I’ve always been a heavy reader. I’ve also always had mystic/occultist/scholarly tendencies. Throughout my life I’ve scribbled themes and lists of books in notebooks and then carefully picked through libraries and books stores to find them.
In the mid-90s, I became inspired by Gygax’s Appendix N, and Crowley’s Reading Lists both in Liber E and Liber ABA. I started to consolidate the lists in all my notebooks. Any book mentioned in a book I had read (including advertisements) or was recommended went on the list. I slowly created (am creating?) a point system to deal with overlaps.
Of course, I started seeing patterns. Around the time, I was reading a ton of Robert Anton Wilson and the whole thing clicked in my head.
Anyone who has survived OM (Operation Mindfuck) from Wilson and his crew of Discordians can imagine where I ended up taking that journey. Anyone who hasn’t, well, I wouldn’t recommend it.
There are strict rules to the Bibliography and some of the rules are strictly arbitrary. It’s been a project of over 20 years and the subjective patterns have taught me much about myself and the way I think.