Comment by throwanem

Those this way interested might also find rewarding the Illuminatus! trilogy by Shea and Wilson; it pretends no special mystical insight, has served as the foundational myth of approximately zero cults (fewer than Heinlein!), and includes at least one dolphin. Does Castaneda have dolphins? Well, I haven't read him myself, but the closest thing the Internet knows about is a College of Staten Island Dolphin Athletics - I suppose I would've thought they are athletic enough already, but go figure - which apparently boasts a star swimmer sharing the name. So instead of Castaneda having dolphins, we find that the situation is precisely opposite, and indeed the dolphins have Castaneda, which is probably just as well for him, since dolphins are constitutionally immune to bullshit and he will likely have a much less complicated life this time around. And, since Illuminatus! has dolphins, by the transitive relation we know that Illuminatus! is a strict superset of Castaneda, and therefore more worth reading, or at least more worth reading first.