Coincidance: A Head Test

excellent

I should start by saying that I am a big fan of RAW and have read pretty much everything by him available in print. And whilst Coincidance is a worthy read for any RAW fan it seems to me to be rather a mixed bag.I do not shared RAW's fanaticism for Finnegan's Wake. And whilst he references FW in many of his works, there are large sections of Coincidance that are nothing more than RAW's attempt to link FW with...well quite frankly everything.Coincidance contains an assortment of RAW's published and somewhat hard to find pieces. Throw in to this a whole chapter culled from his Illuminati Chronicles (with a bit of cut-up thrown in to the mix) and you hvw what for me reads like the good, the bad and the indifferent.One for RAW fans only, especially the FW fanatics.

Coincidance was first published in 1988. As RAW lived in Dublin, Ireland, for six years during the 1980's, there is a strong Gaelic flavour throughout the book. RAW examines the work of Irish author James Joyce, and publishes for the first time an interview with the legendary Irish statesman Sean MacBride. However, Coincidance is also a collection of RAW essays and even a few poems, written over a thirty year period and collected from such diverse sources as The Realist, Playboy, No Governor, Science Digest, and Fortean Times. Topics covered include synchronicity and conspiracy, religion and physics, the CIA and the Knights of Malta. Individuals discussed include Eleanor of Aquitaine, J.R. `Bob' Dobbs, Albert Einstein, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Hill, Anton Lavey, Stagger Lee, Marilyn Monroe, Ezra Pound, the Marquis de Sade, Kerry Thornley, and Tennessee Williams.Perhaps the best way to indicate what RAW has to offer is simply to use a direct quote from Coincidance - `The "paranormal" aspect of synchronicities...can be "explained" in various ways, including the Fundamentalist Materialist's favourite non-explanation or pseudo-explanation - mere coincidence'.A previous reviewer thought that RAW wrote Coincidance `entirely in E-prime' (a form of language where the verb `to be' and its variations are not used). Unfortunately, this is not correct. Parts of Coincidance make use of the E-prime concept, but many of the chapters were originally written as stand alone essays or as sections in other books, and some chapters were written decades before others.Like all RAW books, however, Coincidance is loaded with real information that can actually alter brain software if processed adequately. For anyone genuinely interested in meta-programming her or his own reality map, this book is a must-read.

I've been a fan of Mr. Wilson since the late '70s when I happened across the original "Illuminatus" trilogy. At one point I had a copy of everything he had written, but they've gotten misplaced over the years, so I'm glad they're coming back into print. Do yourself a favor and check out his views on "reality" and what we think we're experiencing societally. He altered my inner landscape quite profoundly, and he's also incredibly entertaining. Recommended.

This is probably one of my favorite Robert Anton Wilson books, in part because it covers such a wide and eclectic range of topics. You really get to see the breadth of his interests and the complexity of his thought. It's maybe not the first book any potential fan should pick up, but for anyone looking for some "deep cuts," it's a real gem.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as the author examines the wordplay and synchronicities of the works of James Joyce as well as examinations of other authors, metaphysics, and religion. An excellent mind-bender!

Loved it

This book contains many wonders. It presents the deepest fruits of Wilson's half century of Joyce studies, as well as a history of alternative religion in America, studies of Allen Ginsburg and Marilyn Monroe, etc. I loved it.