Moby Dick online reading group, Chapters 88-94

 

Ambergris in its dried  form.  (Creative Commons photo,  source.)

Moby Dick online reading group, Chapters 88-94,  “Schools & Schoolmasters” through “A Squeeze of the Hand”

Chapter 88

This chapter, describing schools of whales, also was one of my favorites. I liked this passage about the "rock stars" among the whales: "For like certain other omnivorous roving lovers that might be named, my Lord Whale has no taste for the nursery, however much for the bower; and so, being a great traveller, he leaves his anonymous babies all over the world; every baby an exotic."

And I liked this passage about whales becoming solitary savants when they get older, like Sigismundo in the woods in Nature's God: "Almost universally, a lone whale—as a solitary Leviathan is called—proves an ancient one. Like venerable moss-bearded Daniel Boone, he will have no one near him but Nature herself; and her he takes to wife in the wilderness of waters, and the best of wives she is, though she keeps so many moody secrets."

Chapter 90

Anything involving the British royal family seems to be a case of "you can't make this shit up." According to Wikipedia, "Under the law of the United Kingdom, whales (mammal) and sturgeons are royal fish, and when taken become the personal property of the monarch of the United Kingdom as part of his or her royal prerogative." We are also  informed, "Under current law, the Receiver of Wreck is the official appointed to take possession of royal fish when they arrive on English shores. The law of royal fish continues to excite some notice and occasional use, as evidenced when a fisherman caught and sold a sturgeon in Swansea Bay in 2004.[7] After informing of the sturgeon to Queen Elizabeth II, the fisherman, a man named Robert Davies, received notice that he could use the 264lb catch 'as he saw fit'."

I'm sure any British person can tell  you what the Receiver of Wreck is, but I'm an American, so I looked it up: "The Receiver of Wreck is an official who administers law dealing with maritime wrecks and salvage in some countries having a British administrative heritage. In the United Kingdom, the Receiver of Wreck is also appointed to retain the possession of royal fish on behalf of the British crown."

Chapter 91

The chapter about a ship called the Rose-Bud made me think of Citizen Kane. 

Chapter 92

"Now this ambergris is a very curious substance ...  " I've posted a photo, above, if anyone is curious about what it looks like. 

"Nor indeed can the whale possibly be otherwise than fragrant, when as a general thing, he enjoys such high health; taking abundance of exercise; always out of doors ..." Even when I read  19th century novels, I am nagged about taking care of my health.  

Chapter 93

I wasn't quite sure what this passage about poor Pip meant, but I thought it was quite striking: "He saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad. So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God."

Chapter 94

I liked this passage about getting pleasure: "I have perceived that in all cases man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fireside, the country."

Next week: Please read Chapter 95, "The Cassock," through Chapter 100, "Leg and Arm"

Gabriel Kennedy update

 

Many of you have probably read the well-researched Robert Anton Wilson biography by Gabriel Kennedy (e.g. Prop Anon), Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson.

If you want more, Mr. Kennedy has done two recent podcasts. Details and links via his most recent Substack newsletter, where he writes, "I’ve sought to include differing information about Wilson in each interview. So, one can listen to each and gain a deeper wider expanse of knowledge around Wilson’s life and times."

The Hilaritas Press podcast interview with him, previously announced for this month, apparently has been pushed back to March. 

John Higgs: Dr. Who book, David Lynch and the current moment

 The Palmer House from Twin Peaks. Interesting article here. 

The latest newsletter from John Higgs gives an update on his new Dr. Who book, and there's also an interesting essay on David Lynch and the current political moment.

The new book is Exterminate/Regenerate: The Story of Doctor Who and it will be out in April, at least in the UK; I don't see a listing on Amazon, so it may be an import for American readers, at least for  now. If you live in Great Britain, chances are good you'll have a chance to see John talk about the book: "So far I’ve got events lined up in York, Liverpool, Stratford, Bath, Margate, Shoreham, Laugharne, Belfast, Wendover, Sheffield, London, Lewes, Clevedon and Cardiff. Keep an eye on my events page, where I will be posting further links and details as soon as I have them."

The death of David Lynch inspires a new essay from John, also in the newsletter. I don't want to try to summarize it, but one aspect of the essay is that he contrasts Agatha Christie style mysteries with David Lynch mysteries:

"Lynch-type mysteries tend to be shunned by the mainstream, but they linger in the mind in a way that Christie-style mysteries don’t. Once seen, they can never really be forgotten. And the fact that his work affects people so profoundly, I think, can teach us something valuable about the digital world."

Friday links

The Judgment of Paris by Master of the Bargello Tondo. Posted on Bluesky by Ada Palmer, who has a new book on the Renaissance coming out.  If you need a refresher on Ada Palmer, see my 2023 interview. 

Why did drug deaths drop? 

The vegan death cult. 

Watch Twin Peaks free on Pluto. 

1990 Time Magazine article on David Lynch.

RAW Semantics on 'Wilson's chair'

A page from the Oxford Companion to Philosophy Memes

 A new blog post from RAW Semantics: "Wilson’s chair — phrase used in 21st century dystopop culture to signify a vivid philosophical analogy or allegory [see also: Plato’s cave; Ryle’s university; Schrödinger’s cat]. Refers to influential writer Robert Anton Wilson, particularly the first section of his book, The New Inquisition (which, ironically, doesn’t mention a chair); also to “chair” examples in his books, Right Where You are Sitting Now, Nature’s Law, Cosmic Trigger 3, Prometheus Rising, Email to the Universe, etc. Wilson uses the chair example to illustrate his uniquely formulated scientific post-post-modern views on the “reality” concept. As he states, “Take a chair. Any god-damn chair… Get up and look at it. You don’t see the chair alone… You see what language and metaphor allow you to see.” (RWYASN). Wilson’s chair achieved meme status following the widespread malfunction of unused Tesla Smartchairs in deserted office buildings during the final collapse of U.S. democracy in 2030. The meme misrepresented Wilson’s views. For example, in Cosmic […]"

(Citation from the not-yet-existing Oxford Companion to Philosophy Memes.)

Also, "the latest version (2.23) of the N-Simult 'consciousness app', from our Tokyo sponsors."

