Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson

Description

Historian Gary Lachman delivers a fascinating, rollicking biography of literary and cultural rebel, Colin Wilson, one of the most adventurous, hopeful and least understood intellects of the past century. You will embark on the intellectual ride of a lifetime in this rediscovery of the life and work of writer, rebel and social experimenter, Colin Wilson (1931-2013). Author of the classic The Outsider, Wilson, across his 118 books, purveyed a philosophy of mind power and human potential that made him one of the least understood and most important voices of the twentieth century. Wilson helped usher in the cultural revolution of the 1960s with his landmark work, The Outsider, published in 1956. The Outsider was an intelligent, meticulous and unprecedented study of nonconformity in all facets of life. Wilson, finally, became a prolific and unparalleled historian of the occult, providing a generation of readers with a responsible and scholarly entry point to a world of mysteries. Now, acclaimed historian Gary Lachman, a friend of Wilson and a scholar of his work, provides an extraordinary and delightful biography that delves into the life, thought and evolution of one of the greatest intellectual rebels and underrated visionaries of the twentieth century.

Gary Lachman is the author of many books on consciousness, culture and the Western esoteric tradition. He writes for several journals in the US and UK and lectures on his work in the USand the UK. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and he has appeared in several radio and tv documentaries. A founding member of the rock group Blondie, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

"An enthralling account of the life and work of Colin Wilson, the often controversial writer who explored the nature of human consciousness in dozens of books ... Lachman writes about philosophical and mystical ideas with exceptional grace, forcefulness and clarity."-Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "Colin Wilson came to a sudden and unparalleled celebrity with his first book, The Outsider, in 1956, and after that was strenuously ignored by every respectable critic. So much for respectability. Gary Lachman has written an intellectual biography of a writer who might be called the only optimistic existentialist, and done him justice. Wilson was always far better and more interesting than fashionable opinion claimed, and in Lachman he has found a biographer who can respond to the whole range of his work with sympathy and understanding, in a style which, like Wilson's own, is always immensely readable. I enjoyed Beyond the Robot very much." -Philip Pullman "Without question, the definitive guide to the life and ideas of one of the most stimulating writers of our time. Highly recommended." -David Fideler, author of Restoring the Soul of the World "Gary has become the voice for our generation that Colin Wilson was before him." -Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America "Gary Lachman makes ideas thrilling." -Ptolemy Tompkins, author of Paradise Fever "Gary Lachman presents the Western esoteric tradition as a richly detailed parade of characters, seething with political ambitions, follies, even infamy. He teaches by example that to understand their psychology and historical contexts is far more useful than moralizing or partisan reactions." -Joscelyn Godwin, Colgate University "In Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson, author Gary Lachman has done us a great service in illumining what an original and inspired thinker Wilson was. In the process of doing so, the question arose in my mind as reader: Is Lachman himself stepping into becoming the modern-day Colin Wilson? This is one of those rare books that I read cover to cover, not wanting to miss a word. I simply loved it!"--Paul Levy, author of Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil