Cosmic Banditos

I definitely recommend getting your hands on this book...... Good luck banditos.


Literatures Greatest Work!!   March 8, 2001
Paul McBride (St Charles, MO United States)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

I first read this book in 1986, when as a student, I acquired an advance copy of it, complete with typo's and spelling errors. Since then, Cosmic Bandito's has taken on the status of a Gutenberg Bible with me.

This tells a relatively straight forward story (hah, hah) of a Dope Smuggler's quest for cosmic philosophic enlightenment thru quantum mechanics, massive quantities of tequila, gratuitous use of high explosives, and a dog. Thus setting Weisbecker up to be my spiritual mentor.

Don't laugh, the author somehow makes it all work. Weisbecker managed to get me thru a philosophy degree, several physics classes and 10 years in the military with the power of his admittedly distorted vision.

To illustrate how this works, lets use the Uncertainty Principle, typically taught with the use of Schrodinger's Cat. Weisbecker uses the Bandito Uncertainty principle, with the Observer only being able to see the outside of the Bandito filled tavern, when energy is applied (in the form of Tequila, and Dope) you can see the results visibly as Banditos are launched thru the tavern windows, or out the tavern doors. If, however, the Observer was to enter the Tavern, he or she would immediately impede the progress of the experiment as they would be in the way of flying Banditos.

This may not be for everyone, but I can assure you that once you read this book, you will never ever forget it.

In closing, I must make note of how Weisbecker has pioneered the footnote into a whole new form of literary genre. His use of the Time Traveling Footnote (TTF) has guaranteed him a place in the hall of literary heroes.


I love stumbling across little gems likes this one!!   November 29, 2001
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

On a non-related Amazon search I stumbled across this book. I was compelled to read it due to the excellent reviews it had received. And after reading it, I am glad to report that Cosmic Banditos is one of the coolest books I have ever read. I am not one to normally laugh out loud when reading, but this book was the exception. I couldn't keep the chuckles in! The author manages to meld two completely non-related subjects of drug running and quantum mechanics into a seamless and captivating tale. This book is a must buy for people who enjoy out of the norm books, or those who just want a change from the more serious titles usually found on best seller lists. Heck this book should be a must buy for ANYBODY who likes to laugh, period!


Read In Search of Captain Zero instead   April 9, 2002
David T Wootten (Chile)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

Despite his apparent cult status, I had never heard of Allan Weisbecker or Cosmic Banditos. I read "In Search of Captain Zero" on a whim and was thoroughly impressed - funny, intelligent, thoughtful with lots of "shake your head, can't believe this guy did this" kind of anecdotes. So I went in to Cosmic Banditos with some pretty high expectations and unfortunately was not impressed. It wasn't disastrous but I found the humour to be flat, the characters and the plot fun at first but quickly tiresome and the cosmic philosophy, tedious. After having read Captain Zero it's clear where he got the inspiration for the book and I would recommend his 1st person account much more. He doesn't need fiction to make his stories interesting...


I'd give it 10 stars if I could!   October 22, 2004
Marie Estock (Orlando, FL USA)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful

My journey with Cosmic Banditos started when I was a sophomore chem major in college. I was dating a bi-sexual, heroin shooting, alcholic guy who was 6 years older than me. He had been a Geology/music double major in the same college. It was finals week in the middle of my sophomore year from hell (Calc III, Orgo, and physics all in one semester, Fall 1996) and I was hunkering down to not be seen for a while studying when my boyfriend showed up with a photo-copied, 3-ring binder bound copy of Cosmic Banditos. (It was the perfect shape to read a book of it's scope as I fondly recall.) He told me he would hunt me down if I didn't give it back to him when I was done reading it because it was very hard to get a copy of it. I was immediately intrigued by the quotes inside and stopped my study schedule to read this gem. I actually managed to do pretty well on my exams and I credit Cosmic Banditos for it. My boyfriend left me for another guy and I missed the Cosmic Banditos more. On the education front, that one reading of the book got me through p-chem (physical chemistry for those not chemistry geeks) relatively sane and I actually understood most of it. I proudly attribute owning my "Honk if you passed P-chem" bumper sticker to Cosmic Banditos.

When Amazon had their out-of-print search available (sometime in 1998 or so) I signed up for a copy to be sent to me if it ever turned up. Three years later, nothing turned up. By that time I was a grad student in Boston. My best friend and I went to a used book store on Newbury St and on a lark I looked for the book after trying to explain to my friend what it was all about. It had been 5 years since I read it. My memory didn't do it justice. Anyhoo, I found a FIRST EDITION with all the spelling mistakes and typos for $12.95!!!! Needless to say I bought it immediately and read it in one sitting. Then I gave it to my friend to read on pain of death that she give it back to me. She did and she absolutely loved it too. When I saw that Allen had a web site and was making this book into a screenplay with John Cusack's production company and more importantly the book was being reprinted I got really excited. I ordered it for my friend and it now also holds an honored space on her bookshelf.