Podcast on Grant McPhee's upcoming Liverpool documentary

Grant McPhee

I started following Scottish filmmaker and music historian Grant McPhee on X when I saw that he was working on a Liverpool documentary that would include coverage of Ken Campbell's theater ventures (such as Illuminatus!). Here is an update, in the form of a podcast, about that upcoming documentary:

"Urbanista Magazine is thrilled to spotlight the latest episode of the Misadventures in Music podcast, which dives deep into the rich history of Liverpool’s underground arts and music movement with filmmaker and author Grant McPhee. Known for his critically acclaimed documentaries Teenage Superstars and Big Gold Dream, McPhee takes us on a fascinating journey into the stories behind his upcoming three-part series, The Revolutionary Spirit.

"The series unearths the untold narrative of Liverpool’s cultural heartbeat from the mid-60s to 1984—a time that’s often overshadowed by The Beatles’ global dominance. McPhee debunks the misconception that Liverpool’s music scene fell silent after the Fab Four departed for London. Instead, he uncovers a thriving counterculture that flourished in the shadows.

"The podcast opens with a reflection on Carl Jung’s dream of Liverpool as the “pool of life”—a city he never visited but saw as a beacon of creativity. This dream became symbolic of the city’s enduring spirit and its role as a wellspring for visionary artists. Grant’s work traces the city’s evolution, not as a relic of its Beatles legacy but as a crucible for counterculture movements, epitomized by the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream, and Pun."

More here, including the podcast. 

Three suggestions for readers new to RAW

I part of the weekend listening to the new Hilaritas podcast with Bobby Campbell (next month's podcast will feature Prop Anon/Gabriel Kennedy, author of the new Robert Anton Wilson biography). 

Much of Bobby's podcast was focused on Tales of Illuminatus, naturally, and I learned a lot about the kinds of artistic decisions Bobby had to make, and the logistics of trying to publish an indie comic. Bobby had to decide, for example, whether to keep the original 1970s setting or modernize it. He had to dramatize a book that largely consists of people sitting around talking. And apparently trying to publish an indie comic series, and keep it going, is quite difficult. Another Kickstarter is coming, but there's no timetable yet. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Mike Gathers asks Bobby to list three books he would recommend to people who have not read Wilson, and Bobby comes up with Masks of the Illuminati, Cosmic Trigger and Quantum Psychology. 

Here are my suggestions for the three:

Illuminatus!. Bobby and Mike talked about how it can be a daunting read, but for me and many others, it was a revolutionary one. If someone really appears to be unable to handle a challenging novel, then I guess I would go  with Masks of the Illuminati. 

Cosmic Trigger. Hard to argue with such a compelling read. I'm also very fond of the second Cosmic Trigger book. 

Email to the Universe. A particularly good collection, it seems to me, and a good introduction to RAW's range of interests. 

Moby Dick online reading group, chapters 82-87

 

AI generated image. 

Moby Dick online reading group, Chapters 82-87, “The Honor and Glory of Whaling” through “The Grand Armada”

By OZ FRITZ
Special guest blogger 

Chapter 86, “The Tail” gets into a detailed discussion about the tail of a whale and its “[f]ive great motions.” At the chapter’s conclusion, Melville laments of being unable to express certain gestures the tail makes then compares these “mystic gestures” to “Free-Mason signs and symbols; that the whale, indeed, by these methods intelligently conversed with the world.” Apparently Melville studied Freemasonry and was involved with a semi-masonic group called the Young Americans Club.

Several of the founding fathers of the United States of America such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin practiced Freemasonry. Freemasons comprise a fraternal organization whose core value is brotherly love. They apparently influenced the values the went into the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The concept of America as a Union of States was realized in Philadelphia (from the Greek: phileo = friendly love; adelpho = brother), the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia was named nearly a hundred years earlier by William Penn. Though not a Freemason, he was a Quaker. Quakers also hold the central tenet of brotherly love.

Let’s take a brief look at Moby-Dick as a metaphor for America. The first relationship in the novel describes brotherly love between Ishmael and Queequeg which remains until the end, until something the latter made saves the former’s life. At the end of chapter 26, Melville throws in what appears to be allusions to American ideals in his discussion of “man, in the ideal.” He takes about the empathy found in the essence of man, stripped of his outer character, feeling distraught at another’s misfortune. “But this august dignity I speak of, is not the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no robed investiture. Thou shalt see it in the arm which wields a pick or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands radiates without end from God; Himself! The great God absolute! The center and circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!” This big G mentioned herein seems less a god of any organized religion and more like a god of American ideals – democracy and equality; perhaps paradoxical on the part of Melville given that the founding fathers intended to keep God out of the whole business of establishing the Constitution for a new country. 

In the piece by Gilles Deleuze I brought up in the comments two weeks ago (“Bartelby, Or, the Formula” from Essays Critical and Clinical), he writes about America and Melville. “America sought to create a revolution whose strength would lie in a universal immigration, émigrés of the world…” The crew of the Pequod form a diverse group coming from all over the world. Also, remember in the opening "Etymology" Usher’s “queer handkerchief” embellished with all the nation’s flags.

Writing of the philosophy America brought to the world, Pragmatism, Deleuze continues: “ . . . we understand the novelty of American thought when we see pragmatism as an attempt to transform the world, to think of a new world or new man insofar as they create themselves. … Is it against Western philosophy that Melville directs his insult, 'metaphysical villain'? A contemporary of American transcendentalism (Emerson, Thoreau) Melville is already sketching out the traits of the pragmatism that will be its continuation.” 

Lauren Becker examines this angle in her 2011 paper, “Melville’s White Whale – Pragmatism’s Role in Moby Dick.” Pragmatism looks to find “our own answers to the questions we deem momentous enough to challenge, and these answers will become our own individual forms of truth.”. . . “Moby Dick is the epic conflict of Melville’s own battle with truth. Melville presents his own pragmatic challenges to readers by leaving his novel ambiguous and with a sense of incompletion. Melville challenges his readers to become empiricists.” She also gives the example of Ishmael interpreting the oil painting in the Spouter Inn (chapter 3). “His interpretation can be seen as a metaphor for pragmatic reasoning at its best.” . . . “Melville attempts to ground the reader in what happens to be the pragmatic method. He makes us experience pragmatic reasoning along with Ishmael, thereby giving us the opportunity to decide whether it is something we can also implement.” 

Deleuze looks at America as an experiment “to constitute a universe, a society of brothers, a federation of men and goods, a community of anarchist individuals inspired by Jefferson, by Thoreau, by Melville. He uses the marine term “archipelago” to characterize this collection of émigré individuals and compares them to a Harlequin’s coat, “an infinite patchwork with multiple joinings.” The patchwork notion comes up in the first paragraph of Moby-Dick in the Etymology section as the “queer handkerchief” of all the flags of the known nations. Also, in chapter 4 “The Counterpane” where he writes: “The counter-pane (bedspread) was of patchwork.” The “cabalistically cut cloth” we discussed a couple of weeks ago may also refer to patchwork.

Chapters 82 contrives a history of whaling based in mythology. The multi-cultural variety of gods and heroes mentioned remind me  of Aleister Crowley’s list of  Gnostic Saints in his Gnostic Mass (Liber XV). Chapter 83 considers the historical veracity of the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale. On the literal level, chapter 84 introduces a new weapon for attacking a whale; it metaphorically hints at a esoteric level beginning with an analogy in the first sentence:  “Queequeg  believed strongly in anointing (making holy) his boat.” . . . “He seemed to be working in obedience to some particular presentiment.” Melville connects this anointing with finding a group of whales who flee, “a disordered flight, as of Cleopatra’s barges from Actium.” By its language, this analogy, based on a real historical event,  seems to come from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra 

Act II Scene II:

“Enobarbus: I will tell you.

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,

Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;

Purple the sails, and so perfumed that

The winds were lovesick with them; the oars were silver,

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made

The water which they beat to follow faster,

As amorous of their strokes.”

In this instance, whales are compared to royalty powered by winds of love. After describing and demonstrating the pitchpoling method of harpooning whales, Melville returns to the esoteric when talking about the whale’s spout-hole which he calls the life spot of the whale. Stubb, holding the weapon, is compared to a juggler, another name for The Magician in the Tarot. After successfully striking the whale: “[i]nstead of sparkling water, he now spouts red blood.” Stubb exclaims: “. . . ‘Tis July’s immortal Fourth; all fountains must run wine to-day!” This presents another allusion to the birth of the USA as well as an allusion to both the occult and religious significance of blood. This metaphor continues into the next chapter, “The Fountain.” Before that, it sets up the blood metaphor some more when Stubb speaks of catching the blood in a “canakin” (drinking vessel) and imbibing it. “Yea, verily, hearts alive, we’d brew choice punch in the spread of his spout-hole there, and from that live punch-bowl quaff the living stuff.” Drinking this blood not only recalls Christian symbolism in reverse with blood becoming “wine,” it also resembles Crowley’s ritual, “The Mass of the Phoenix” found in chapter 44 of the Book of Lies where the practitioner draw blood from their chest (literally and/or metaphorically), soaks it into a “cake of light” then consumes it. 

Chapter 85, “The Fountain,” dives deep into how the whale breathes. It seems one the most esoteric in the book. Chapter 84 ends with a reference to Tiphareth, chapter 85 begins with two numerological correspondences to this central Sephira: “six thousand” and “millions” (a million has six zeroes in it.) For me, this chapter connects with Ishamel’s cabalistic correspondence with the “Fountain of Living Waters” mentioned in an earlier post. First sentence of the third paragraph that ends, “ . . . inasmuch that it withdraws from the air a certain element, which subsequently being brought into contact with the blood imparts to the blood its vivifying principle”, could be word for word straight out of Ouspensky’s book about the Gurdjieff teaching, In Search of the Miraculous which calls air “second-being food.”

Chapter 87 begins by giving us some geographical reference points to these adventures. We find a direct reference to King Lear and encounter families of whales.

I’ll conclude with another passage from Becker’s dissertation where she quotes William James from an essay by James Albrecht: “What’s the Use of Reading Emerson Pragmatically? The Example of William James.” 

“Pragmatists believe that ‘philosophy must be reconceived as ethics: that philosophy must turn away from the traditional concept of truth as accurately or objectively naming the ultimate nature of reality and toward the practice of judging beliefs based on whether they direct our conduct in ways that yield beneficial outcomes.” 

Next week: please read Chapters 88-94, “Schools & Schoolmasters” through “A Squeeze of the Hand”

Ong's Hat: COMPLEAT updates

 

I passed on the news  a few days ago that Joseph Matheny (and his collaborators) have released Ong's Hat: COMPLEAT. Please see the earlier blog post for details and links to buy, but I have a couple of updates:

-- In his announcent, Joseph lists several possible vendors for buying the work. The preferred vendor is Sendowl,  but for those who find it more convenient to buy from Amazon, here is the link for a Kindle/Audible combo. (Currently listed as "#1 New Release in Mixed Media.")

-- New podcast: UFO…No! Episode 215: Ong's Hat. 

You can subscribe to Joseph Matheny's newsletter. 

Bobby Campbell announces new edition of the first 'Tales' comic

The latest edition of the Tales of Illuminatus Substack newsletter has a bit of news. The first edition of the print version is sold out, and  a new edition of that  first issue ia coming with a different cover: 

"Since last we talked the first printing has sold out, and I just now sent TOI #1 back to press with a BRAND NEW Todd Purse variant cover!

"The shipping estimate has the book being delivered to me on Feb 11th. Limited edition of 50. Judging by my inbox these may also sell out fairly quickly."

The new podcast with Bobby, which I've been listening to this weekend, offers an interesting look at the Tales of Illuminatus production process. 

Trump orders release of JFK assassination records

President Kennedy minutes before his death. (Public domain photo). 

I guess this qualifies as kind of an Illuminatus! footnote, as the concealment of government records in the 1963 killing of John Kennedy has helped feed conspiracy theories.

President Donald Trump has issued many executive orders since taking office earlier this week. Many of them seem bad to me, but he did order that all remaining classified records be released in the murders of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which makes sense to me. 

This being the government, it can't just release everything. "The order directs the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to develop a plan within 15 days to release the remaining John F. Kennedy records, and within 45 days for the other two cases. It was not clear when the records would actually be released." So we'll see if this is it and everything finally is made available within a reasonable time.

Here is the actual order, which notes previous releases of records with redactions. "I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue.  And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest." You can also read the White House FAQ. 

My son texted me last night, "This will prove Oswald, Sirhan and Ray are innocent." Well, maybe! 

New Hilaritas podcast: Bobby Campbell and 'Tales'

 Bobby Campbell is the guest for the Hilaritas Press podcast released today.

