The essential untying of the greatest knot.

This is NOT the book to use if you want to understand the themes in Gravity's Rainbow. Instead, it explains much of the minutiae - but even some of that is misleading (e.g., 'grid').
The author spends a lot of time on things like Tarot and movies, but much less on (I would think) more-central concepts such as calculus and military life.
The reviews on the cover hints at the target audience: "The Companion offers a wealth of information that makes it indispensable reading for Pynchon scholars." - the target audience is English majors.
Ok, I get it that I bought the wrong book for help with GR; I'm just trying to help others who might make the same mistake.

Because I am not Thomas Pynchon, I needed this.

Helpful and essential for the serious GR reader.

Helps to make sense of GR.

Very esoteric, astrology-heavy and the German translations are sometimes really bad. Not sure if the rest (where I am not an expert) is on the same level as well. Still a very good companion while reading GR.

When I read 'hysteron proteron' I might start to cry.

An indispensable resource to guiding one through Gravity's Rainbow. Where Weisenburger lacks in plot summarization, he makes up for with nearly exhaustive contextual, historical, and mythological explanations behind damn near every Easter Egg TRP drops throughout each chapter. I also admire his fervent commitment to tracking the chronology of the narrative, as it is anything but clear throughout. The knowledge of time and place helped ground me as a reader as the chapters bounced parabolically from character to character, setting to setting, and even time to time. I consider this a "must" if you're going in for your first reading of the Rainbow.

more confusing than the novel, if that's possible. god, i need ritalin.

I found this really useful in unlocking many of the more arcane references in Pynchon's classic novel.
It would have been helpful to include a quick reference to the many characters who appear at some stage or other in the novel. That's about my only criticism

Don’t use this the first time you read Gravity’s Rainbow, be a beast and read it without help the first time.

"Note that Pynchon has fashioned an entire narrative digression about illicit trading in furs, oarsmen in boats, fur henchmen, and DeMille - all of it in order to launch this pun." p. 292

Essential. Would not have finished GR without it. Or gotten anything out of it, anyway.

Great companion to Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's' Rainbow.

Too long ago to remember date.