Schrodinger Cat II

The Trick Top Hat

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Last edited by bitnapper
September 17, 2023 | History

Schrodinger Cat II

The Trick Top Hat

  • 4 Want to read

The Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy is a trilogy of novels by American writer Robert Anton Wilson consisting of The Universe Next Door, The Trick Top Hat, and The Homing Pigeons, each illustrating a different interpretation of quantum physics. Wilson is also co-author of The Illuminatus! Trilogy, and Schrödinger's Cat is a sequel of sorts, re-using several of the same characters and carrying on many of the themes of the earlier work.

The one-volume edition currently in print is significantly shorter than the original three-volume edition. This is not a difference in print size or removal of redundant "recaps"; it is missing a noticeable amount of material, including many entire chapters.

The name Schrödinger's Cat comes from a thought experiment in quantum mechanics. The first book, The Universe Next Door, takes place in different universes in accord with the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics; in the second, The Trick Top Hat, characters are unknowingly connected through non-locality, i.e., having once crossed paths they are joined in quantum entanglement; and the third book, The Homing Pigeons, places characters in an "observer-created universe" in which Consciousness Causes the Collapse of the wavefunction.

Taking place in Unistat, which is the novel's parallel to the United States, the novels have intertwining plots involving a wide array of characters, including:

Epicene Wildeblood, a.k.a. Mary Margaret Wildeblood, a transsexual woman who throws great parties
Frank Dashwood, president of Orgasm Research
Markoff Chaney, a prankster
Hugh Crane, a.k.a. Cagliostro the Great, a mystic and magician
Furbish Lousewart V, author and President of Unistat
Marvin Gardens, author and cocaine addict
Eve Hubbard, scientist and alternate President of Unistat

In The Trick Top Hat, President Hubbard, promotes a scientific approach to the improvement of life: she offers rewards to anyone who can design a robot to do their job or develop methods to prolong life. Eventually Unistat becomes a Utopia. She makes the whole law system into three different laws: victimless crimes, which have no punishment; crimes against property, which involve debt and payment; and serious crimes, such as murder, which result in being sent to Hell, a place like jail but not quite. It's encased in laser shielding and is like a primitive world all its own. It is, in fact, the State of Mississippi. The original Pocket Books edition of The Trick Top Hat contains many passages, some sexually explicit, that are not included in later editions, including the Dell softcover. Much of this material first appeared in Wilson's earlier novel, The Sex Magicians, published as pornography by Sheffield House in 1973.

Publish Date
Publisher
Pocket
Language
English
Pages
254

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Schrodingers Cat II
Schrodingers Cat II: The Trick Top Hat
1981, Sphere, Pocket Books
mass market paperback in English - 1st UK printing
Cover of: Schrodingers Cat 2
Schrodingers Cat 2: The Trick Top Hat
May 1, 1981, Pocket
Paperback in English
Cover of: Schrodinger Cat II
Schrodinger Cat II: The Trick Top Hat
April 1, 1981, Pocket
Paperback in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Series
Schrodingers Cat, 2

Classifications

Library of Congress
CPB Box no. 30 vol. 17

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
254

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7666195M
ISBN 10
0671821180
ISBN 13
9780671821180
LCCN
2011488458
OCLC/WorldCat
7502723
Library Thing
2898524
Goodreads
125312

Source records

Internet Archive item record

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
September 17, 2023 Edited by bitnapper Edited without comment.
January 15, 2020 Edited by biblioarchy added trilogy links
January 13, 2020 Edited by biblioarchy Added new cover
January 13, 2020 Edited by biblioarchy changed author to RAW
December 10, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page