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Finally comes the ultimate book for all those seeking to know more about the philosophy behind The Matrix and its sequels. Suppose that this world is not what it seems, and that humanity is actually just a food source supplementing a reign of machines. Welcome to the premise behind the world of The Matrix: the movie phenomenon and massive box-office series that has also produced some of film's most intelligent and thoughtful moments in the last ten years.

In the Matrix movies, "reality" is just a dreamscape, a representation that six billion points of view agree to agree is "real." So if the only reality we know is a cunning and elaborate façade, what then does that signify for us? Matrix Warrior gives us the means to understand this premise and its implications on our knowledge of self and place. Combining an in-depth examination of the film with philosophical inquiry and the teachings of Castandeda, Jake Horsley has produced in Matrix Warrior a profound yet witty analysis-and all readers need to get "unplugged."

Jake you are not The One., 2006-03-19
What's the worse that can happen to a philosophy book about The Matrix? Have it be written by a pop-culture hack who clearly doesn't understand the movie. Most reviews of this book are very good ones. This one will not.

This book should have been an essay at best. Not over 200 pages of his imagined view of The Matrix. I agree with the writer that the Matrix is much more than a simple movie but that's where our agreement ends. Like a trekker, the would be red-pills of this world, like me, will protect The Matrix' integrity and vision. Having it applied to other philosophies that are not part of its own universe will not pass. This would be like having the Enterprise show up in Battlestar Galactica. And it's worth pointing out that this book contains very little philosophy and is more of a social critique seen through the lens of The Matrix story line and then it is not that either.

The first chapter begins with just that, a critique of the blue-pills that inhabit the Matrix. But it's critiquing every day folk, not the players in the movies themselves. At the first read, I thought maybe this is more a sociology book from a geek's point of view, this could be ok. That we are all in a Matrix ourselves and this is what can be expected for your life if you never take the red pill.

But after a few chapters the reader quickly realizes that Jake Horsley is off his rocker. He quickly moves away from the movie's philosophy and starts renaming the character's archetypal roles. Blue-pills become humatons, Blue-pills who realize what's going on become Matrix Warriors, Agents become Gatekeepers red-pills become Matrix Sorcerers and The One becomes a Lucid. He then starts talking about 1st and 2nd attentions, eschatons and stalking.

This is his entire ploy to change the lens focus to another optic entirely, that of Castaneda and Phillip K Dick. He's an obvious fan of both as they keep coming to the surface of the discussion throughout his work. And he then goes on to discredit Beaudrillard as being unimportant to the movie. Despite the fact that the Wachowsky brothers had the major players in their movie read Beaudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation (along with Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World by Kevin Kelly and Introducing Evolutionary Psychology by Dylan Evans) and despite the fact that the book can been seen in the first scene of the movie, when Thomas opens the book to get diskettes for Choi and the luscious Dujour.

Yeah that's the ticket; let's just throw out the very foundation of the story so I can replace it with my own point of view of how it should be. The book soon turns into a "Warrior of Shambala" type guide book for the aspiring red-pill, I mean aspiring Matrix Warrior. The Matrix For Dummies Who will Never Understand It could have been a better title. Horsley also purports that his book his humorous. It must be that dry British humor because it wasn't funny at all. It mostly read like all those British pseudo-scientific documentaries on Stone Henge that can be seen on TLC or Discovery. Then he drives the last nails in by adding appendixes on Castaneda and Dick.

It was more rank-amateur low-end fanfic from a geek than it was sociology or philosophy. Though fanfic writes seem to have more respect for continuity in the story line than does Horsley. Why I found this book in the Philosophy section is beyond me, but after all the books I've read on the philosophy of The Matrix, this has to be the worse one yet. I'll be less tempted to purchase more books on the subject in the future because of this book.

It gets to choke on 1 red pill outta 5. Jake you are not The One.

If you wish to read great books on the philosophy of the Matrix I strongly recommend The Matrix and Philosophy and More Matrix and Philosophy edited by William Irwin.

Take the Red Pill, if you dare..., 2005-08-08
What is the Matrix?

You've asked yourself this, time and time again. You know there's something wrong with the world that you're living in- something doesn't work. You feel like an alien. You know there has to be something more than this.

In this daring little book, Jake Horsley suggests that your intuitions might just be correct. "Matrix Warrior" is a manual for living the life of a seeker- someone not looking for little spiritual thrills, but radical liberation. Disguised as a pop culture tome, Horsley uses analogies from The Matrix and the literary works of Phillip K. Dick (a significant influence on the mythology of The Matrix) and the metaphysical storytelling of Carlos Castaneda to spin a battle plan for those who would wage war against the apparent world. The author suggests that people can be divided into four categories- "humatons", or those who are asleep, "matrix warriors", those who know that there is more to life than they've been offered, "matrix sorcerers", those who are no longer under the control of the matrix and able to manipulate it to some extent, and "lucids"- people, like Neo, who are totally liberated from the matrix. This book is about the first step- becoming a "matrix warrior", and preparing to take advantage of opportunities to "unplug"- those rare events in life when we are offered a way to radically change our circumstances and embrace a more authentic mode of being. Along the way, there are digressions on ethics, metaphysics, futurism, and many other topics. While the Castanedan influence is apparent, one uncredited (though obvious) influence is the work of Aleister Crowley, especially regarding the way of the will.

There are some slight deficiencies- the author didn't seem to entirely "get" the later Matrix films- in fact, he doesn't seem to understand them at all (for a better grasp, listen to the commentary tracks on the DVDs themselves, where Cornel West and Ken Wilber spin an interesting glimpse at the deeper implications of the movies). But other than that quibble, "Matrix Warrior" is an excellent little book, and well worth your time... if you want to take the red pill, and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes...