Cosmic Trigger I deals with Wilson's experiences during a time in which he put himself through a process of "self-induced brain change" as well as vignettes of his earlier life.

The main discovery of this process—which, he tells us, is known in certain traditions as Chapel perilous—is that "reality" (although a noun in most Indo-European language systems, and therefore commonly conceptualized as being a definite, unchanging "'thing") is mutable and subjective to the observer.

The book also deals with the Bavarian Illuminati conspiracy (which Wilson neither rejects as utterly false nor embraces as true, in keeping with his theme) and other related intrigues.

The work also touches on a wide range of other subjects, from Timothy Leary's thoughts on brain circuits and JFK's assassination, through to Sufism and numerous occult practises.

The book is an exploration into the future of cyberspace; the peculiarities of Irish jurisprudence; links to the Mafia, the CIA and the Catholic Church; anal-eroticism in the White House; the Dog Castrator of Palm Springs and more.

Elsewhere, a plethora of other topics are touched upon, including Aleister Crowleyean magick ritual, Wilson's love of movies, virtual reality, Jungian Synchronicity, and the exponential growth of global information.

Cosmic Trigger III, published in 1995, delivers observations about the widespread (and premature) announcement of his demise, along with synchronicities, religious fanatics, UFOs, crop circles, paranoia, pompous scientists, secret societies, high tech, black magic, quantum physics, hoaxes (real and fake), Orson Welles, James Joyce, Carl Sagan, Madonna, and the vagina of Nuit.

The third volume in Wilson's Cosmic Trigger series begins with an analysis of a faked internet news story announcing the author's death, in February 1994.

Wilson discusses this with his usual humor, and then uses it as a springboard into philosophical meditation on broader issues relating to the nature of 'truth' and existential questions about death and reality.

Other concepts explored are postmodernism and political correctness; and he use the example of militant feminism to demonstrate how dogmatic adherence to any belief system can result in intolerant and even dangerous ideologies, suggesting that dogmatic and extreme feminism has made androphobia acceptable (he uses the term 'androphobia' in reference to the fear/hatred of all men on ideological grounds, rather than in the psychological sense).

Other topics include LSD, science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, and the potential pitfalls of blindly accepting 'expert' opinion; all loosely connected by the underlying theme of the perspectival and relative construction of reality.