Wonderful companion to Gravity's Rainbow.

Let's not mince words: Weisenburger's Companion is utterly essential for any trip through Pynchon's megaton novel. Large swathes of the book which I would have woozily drifted past with 0% comprehension were opened up brilliantly -- it really does help the scope of the entire book to know about business collusions during WWII, as well as the basics of the Kabbalah, Teutonic mythology, the Tarot, Herero folklore, and elementary ballistic physics. These aren't just look-how-clever-I-am cul de sacs, but wide ranging attempts to order a very complex world, to harness the knowledge of the centuries to a violent urge that has plagued humankind since we first climbed out of the sea.

Previous Pynchon books could be read and enjoyed with less fleecy outerwear -- V. can be easily traversed with the help of Pynchonwiki (as well as a Wiki-level knowledge of the Fashoda Conflict, the Herero uprising, and what a Baedekker travel guide looks like). In fact, J. Kerry Grant's guides to V. and The Crying of Lot 49 are almost detrimental in that they attempt to pad their pages with endless recounting of current theories about Pynchon's work (fine to read after you've finished, but annoying when you're in the middle of your first read and attempting to draw your own conclusions). By comparison, Weisenburger does draw some of his own lines, but they're really only attempt to calculate why Pynchon made references to Hansel & Gretel here, not what that means to the modern reader, if you get that hair-thin distinction.

I still think it helps to read V. before this, but at the very least, have this book nearby. I don't think you need to have both open at the same time, but if you read a section of the book, then glance through Weisenburger's info right after, you should be able to transpose the knowledge back into what you just read. Occasionally, the reference opened up the passage enough that I found it beneficial to re-read the book section, but that was rare.

By comparison with the first two, Weisenburger's guide is so thorough, the Pynchonwiki entries have been reduced to little more than hair-splitting with Weisenburger's Companion. I found it amusing to read their entries in the voice of The Simpson's Comic Book Guy.

I'm not going to give it five stars because, as Christgau said about Flavor Flav's role in Public Enemy, "why should I like the Great Man's Fan better than I like the Great Man?" Still, as Robert Stack used to say, "don't leave home without it." (don't leave The Zone without it?)

This book was probably the only reason I finished Gravity's Rainbow (with my general feeble resolve) when so many others have failed. Reading the corresponding section in this after each chapter in GR helped formulate everything and reveal the deeper, more cryptic (and certainly historical) merits of the text that one might miss while they romp through interesting characters and complex (this is a kind, vague word choice as it's very easy to lose yourself throughout, which is sometimes fine but other times quite frustrating) plot weaving. I'd say the average person is doing herself a great disfavor not reading the book with a good "companion". That said, the historical footnotes offered here (most of what's offered at all) are really interesting, but more in-depth paragraphs explaining the general movement of the story would've been appreciated as well.

(I guess I accidentally wrote my update status in the review space below last time but I don't really want to delete my initial remarks so ignore the following.)
Okay, this also came as a "gift" (it's the 2nd edition, not the one shown) and let me tell you, Mister (Johnson, Sr.), I'm known to be lazy, needy and distracted in most ways, but my milk-fatty soul verily curdles to envision reading in private or public a paperback novel alongside not one companion - which in its own right, given that I've experienced no impediment to momentum or interest in Gravity's Rainbow to my current dog ear at the modest leaf of 50, smacks of unsightly pathos - but alongside TWO companions - for one book! - a novel! - written horizontally and in natural English! - crafted in the yet-cradling memory foam of the 20th century! ...w(hhhh)ell, that's like...I feel as though...someone is putting the training wheels before even my tricycle! And I'm just the biggest baby who can sound out P-Y-N-C-H M-E.
I tell you what I do need: a companion to tell me how to read three books at once. (This companion does already recommend ritualized stacking). And also I'd like a stylish and gaudily branded ostrich messenger bag with a lightweight, fold-out desk of woven straw to lug all this crap on the train and bus every day in any sort of useful, civilized way.
Does Pynchon deserve this much of my time or credit - I need a native text, a page-by-page picture book and now a 400-plus pager for context and curiosities to get me through? Clearly no one's breaking down my door to do much of anything. And I need a hobby besides bathing.

Very interesting, but difficult to use as a "companion." You can't read it alongside GR, not only because they're about eight pounds each but because the companion is so comprehensive that you'd almost literally be confined to reading one sentence (in GR) at a time and then consulting the companion for meanings/references/etc. But it's also difficult to read one entire section of GR followed by the corresponding section of the companion, because with Pynchon's dense, wordy, long and circular style, it's hard to recall what any passage was about if you didn't just read it.

So, the companion was difficult logistically, but otherwise good. I'll definitely use it when I re-read the novel; I think it would lend itself much better to that sort of use.

Incredibly helpful for understanding all the obscure references in GR, but I wish it spent more time discussing the bigger picture of what was happening and what ti meant.

A must-have if you're reading Gravity's Rainbow

So goddamn useful. Your first trip through GR is supposed to be a hellacious slog so maybe it's cheating to give readers a road map, but I tell you, I never would have figured out the beginning of the book or the Kirghiz light or the hellacious "For DeMille, Fur Henchmen can't be rowing!" joke if not for this guide.

True story: I called Professor Weisenburger once on the phone because I said I wanted to interview him about a book he wrote. When he found out that I wanted to interview him about Gravity's Rainbow -- a book he did NOT write, and a guide that he had written twenty years before at the time I called him -- he became notably cold.

I can't say I blame him. I hadn't meant to get his hopes up.

In my opinion, you absolutely need this in order to read "Gravity's Rainbow." With it, "Gravity's Rainbow" is one of my all-time favorite books.

I'd consider this essential for anyone trying to get the most out of Gravity's Rainbow. Initially, I was a little annoyed at the spoilers, but once you get to the end of the book and are trying to tie it all together those actually came back to really help. I'd recommend not being too closely tied to it. I would read a few chapters and then double back and see if there's anything I really missed. I ended up reading all of it, but not constantly switching between the text and the guide.

Fantastic resource--all most too much detail and good recap of each section of the book.

best companion ever

this book can't see the forest for the trees.