The Cosmic Serpent
DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
Rating :
Author(s) :
Pages :
257
Pub Date :
1998
Edition(s) at Erowid :
1999(pb,fine)
Publisher :
Tarcher / Putnam Books
ISBN :
0874779642
FROM THE EROWID REVIEW #
- Review by Rendi Case, 2007 Mar 13
One day while inquiring about these matters he was told that if he wanted to know the true answers to his questions he would simply have to take ayahuasca with them and see for himself. Narby accepted this offer and had a life changing experience. After drinking ayahuasca, Narby had a profound life changing experience. His view on himself and reality shifted from an intellectually superior know-it-all to a mere human being that has no real understanding of reality at all. In his experience, these thoughts were telepathically imparted to him by two giant snakes. There was more to his ayahuasca experience, but these are the elements that had the important impact on him. . . . (more) - Review by Robert Forte, 2006 Jul 24
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge is a major breakthrough for not only the field of entheogens but for all science and perhaps religion too. Originally published in French as Serpent Cosmique, this book presents the journey of a western scientist who ventures past the primitive superstitions of modern anthropology and takes part in a millennia-long scientific . . . (more)
BACK COVER #
The Cosmic Serpent is a personal adventure, a fascinating study of anthropology and ethnopharmacology, and a revolutionary look at how intelligence and consciousness may come into being. In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism. Jeremy Narby reveals how startlingly different the world around us appears when we open our minds to it.BLURBS #
"This is the most exciting book I have read in years. It is a spellbinding, scholarly tour de force that may presage a major paradigm shift in the Western view of reality."-- Michael Harner, Ph.D., President, Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and author of The Way of the Shaman
"Jeremy Narby's pioneering work takes the frontier of science another leap forward toward understanding the primary enigma of our time--the role of consciousness in the evolutionary patterns of the universe."
-- Edgar Mitchell, Sc.D., Apollo astronaut and author of The Way of the Explorer
"The Cosmic Serpent offers intriguing connections to a knowledge road less taken--that of indigenous hallucinogenic drug use--and how this road may connect in the future with that of molecular biology."
-- Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis, authors of What Is Life?