"In this episode, Mike Gathers chats with sci fi cartoonist Bobby Campbell about his comic Tales of Illuminatus and more in Episode 41 of the Hilaritas Press Podcast."

A couple of links: The new Kickstarter for issue #2 (which launches soon) and the Tales of Illuminatus Substack newsletter.  Also relevant: the Maybe Day website and Bobby's Weirdoverse comic book portal. 

Bobby's podcast interviews are reliably interesting. 

Notes on 'Terra II'

 

I finally got around to reading the Hilaritas Press edition of Terra II, by Timothy Leary and others. I bought it when it first came out last year but I've had a bunch of books to read. A few notes:

1. This is one of Leary's most visionary books and perhaps it is best read as an inspirational essay, rather than getting hung up on the details, e.g. passages such as "The book you are holding in your  hands is the greatest evolutionary artifact ever produced. It is a DNA signal from Higher Intelligence ... Terra II is now permanently imprinted on your consciousness." 

2. If you do want to get hung up on the details, I would say that on the one hand, Leary obviously worked hard on his research, looking into possible starship propulsion systems and other technical problems. On the other hand, the text glosses over the difficulties and doesn't seem to grasp how wildly ambitious the project is in terms of contemporary technology, i.e. 1974. Maintaining a closed environmental system for a long period of time in a starship is no easy task; Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a novel about his, called Aurora. It is true that Robinson's pessimism is controversial, see the Wikipedia article. 

3. Rasa and his crew did a fine job of producing the book, putting in new space photos and reproducing the artwork well. I also liked Rasa's cover. I did notice a few typos, I will send a list to Rasa.

4. I suggested that Hilaritas use Oz Fritz to write the introduction; I want to claim credit as Oz does an excellent job. Oz has not only read all of the available biographies of Timothy Leary, he has read many related books such as Joanna Harcourt-Smith's memoir. Oz does a good job of providing context for the text, e.g., "Terra II is an escape vessel on multiple levels ... a blueprint for how to get to the stars with the hope that contact would be made with Higher Intelligence."

5. The book is particularly indebted to Carl Sagan; Leary admires Sagan more than Robert Anton Wilson apparently did and is more fair to Sagan than RAW was. Does anyone know if Leary shared this book with Sagan or had any interactions with him?

6. This book would likely benefit from being read at about the same time as RAW's The Starseed Signals, written about the same time and published by Hilaritas for the first time after languishing for many years (chunks of the Starseed book were used for Cosmic Trigger 1.) 

7. I am surprised this is the first time the book has been reprinted, it seems like a major part of Leary's work. Good for Hilaritas.

8. Related Hilaritas podcasts are available with one featuring Wayne Benner and another starring Oz Fritz. 

'Ong’s Hat: COMPLEAT' released [UPDATE]

Ong's Hat: COMPLEAT, a new multimedia version of Joseph Matheny's best-known work, has just been released.

In the newsletter announcing the release, Joseph writes:

"Ong's Hat: COMPLEAT is a multi-layered work designed to be experienced in various ways, depending on the experiencer's preferences and level of engagement.

Structure and Components

The work consists of three main elements:

Original Notes:  A PDF or EPUB document containing the author's initial draft, providing background information and links for further research.

Audio Conversations: Chapter-by-chapter discussions between Joseph Matheny and Sequoyah Kennedy, exploring the material in depth.

Transcripts: Written versions of the audio conversations allow readers to listen to or read the discussions. (Coming in print version)"

All of this can be ingested in any order, although the suggestion from Joseph is to start by reading the notes and then listening to the audio conversations or reading a transcription of them. 

More here, including links on where to buy from various vendors. 

UPDATE: I mentioned to Joseph that I like Bandcamp but I that I wondered if he had a preferred vendor among the options listed at the newsletter. He replies, "Bandcamp is fine. The Bandcamp download provides the audio and full ebook form pub or PDF versions of the text. The full, chapter by chapter breakout, divided into individual chapter directories is the bundle from SendOwl. If you plan to experience it as I describe in the video (https://youtu.be/e3GCrv-xlxY) then the SendOwl version is the best. If you want to just download and listen/read in your preferred order then Bandcamp is fine. SendOwl gives us a larger share but not so much more that it really matters."

 

Moby Dick reading group, Chapters 75-81

  

The Heidelberg Tun. (Public domain photo). 

Chapters 75-81, “The Right Whale’s Head” through “The Pequod Meets the Virgin.”

I've actually seen the Great Heidelberg Tun, a huge wine cask in Heidelberg Castle in Heidelberg, Germany; I visited the castle when I was young in trips to what was then "West Germany" when I was young. My parents were married in Heidelberg, on July 23. The Heidelberg Tun at the castle now dates to 1751, so it would be the one Melville is referring to (more information here.)

There are chapters of Moby Dick in which Melville gives lectures on various aspects of whaling, and chapters in which action occurs. As much as I enjoyed Chapter 60, "The Line," I have to admit I mostly prefer the action chapters.

In Chapter 78, "Cisterns and Buckets," Queequeeg performs another daring rescue, jumping into the sea, sword in hand, to perform another daring rescue when Tashtego is about the drown after he falls inside the sinking whate head. The text refers to "the courage and great skill in obstetrics of Queequegg, which is a pun -- Queequeeg essentially performs a Caesarian by slashing into the head and pulling Tashtego out, and also in a sense Tashtego is born again when he is rescue from what seems to be certain death.

 "How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato's honey head, and sweetly perished there?" Is Melville warning against being captured by belief systems?

In "The Pequod Meets The Virgin," the other "action" chapter in this section of of the novel, Melville uncorks a couple of zingers. When we encounter The Jungfrau, it has no whale oil, it "is technically called a clean one (that is an empty one), well deserving the name of Jungfrau or the Virgin." 

And the Jungfrau's crew, captained by a man, Derick, who is foolish as well as ungrateful, chases after a Finback whale it has no chance of catching: "Oh! many are the Finbacks and many are the Dericks, my friend." 

The description of the unfortunate old whale with the damaged fin, trying to escape her tormentors, seemed to me one of the most affecting passages in the novel:

"It was a terrific, most pitiable, and maddening sight. The whale was now going head out, and sending his spout before him in a continual tormented jet; while his one poor fin beat his side in an agony of fright. Now to this hand, now to that, he yawed in his faltering flight, and still at every billow that he broke, he spasmodically sank in the sea, or sideways rolled towards the sky his one beating fin. So have I seen a bird with clipped wing making affrighted broken circles in the air, vainly striving to escape the piratical hawks. But the bird has a voice, and with plaintive cries will make known her fear; but the fear of this vast dumb brute of the sea, was chained up and enchanted in him; he had no voice, save that choking respiration through his spiracle, and this made the sight of him unspeakably pitiable; while still, in his amazing bulk, portcullis jaw, and omnipotent tail, there was enough to appal the stoutest man who so pitied."

The passage in the chapter that begins, "“Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?” is quoting from the Book of Job in the King James Bible.

Next week: Please read Chapters 82-87, “The Honor and the Glory of Whaling” through “The Grand Armada.” Forgot to say that in an earlier version of this post, thank you, Oz. 

Steve 'Fly' Pratt's new album

 Tanmoy: A New Global Epic is the new release by Steve Fly.

"What is Tanmoy?

"A long poem in 60 (eventually 120) stanzas, about the tale of the tribe. Each stanza has music and music video to accompany, and add context, mood. Tanmoy is a collaboration with a.i., mainly for structure and layout of the poem. All music is Prompted. In one sense this is the result of a quarter century of research, in another its the result of twelve days work in 2025. I started January 1st," he reports.

More here. 

Fire destroys Theosophical Society library in LA area

"A page from the archives of Altadena’s Theosophical Society, which burned down this week. Found in my yard 11 miles away." Via Scott Collette on X.com. 

Some bad news as a result of the LA fire:

"It has been compared to the Library of Alexandria in Egypt; the world-renowned Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Madame Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steele Olcott, was an international and historical landmark in Altadena, California near Pasadena, treasured by millions and 'was dedicated to the uplifting of humanity through a better understanding of the oneness of life.'

"Sadly, on January 9th, reports from fire officials battling the raging Eaton Fire that consumed Altadena and the surrounding areas, advised that the world-renowned, historical landmark had been destroyed by the wildfires , and with it, all its ancient literature of published and unpublished works.

"With the tragic loss of the structure, thousands upon thousands of published papers, books, rare scriptures, unpublished letters, art objects, and preserved works by past philosophers and theologians were burned: all that remained were the charred remains of the building and scorched reminders of the international Society’s historical work scattered miles away from its home."

Source, and a search engine search reveals similar reports. 

R.I.P. David Lynch

David Lynch in 1990, the year Twin Peaks debuted on TV. (Creative Commons photo by Alan Light). 

My favorite movie and TV director, David Lynch, died Thursday at age 78. Wikipedia says he died after being evacuated from his home because of the LA fires. 

It always hits me a bit when a favorite artist dies. Lynch had revealed last year he had emphysema from years of smoking cigarettes.  So for me as far as a shock,  it was kind of somewhere between when Kurt Cobain and John Lennon died (a complete surprise) and when Iain Banks died (he had announced he was dying of cancer). (I found out about John Lennon when I was watching "Monday Night Football" on TV and Howard Cosell shared the news. This was before the Internet of course, but I got long distance phone calls from friends). 

So many questions! Will I ever find a TV series I like as much as Twin Peaks? (I own all three series and the movie; I have been engaged in a long re-watch. I'm in the second season right now). Was Sheryl Lee really the most beautiful screen siren ever, or did David Lynch make it seem so? Did Lynch and Mark Frost realize what a gift to the fans it was when they brought it back in 2017? What if Lynch had accepted the offer to direct Return of the Jedi? 

The New York Times has its weaknesses but it's still a good newspaper, and it really went all out with the Lynch news -- a long obituary, and six sidebars! Here are gift links to get you behind the paywall: The obituary, an appraisal from chief Times movie critic Manohla Dargis (who recounts getting lots of abuse for a rave review of Mulholland Drive), 12 Lynch titles and where to screen them,  some of the tributes from film industry figures,  his life in some memorable photos, a discussion of Twin Peaks from main TV critic James Poniewozik,  a "critics notebook" on his look from Guy Trebay. 

The Wikipedia article on Lynch is very long and detailed. 

Jesse Walker's favorite Oscar moment

Jesse Walker posted on X.com: "My favorite Oscars moment, from 2002: David Lynch and Robert Altman sharing a smile after they both lost the Best Director award to Ron Howard. Watching at home, we couldn't hear what they were saying. But Lynch said later that Altman was telling him, 'It's better this way'."

A St. Louis synchronicity

I like to record synchronicities on this blog, and I had one this week.  Before I married her, my wife was my Cleveland girlfriend and I lived in Oklahoma, so we had to travel to see each other.  Ann and I met in St. Louis a couple of times when we were dating, and one memorable get together featured a dinner in a very nice restaurant, a walk in a neighborhood with a house where T.S. Eliot once lived, and a viewing of "Mulholland Drive" (described by the New York Times as Lynch's acknowledged masterpiece) in a nice old movie theater. (That last bit may have been my idea). 

I flew from Ohio to Oklahoma this week to see my mother, and I stopped to change planes in St. Louis, which of course reminded me of all this. 

Robert Shea, Twin Peaks fan

I feel confident in posting all of this  because I know many RAW fans are big Lynch fans. Gregory Arnott texted me to make sure I saw the news. (See his article for this blog on occult aspects of Twin Peaks.)

One of the minor mysteries of writing this blog is that I've never been able to find any evidence RAW was a Twin Peaks fan. (I asked Scott Apel years ago). But you know what? Robert Shea was! I asked his son Mike Shea, and Mike replied, "He was! I didn’t watch it with him at the time but I watched it a couple of years ago and loved it."

The origin of the Law of Fives

 

In Illuminatus!, "everything" follows the Law of Fives (if you are ingenious enough). Grouchogandhi, K.S.P. on X continues to post Discordian documents and the above relates to the origin of the Law of Fives.

Caption: "Kerry’s mention to Hill that he sent a copy of Why We Think The DS Is A Hot Item to Grace Caplinger (Zabriskie), with first formal mention of the Law Of Fives, adorned with a slew of Greg Hill stamps, as he was wont to do, dated May 5, 1965.

"Courtesy of the Discordian Archives."

Source. 

Restating RAW

Robert Anton Wilson, from Cosmic Trigger 2: "Suddenly I understood that the meek never inherit a damned thing: only the very brave and very stubborn make any impact on the world. The [Brooklyn] bridge stood there, a miracle in its time, taken for granted today, but an epiphany to met: great things are possible, to those too pigheaded to admit defeat."

John Collison on X: "As you become an adult, you realize that things around you weren't just always there; people made them happen. But only recently have I started to internalize how much tenacity *everything* requires. That hotel, that park, that railway. The world is a museum of passion projects."

Via Nabeel S. Qureshi's "hard-won life lessons," worth a look. 

New Robert Anton Wilson collection

Bobby Campbell's latest Substack newsletter highlights a website I hadn't heard about until a couple of days ago: A collection of Robert Anton Wilson audio and video and transcripts. 

The Uutter collection of RAW material appears to have quite a bit of material. Bobby writes, "The bulk of it seems to consist of the usual RAW classics available all over, but with some genuinely surprising gems sprinkled in the mix :)))

"How about an audio recording of Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea in conversation, for example!"

At some point, it might make sense for RAWilsonFans.org to update by adding links to the Uutter site and to the Robert Anton Wilson Fans Germania site. 

 

Moby Dick reading group, Chapters 69-74

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 2 Portrait of Thomas Carlyle by James Albert McNeill Whistler

This week: Chapters 69-74, “The Funeral” through “The Sperm Whale’s Head.”

By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger 

Chapter 69 

The final sentence, “There are other ghosts than the Cock-Lane one, and far deeper men than Doctor Johnson who believe in them,” makes me think of William Blake’s line, 

“May God us keep 

From Single vision & Newtons sleep” 

Wikipedia says, “The Cock Lane ghost was a purported haunting that attracted mass public attention in 1762.” 

Chapter 71 

I don’t know what to make of “A long-skirted, cabalistically-cut coat of a faded walnut ting,” worn by the man who calls himself the angel Gabriel. It makes me think of Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus (“The Retailored Tailor”) which shows up repeatedly in Finnegans Wake. The Wake itself features a sailor who becomes a tailor, an s-t transformation suggesting Einstein’s space-time transformation. It also makes me think of Oscar Wilde’s essay “The Truth of Masks” which on the surface talks about costumes in Shakespeare, but Bob Wilson saw it as an essay about the masks oppressed people wear: gay people in Wilde’s London, colonized people, etc., and about the masks we all wear metaphorically. Living through the Covid-19 pandemic, I also think of literal masks. This brings us back to Melville’s “All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks.” (I read that line in a beatnik voice, man.) I find it an interesting coincidence that this chapter deals with an epidemic. 

Gabriel’s refusing “to work except when he pleased” makes me think of Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener.” 

Chapter 73 

"So when on one side you hoist in Locke’s head, you go over that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant’s and you come back again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! Throw all these thunder-heads overboard, then you will float light and right."

This rejection of Enlightenment thinkers Locke and Kant seems to go along with the rejection of Dr. Johnson a few chapters earlier. I find it interesting that the TV series Lost included characters based on Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, David Hume, and Rousseau, as well as Richard Alpert and Mikhail Bakunin. The series also had an acknowledged Robert Anton Wilson influence. 

Chapter 74 

“Why then do you try to ‘enlarge your mind? Subtilize it.” I find it interesting that the second quoted sentence does not end with an exclamation point. 

Next week: Please read Chapters 75-81, “The Right Whale’s Head” through “The Pequod Meets the Virgin.”

 

 

New 'Tales of Illuminatus' Kickstarter coming this spring

Bobby Campbell completes taking a rare few days off for the holidays but has issued a new Substack newsletter, announcing a spring Kickstarter for the second Tales of Illuminatus comic book:

"The pre-campaign page for Tales of Illuminatus! #2 “The Invisible Crown” is now live over at kickstarter :)))

"JOIN UP HERE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bobbycampbell/tales-of-illuminatus-2-the-invisible-crown

"We’re still a ways away from officially launching, but I wanted to at least get the ball rolling, and today seemed like an especially appropriate day…"

Other news at the link, but that's all about Tales. I will keep everyone posted! 

Fake think tank created apparently using AI

Washington, D.C., is filled with think tanks that try to influence U.S. policy. I have sometimes at this blog cited the Cato Institute, which has views on the war on drugs that coincide with those of Robert Anton Wilson and many of his fans. 

The above photo is from the Beltway Grid Policy Centre, a think tank focusing on Asian issues, and apparently shows the think tank's staffers. But according to an article on Drop Site, the think tank is a complete fake, staffed by "people" who can't otherwise be found and apparently created with the use of an AI.

"Beltway Grid's lack of a physical footprint in Washington — or anywhere else on the earthly plane of existence — stems from more than just a generous work-from-home policy. The organization does not appear to require its employees to exist at all.

"That celestial quality begins at the top at Beltway Grid, which does not list an executive director, president, CEO, or any other leader, but does include 12 staff on its 'about us' page. None of those employees have any trace of experience—not just professional, but of even living in the world—before arriving at Beltway Grid."

More here.  Via Jesse Walker on X.com.

An AI project influenced by 'Prometheus Rising'

I don't know very much about AI, and I cannot evaluate MindBound Labs, a company founded in India by Kehur Ahuja. He is using an approach called "Recursive Insight Synthesis" to "to accelerate the evolution of ASI  [Artificial Super Intelligence]." This is described in his Substack. 

See this passage in a recent Substack newsletter for why I am bringing this to your attention:

"I am deeply grateful to Robert Anton Wilson for inspiring me to develop this approach. In his seminal book Prometheus Rising, specifically in Chapter 14 titled “THE METAPROGRAMMING CIRCUIT,” Wilson explores the concept of "meta-programming awareness." He writes:

“Korzybski even claimed that the use of mathematical scripts is an aid to developing this circuit, for as soon as you think of your mind as mind1, and the mind which contemplates that mind as mind2 and the mind which contemplates mind2 contemplating mind1 as mind3, you are well on your way to meta-programming awareness.”

"This idea struck me deeply. The recursive layers of self-reflection that Wilson describes—the contemplation of mind1, mind2, and mind3—resonated with me as a profound way of thinking about both the mind and the process of knowledge generation itself. It became clear that this recursive structure could be applied not only to the mind but also to the development of ASI."

More here. 

Hat tip: Rasa, who received an email from Mr. Ahuja.

New Mycelium Parish News

The new Mycelium Parish News has been released, documenting Discordian doings, mostly in Great Britain. I plan to order my copy soon. 

