Illuminati

[My Friend Jack]

All this talk of conspiracies, secret societies, codes, etc, prompted to wonder if any of you have come across a series of books (I think it was a trilogy) called The Illuminati. I reckon it must be getting on for 30 years since I read them (!) and I've no idea who wrote them (I know, I could do a Google), but my recollection is that they took the view that a secret society controls everything that happens, and that everything is part of a conspiracy.

So, anyone else read these? And are they as good as they seemed to me all those years ago?

[Harriet]

I haven't heard of the trilogy, but I've heard of the Illuminati. I'll keep a lookie out for them (the books, not the actual Illuminati).

[Lady Lazarus]

Just did a quick search on Amazon and found this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1854875744/qid=1106233389/ref=pd_ka_3/202-0702284-8688632).. does this sound like it? Looks pretty interesting, although not the usual type of book I might go for.

[Darkstar]

That's the one I was going to suggest Lady L. I've got it, but it's one of the books I've got that I've never read. Must do so.

[My Friend Jack]

That's the one! Thanks, LL.

I'd be interested to hear your views. As I said at the start, it's a good few years since I read them, but my recollection is that the books were intriguing, very quirky, funny and rather worrying! The passage of time may or may not have served them well.

[angel]

All this talk of conspiracies, secret societies, codes, etc, prompted to wonder if any of you have come across a series of books (I think it was a trilogy) called The Illuminati.
Does anyone know whether or not there has been some recent publicity about this trilogy? I have never heard of it before, but this afternoon (well yesterday now) one of my year 10s asked me if we had it in the school library. He was quite covert about it, as if he just wanted me to know that he knew about it, and he called it 'The Alluminatus Trilogy', but from the guarded answers he gave me, it seems to have been the same thing.

I was trying to be fair and treat it as a serious recommendation, but some of the things he said in the same conversation suggested to me that I won't be adding it - bear in mind that I teach in a school in a mental health hospital. We are not short of conspiracy theories!

We did have a good vocabulary discussion on Discordia - discord, concord, accord etc.

I look forward to reading more reviews, as I shall have to buy it now, in order to understand this young man and I am a slow reader with many other texts to vet.

[chuntzy]

On Radio Four yesterday (A Good Read) Ken Campbell chose this trilogy as his 'good read'.

[David]

Moved this to twentieth century novels.

[megustaleer]

Angel, I listened to that episode of 'A Good Read', and I wasn't encouraged to try this book.

Apart from it having been written by two sub editors of Playboy Magazine, probably heavily under the influence of marijuana, Campbell said it is "a book about derangement and is itself potentially deranging" and that "anyone who requires to read it will probably already have read it, or will find it in the usual way"

make of that what you will :confused:

[angel]

"a book about derangement and is itself potentially deranging"

Thanks Meg - that helps. I'd rather play safe than sorry and it doesn't sound as if this will benefit people who already have acute mental illness, especially as for many it was drug induced anyway.

I can see that it probably has humour with attitude, but only if one is well enough to recognise that.