From: Paul Yearley It's slighly more clear if you read it more than once (i've gotten through the trilogy twice myself, and have recently acquired my dad's copies of the Schroedinger's Cat trilogy, which I need to get around to). The second time around, you can think less about the narrative itself, and better sort out how the whole thing is organized. The first time through Illuminatus!, to me, was like watching a subtitled movie: I find myself reading the movie, and missing out on subtle visual elements-- with Illuminatus, I spent so much mental energy just trying to keep the whole thing sorted out that I missed a lot of the book. -------------------------------- For a primer on the subtextual and factual stuff in Illuminatus, skip the phat triology and read RAW's non-fiction work, 'Cosmic Trigger'. http://www.rawilson.com/trigger1.shtml The John Thompson illustrations therein are wonderful. More John Thompson: http://www.artopea.com/thompson.html seek