Ben Graham, in his latest newsletter:

"Then just after Christmas I received my copy of the 2024 Mycelium Parish News, put together by James Burt and Dan Sumption at Peakrill Press and documenting the activities of our extended creative circles, plus related interesting things, over the previous 12 months. in some ways, the MPN makes me think of the regular Whole Earth Catalog that provided a valuable link to physical, spiritual and artistic resources for the hippy counterculture of late 60s/early 70s America and beyond.

"The MPN includes capsule reviews and links for books, zines, newsletters like this one, blogs, websites, podcasts, films and music. There are also pieces on recurring events in the physical world, and a look back at some key countercultural happenings of the past year. If this risks triggering FOMO, there are short articles by guest contributors suggesting ways to get involved with such things in 2025, or start your own. So the Parish News is equally a valuable historical document, a list of exciting things to catch up with, and a spur to future activity. Long may it continue!"

Robert Shea reference in RAW novel

Robert Shea in 1977 (via Wikipedia). 

I have been participating in the online discussion group for The Sex Magicians over at the Jechidah blog, and I thought I would mention something there that I noted in a blog comment over there. The sex novel, made available last year by Hilaritas Press, has a reference to Robert Shea.

One of the characters in The Sex Magicians, in Chapter Seven, is named "Josh Dill." He's an editor at Playboy magazine. 

Shea of course was a Playboy editor, working on the Playboy Forum (as was RAW). And "Josh the Dill" was Shea's Discordian name. See the Adam Gorightly blog post, "The Early Discordians Revealed!" 

An observation on James Joyce's 'Ulysses' [UPDATED]

 

Aaron Gwyn (X.com photo)

I recently discovered writer and professor Aaron Gwyn on X.com, he has lots of opinions on books we've talked about here. Here he is on Joyce's Ulysses: "James Joyce’s ULYSSES isn’t an 'acquired taste.' It’s a novel that introduced a new way of tasting, seeing, smelling, and hearing to the World. That sensory revolution has affected almost every piece of media since 1922: it’s even affected mediators who are clueless to this fact."

Here is Gwyn's list of his ten favorite novelists:

1. William Faulkner (He says start with As I Lay Dying.)

2. Cormac McCarthy 

3. James Joyce

4. Vladimir Nabokov

5. Denis Johnson

6. Marilynne Robinson

7. Herman Melville

8. John Williams

9. Thomas Bernhard

10. Philip Roth

His ten favorite novels (link):

1. BLOOD MERIDIAN, McCarthy

2. ABSALOM, ABSALOM!, Faulkner

3. MOBY-DICK, Melville

4. ULYSSES, Joyce

5. LOLITA, Nabokov

6. THE SON, Philipp Meyer

7. MOLLOY, Beckett

8. GILEAD, Marilynne Robinson

9. TREE OF SMOKE, Denis Johnson

10. STONER, John Williams

Finnegans Wake thread. 

UPDATE: Advice for first time readers of Finnegans Wake. 

Moby Dick online reading group, Chapters 60-68

Whale meat for sale in Norway. (Creative Commons photo, source.) 

This week:  Chapters 60-68, “The Line” through “The Blanket”

We are now about halfway through Moby Dick. So we are making progress in quite a long novel.

Chapter 60 "The Line"

Some of the "nonfiction discussions of whaling" chapters don't do much for me, but I thought this was a wonderful chapter, full of vivid details and great descriptions of the dangers of whaling. So many great sentences, such as:

"Thus the whale-line folds the whole boat in its complicated coils, twisting and writhing around it in almost every direction. All the oarsmen are involved in its perilous contortions; so that to the timid eye of the landsman, they seem as Indian jugglers, with the deadliest snakes sportively festooning their limbs."

And:

"But why say more? All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would not at heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side."

The next few chapters are certainly bloody affairs. The vegetarian readers among us must feel validated by the chapter in which Stubbs munches his whale steak, a dinner lit by whale oil. 

I am not a vegetarian but I don't believe I have ever eaten whale meat, and I'm not sure I would feel comfortable munching on it. According to the Wikipedia article on whale meat, eating whale generally seems to be on the decline, e.g., "In Norway, whale meat was a cheap and common food until the 1980s. It could be used in many ways but was often cooked in a pot with lid in a little water so that broth was created and then served with potatoes and vegetables, often with flatbrød at the side," and "In modern times, whale meat is rarely eaten in Japan. A 2005 poll commissioned by Greenpeace and conducted by the Nippon Research Centre found that 95% of Japanese people very rarely or never eat whale meat."

A Wikipedia article on whaling in Norway says, "Recently, the Norwegian whaling industry has met increasing difficulties because of falling demand and weak recruitment. Norwegian anti-whaling groups seem to prefer to hold a low profile and watch over the slow death of the industry, instead of raising their voice and polarizing the debate." It also says, "According to opinion polls by Opinion in 2009 and 2010, about 80% of Norwegians have eaten whale meat. About 32% ate it once or twice a year. 7% (2009) or "under 5%" (2010) of Norwegians eat whale meat often (more than once a month)." And also, "The number of active Norwegian whaling boats has dropped from 350 in 1949 to around 20 in 2016 and 11 in 2017." But hundreds of (minke) whales are still  caught every year. 

In the comments for Oz' entry last week, Oz in the comments quotes a Cary Loren essay on Charles Olson and Ezra Pound: "Olson’s great themes can be found in the ultra-individualist, anarchist and transcendentalist style of Melville."

It seems interesting that in the last paragraph of "The Blanket," Melville goes from discussing whale blubber and explaining the blubber's property of providing insulation to provide a lecture on the value of individualism: "It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter’s, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own."

Next week: Please read Chapters 69-74, “The Funeral” through “The Sperm Whale’s Head.”

Official news link list updated

One of the useful features of this website (or so I perceive) is the "Official News" link list at the right side of the page, where I put recent publication announcements from Hilaritas Press. Unfortunately, I got behind and missed the last three books. I have now put up links to the most recent announcements (for Mavericks of the Mind, Timothy Leary's Terra II and The Sex Magicians), so it is all caught up. I am re-reading The Sex Magicians now (for the online reading group at Jechidah) and hope to read Terra II soon.) I do want to get to Mavericks. 

Of course, when Hilaritas makes an announcement, I blog about it, but I hope to keep the link list caught up, too. Rasa never announces a book's publication until it is actually ready to be released, but I am expecting more news this year. 

