while I'm at it:

I should give credit where it is due, and plug the terrific book I stole the title of my blog from, Robert Anton Wilson's Coincidance.

It is a great book, like just about everything he wrote was, but I don't recommend it as a first RAW book, if you are unfamiliar with his work. For his fiction, he's best known for the cult classic Illuminatus! trilogy, co-written with Robert Shea (which I'd definitely say is not for children), a bizarre head-trip about conspiracy theories, Discordianism, creative paranoia... oh, I can't begin to describe it. The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan

Then RAW's non-fiction (which I prefer, though they work well together), I'd start with either the first of his three autobiographical works, which give a great introduction to his ideas, Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati, followed by his workbook Prometheus Rising (and I strongly suggest you get this and DO THE WORK! If you are not experiencing § yet, this text and the exercises/experiments within will most likely open the floodgate, and make your reality tunnel far more fun and interesting). There's also a wonderful DVD audio, Maybe Logic: The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson, or the Audio CD collection Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything: (or Old Bob Exposes His Ignorance). If you really want to go wild, and get deep into his work (he changed my life), there's a very nice guide to RAW's works and ideas, written by Eric Wagner, An Insider's Guide To R.A.W.

RAW was admired by such luminaries as Timothy Leary, Philip K. Dick,Paul Krassner, Richard Nixon, Tom Robbins, Alan Moore, quantum physicist Nick Herbert, even George Carlin. As for §, he's primarily responsible (along with William S. Burroughs) with the popularization of the "23" coincidence, Cosmic Trigger is full of them (he also wrote an article on the "23" phenomenon for Fortean Times, which might be online somewhere), along with many other mind blowing §'s.