The satire is sometimes pretty good. Ayn Rand and Ian Fleming are both targets, more for their wri ...more
What there is is exposition. Tons of it, and full of contradictions. There is also satire, pornographic passages, and descriptions of drug use. The satire is sometimes pretty good. Ayn Rand and Ian Fleming are both targets, more for their wri ...more
A continuation of the first book: essentially, it is literally the same story as the first and continued on without pause. Fun read, dense and, for whatever reason, every time I go out in public with it, people talk to me.
More bizarre adventures from behind the veil. This book goes into greater detail explaining the symbology seen throughout the first book, and gives the detailed history of Atlantis and their civil wars.
still waiting for it to actually go somewhere...
By the second book it follows a more linear story line, though still confusing as hell. Much more enjoyable if you're looking for more to grasp onto.
...more
About the same as "The Eye in The Pyramid".Layers on layers of conspiracy.
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This should be on badreads.com
Swirly whirly and fun. If you like stuff that's pretty trippy, this is up your alley. If not, maybe not?
...more
Really good. The whole series is really starts to mess with your head. There are a ton of characters, so I sometimes have a difficult time distinguishing them.
It's out there and I'm not really sure where there is, but I enjoyed it.
...more
The story and action really ramped up in the sequel. Can't wait to read the ending!
...more
I can't seem to get away from time wasting crap. I finished the second book of the Illuminatus Trilogy with roughly the same opinion of the first book. I guess what bothered me the most was the fact that at parts I was actually getting into it. Some of the government conspiracy really alerted me to some of the recent things in history. This book, written published thirty years ago, describes in detail the Patriat Act, what it does, and how the government will convince the people to back it, and
...more
Pretty incredible how this book tends to hork up whatever subject has been independently on my mind, or the minds of those I spend my time with.
"Privilege implies exclusion from privilege... in the same mathematically reciprocal way profit implies loss. If you and I exchange equal goods, that is trade: neither of us profits and neither of us loses. But if we exchange unequal goods, one of us profits and the other loses. Mathematically. Certainly. Now, such mathematically unequal exchanges will a ...more
"Privilege implies exclusion from privilege... in the same mathematically reciprocal way profit implies loss. If you and I exchange equal goods, that is trade: neither of us profits and neither of us loses. But if we exchange unequal goods, one of us profits and the other loses. Mathematically. Certainly. Now, such mathematically unequal exchanges will a ...more
I think I'm more into it than I was with the first book. I'm gathering that it's a kind of whirlwind of ideas, perspectives, and theories to the end of both or either seeing what sticks in the reader's mind or teaching "agnosticism in all things" like I think the author said about it once. There's without a doubt an authorial stance during that uncharacteristically direct fuck-you to Ayn Rand towards the end, but other times it's harder to discern between speaker and author. If there was any cha
...more
More coherant than the first Illuminatus! book, with actual whole sections making narrative sense. Nice pisstakes of itself and Atlas Shrugged are highlights, with nice ties to a range of other media and source material. Not engrossing, but enjoyable enough. Rated MA for sex scenes, nudity, strong drug use and adult themes. 2.5/5
In the second book, things start to coalesce into a plot. It's not a strong plot. It's more of a hallucination's version of a plot. Normally I wouldn't like a book without a clear direction with well-crafted mounting tension, but this was such a fun ride - like talking to a crazy manic uncle that you visit in the asylum.
I'm on to the third book. Wish me luck. ...more
I'm on to the third book. Wish me luck. ...more
You perhaps need to be a conspiracy buff to really appreciate these books. I personally do not buy into conspiracy culture, and differ politically with both Shea and Wilson. Still, I find this trilogy to be one of the great science fiction epics of the twentieth century. This is basically Pynchon without all the pretentiousness.
The Golden Apple lacks the zaniness of the first volume, so i cant score the second installment as high. It is by no means bad, but its not as edited as a "book" as much - just progression
Most of this book is the "secret history of the world" as told from multiple perspectives. Its a good gimmick that keeps the reader guessing. ...more
Most of this book is the "secret history of the world" as told from multiple perspectives. Its a good gimmick that keeps the reader guessing. ...more
I'm having a lot of trouble getting through these. A lot of pal's of mine love them though, so I'll motor through.
...more
Aug 23, 2008
bluetyson
added it
isbn,original
Getting better (than the first)....
This book was a real let down compared to the first book.
I wasn't as impressed with the second installment. The non-linear writing style and the sudden shifts in perspective are starting to outweigh the story.
...more
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Robert Joseph Shea was a novelist and journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus!. It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In 1986 it won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. Shea went on to write several action novels based in exotic historical se
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Illuminatus!
(3 books)
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“Privilege implies exclusion from privilege, just as advantage implies disadvantage," Celine went on. "In the same mathematically reciprocal way, profit implies loss. If you and I exchange equal goods, that is trade: neither of us profits and neither of us loses. But if we exchange unequal goods, one of us profits and the other loses. Mathematically. Certainly. Now, such mathematically unequal exchanges will always occur because some traders will be shrewder than others. But in total freedom—in anarchy—such unequal exchanges will be sporadic and irregular. A phenomenon of unpredictable periodicity, mathematically speaking. Now look about you, professor—raise your nose from your great books and survey the actual world as it is—and you will not observe such unpredictable functions. You will observe, instead, a mathematically smooth function, a steady profit accruing to one group and an equally steady loss accumulating for all others. Why is this, professor? Because the system is not free or random, any mathematician would tell you a priori. Well, then, where is the determining function, the factor that controls the other variables? You have named it yourself, or Mr. Adler has: the Great Tradition. Privilege, I prefer to call it. When A meets B in the marketplace, they do not bargain as equals. A bargains from a position of privilege; hence, he always profits and B always loses. There is no more Free Market here than there is on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The privileges, or Private Laws—the rules of the game, as promulgated by the Politburo and the General Congress of the Communist Party on that side and by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve Board on this side—are slightly different; that's all. And it is this that is threatened by anarchists, and by the repressed anarchist in each of us," he concluded, strongly emphasizing the last clause, staring at Drake, not at the professor.”
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