Saturday links

Udaipur in India. 

 Discordian Camden Benares in a 1980s news program. At Historia Discordia, somehow I missed this earlier, thanks to Jesse Walker for pointing it out. 

Matthew Yglesias: "The fact that Biden got 100 times more scrutiny for ending a failed war than any of his predecessors got for continuing it will never cease to infuriate me."

Nebraska has legalized medical marijuana. 

Did Romeo really love Juliet? 

Good news from 2024. 

How to visit India. 

Public domain book news

I mentioned in a recent post that more classic novels, ones published in 1929, would be coming into the public domain. 

Standard Ebooks, which puts out carefully edited free ebooks of classic books, has just announced it is immediately putting out editions of 20 books which have entered the public domain this year.

See the link for the full list, but it includes The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis and Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe. 

The 1920s were an exciting time in American literature and the decision by Congress to allow books to start going into the public domain again have made many books available free. More books by Ernest Hemingway will be coming into the public domain, but in the meantime, Standard Ebooks has The Sun Also Rises and a short fiction collection as well as the new book.  The Sinclair Lewis offerings now included Dodsworth, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, Arrowsmith and Main Street. 

What I read last month

Only three books this time, low for me, but I did also read large chunks of Moby Dick and The Sex Magicians for the two online reading groups. In fact, I need to read more Moby Dick today!

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, Arthur Clarke. Another reason I read fewer books this time was that the Clarke book is very long, 966 pages in paperback, and I was determined to finish it by the end of the year. It apparently has every piece of short fiction he ever wrote. A large number of the stories hold up, and I really enjoyed the book. The only section that disappointed me was the section of the final stories. "A Meeting With Medusa" and "The Wind From the Sun" are really good, but at the end of his career, Clarke also wrote many rather slight short-shorts that essentially traded on his name.

The Last Murder at the End of the World, Stuart Turton. A mystery novel but also a science fiction novel, about the last remaining survivors of a world apocalypse. Pretty good, something to read if you want something different. A nominee for the Prometheus Award, so that's why I read it. 

The Fourfold Remedy: Epicurus and the Art of Happiness, John Sellars. A short outline of Epicurean philosophy, recommended by Emily Austin, a philosophy professor who writes about Epicureanism. Austin is the author of Living for Pleasure, probably the best modern introduction to Epicureanism. 

Books read, 2024

As in past years, I am posting what I read during the year. I read about the same number of books every year; 59 this year, versus 49 last year, 54 in 2002. 

A couple of the books this year are re-reads, i.e. Cosmic Trigger 2, the third book of Lord of the Rings.  I also re-read the first tour Matthew Scudder novels by Lawrence Block, I'll likely continue that project this year.

My favorite fiction this year was Mania by Lionel Shriver, Playground by Richard Powers and Arthur C. Clarke's collected stories. Good nonfiction books included Gangster Hunters and Chapel Perilous. The Peter Swanson books are recommended if you like murder mysteries, but first read the previous book in the series, The Kind Worth Killing. 

1. Theft of Fire, Devon Eriksen.
2. Queen Wallis, C.J. Carey.
3. Lion of Light: Robert Anton Wilson on Aleister Crowley, Robert Anton Wilson.
4. House of Gold, C.T. Rwizi.
5. Tending the Epicurean Garden, Hiram Crespo.
6. The Kind Worth Saving, Peter Swanson.
7. Julia, Sandra Newman.
8. Black Hats, Steve Wire.
9. Prophet Song, Paul Lynch.
10. Ohio Jazz: A History of Jazz in the Buckeye State, David Meyers.
11. Lord of a Shattered Land, Howard Andrew Jones.
12. The Long and Winding Phone, Helen Marketti.
13. Liminal by Cameron, Cameron (Joseph Matheny).
14. Sviatoslav Richter: Pianist, Karl Aage Rasmussen.
15. 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War, Andrew Nagorski.
16. The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder, Lawrence Block.
17. Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe, Judith Herrin.
18. Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science, Benjamin Breen.
19. The Sins of the Fathers, Lawrence Block.
20. Reality is What You Can Get Away With, Robert Anton Wilson.
21. Mania, Lionel Shriver.
22. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler.
23. Swim Among the People, Karl K. Gallagher.
24. Time to Murder and Create, Lawrence Block.
25. The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien.
26. In the Midst of Death, Lawrence Block.
27. Everything Is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults and Cover-ups, Robert Anton Wilson.
28. A Stab in the Dark, Lawrence Block.
29. The  Magician, W.  Somerset Maugham.
30. Hello Everybody! The Dawn of American Radio, Anthony Rudel.
31. Epicureanism, Tim O'Keefe.
32. A Midwestern Heart, Poems, John Kropf.
33. The Vineyard of Liberty, 1787–1863, James MacGregor Burns.
34. Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present, Christopher I. Beckwith.
35. On the Nature of Things, Lucretius. (Ian Johnston, translator). 
36. The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated, with an introduction, by Ronald Latham.
37. In the Belly of the Whale, Michael Flynn. 
38. A Dead Marshal, a Manless Wedding and a Forgotten Baseball Team: Three Episodes in the History of Miami and Ottawa County, Oklahoma, R.H. Coiner Jr.
39. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante.
40. The Sex Magicians, Robert Anton Wilson. 
41. One of the Good Guys, Araminta Hall.
42. Self-Help Is Like a Vaccine: Essays on Living Better, Bryan Caplan.
43. The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned, John Strausbaugh.
44. Selected Poems, James Tate. 
45. Cosmic Trigger 2: Down to Earth, Robert Anton Wilson.
46. Playground, Richard Powers.
47. A Few Days in Athens; being the Translation of a Greek Manuscript Discovered in Herculaneum, Frances Wright.
48. The Demon Breed, James H. Schmitz.
49. Polostan, Neal Stephenson.
50. Chapel Perilous: The Life & Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson, Gabriel Kennedy.
51. Singularity Sky, Charles Stross.
52. The Norman Conquest, Marc Morris.
53. Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies, John Oller.
54. A Talent for Murder, Peter Swanson.
55. Machine Vendetta, Alastair Reynolds.
56. Earth to Moon: A Memoir, Moon Unit Zappa.
57. The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, Arthur C. Clarke.
58. The Last Murder at the End of the World, Stuart Turton.
59. The Fourfold Remedy: Epicurus and the Art of Happiness, John Sellars.