Reality Is What You Can Get Away With by Robert Anton Wilson

With a great title like that, you could probably get away with just about any book, in my opinion. Luckily, Wilson has also produced something that's of definite interest, even if it may leave you with the impression that your brain has melted some time after reading it.

Presented as a screenplay (though the prospect of this becoming a film anytime before the year 3000 is not one I'd bet on), it's an attempt to distill a large number of Wilson's theories, ideas and thoughts into a single project. As anyone who has read any of Wilson's other work (he's best known as co-author of the Illuminatus! trilogy) will know, he's a man of many ideas, and when he's given free rein to incorporate them all, it's one hell of a ride.

I'm glad this is a mini-recommendation as it means I can just make vague noises about this book and what it means, rather than try and make some sort of overall sense out of it. In fact, trying to make sense out of it may be the worst possible thing you can do, or could just be the punchline to an incredibly elaborate joke on Wilson's part. Though after reading this book, you may come to the conclusion that the entire universe is just an incredibly elaborate joke on someone's part and we can only wish that we're the punchline.

Part parable, part drama, part comedy, part lecture, part Zen puzzle. It will confuse, infuriate and annoy you, at the same time as it makes you laugh, think, cry and want to dance around the room naked. Or perhaps that's just me. The best recommendation I can give you is that you shouldn't really read this book.

Confused yet. So was I, but I still managed to write this.

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