Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Illuminatus! Part I  By  cover art

Illuminatus! Part I

By: Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
Narrated by: Ken Campbell, Chris Fairbank
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.47

Buy for $24.47

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

"It was the year when they finally immanentized the Eschaton".

So begins this original trilogy of conspiracies, Illuminatus!. For the first time in audiobook form, the unabridged epic is presented in all its grandeur, spookiness, hilarity, and brilliance.

The Illuminati, an inside joke? The lunatic fringe? Or a vast conspiracy hidden for centuries, unleashing it's power on a naive, defenseless world? It was the lousy luck of Saul Goodman, a tough, streetwise New York detective, to smell the trail in a bombed-out office - the heavy case he'd always dreaded. In a breakneck race against an awesome deadline, Goodman plunges down the trail of the ultimate conspiracy as the days fall away toward Apocalypse.

Filled with sex, violence, and rock-and-roll, in and out of time and space, Illuminatus! is only partly a work of the imagination. The trilogy tackles all the cover-ups of our time, from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on the one-dollar bill, and suggests a mind-blowing truth.

Part I: The Eye in the Pyramid is performed by the incomparable Ken Campbell and Chris Fairbank. In 1976, Ken Campbell adapted Illuminatus! for the stage, creating a 10-hour epic that went on to open the Royal National Theatre in London under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth II.

©1975 Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (P)2006 Deepleaf Productions Inc.

Critic reviews

"If baseball can have a designated hitter, why can't science fiction have a designated underground classic? Well, apparently it can, and Illuminatus! is its name." (Booklist)
"The ultimate conspiracy book...the biggest sci-cult novel to come along since Dune." ( Village Voice) "If you want to read a riddle wrapped in an enigma within a conundrum that turns out to be the best secret in the world, get the Illuminatus! trilogy." ( New Age Journal)

What listeners say about Illuminatus! Part I

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    322
  • 4 Stars
    119
  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    45
  • 1 Stars
    84
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    288
  • 4 Stars
    82
  • 3 Stars
    39
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    48
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    277
  • 4 Stars
    87
  • 3 Stars
    52
  • 2 Stars
    26
  • 1 Stars
    39

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Classic book, sketchy performance.

Campbell is brilliant. Fairbanks is awful. This would have been so much better if they had just let Campbell read the whole thing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

life changing if you let it

yeah don't listen to the haters their ego is getting in the way. it's a bit dated but it's got so much cultural cache you'll spend the rest of your life learning how much of it is true

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The begining of Operation Mind F**k

the beginning of an artistic project that is the birth of all modern Illuminate conspiracy theories. From Allen Moore to the Assassin's Creed video game series, many other artists " in the know" have pulled heavily from this text to further the project.
Not necessarily an easy read, as it fluctuates from purposefully confusing to unintentionally illuminating, but push through the first few chapters and you will be hooked....or not.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Why is a drummer from Spinal Tap the narrator?

Seriously, it's so difficult to get through this because the narrator has the most ridiculous voice. There is no way that's his real voice. He has to be playing it up for some reason. What reason? I have no idea. It's just absurd enough that it kinda fits the book in a way if you can bear it. But overall, this is the most annoying narration I have ever heard. I believe there's two people doing the narration and if the other guy is the one who isn't a cartoon version of a Sex Pistol then he's good. But the over the top Brit with throat cancer is like 90% of this and I mean if you can sit through it, this is by far one of my favorite books. I'd recommend reading it yourself, though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Pulls you in...

I admit the book was a turn off intitially because of the narators voice, however that changes as you grow accustom to it and eventually grows on you. The story line is a bit hard to follow but again once you get used to it, it becomes pleasing and reallly keeps your attention. Like the book I just got done with "the Lost Symbols", I found my self waiting for the next drive in my car to pick it up again. I will be gettting the next book soon, highly recomend to the not so easily entertained!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

the first 5 trips

befuddling. recommended.
meaning is transitory. clarity irrelevant.

beware the fnords.
the first 5 trips can be found here

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very good book

At first, I wasn't too keen on the narrator's narration, but it grew on me so immensely that I have been thinking with similar inflection ever since.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

the best acted book ive listened to this year

the characters voices and narration are out of this world, just like the book itself

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

there is nothing like Illuminatus!

As you should be able to gather from the other ratings and reviews, you will either really love this trilogy or really hate it. There are no tepid reactions to this one.

The disjointed presentation of the story (Think a literary version of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" to get the idea, although the stories have nothing in common.) can make these books confusing at first. Still, I personally find a visceral impact to this trilogy that has not dissipated over time or many, many rereadings. There is literally no other book (or series of books) like this one.

The narrators do a good job translating this incredibly difficult piece to audio. I'm looking forward to the release of Leviathan.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Margie

I am sorry I wasted a credit to download this book. I found that the narrators spoke too fast and jumped around so much that I couldn't keep up. I barely made it to chapter 2 before I had had enough. It may be that this is not my type of book, I don't know. What I do know is that I like all kinds of books . i was very disappointed. Margie

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful