Reading The Honest Drug Book is a journey through one psychonaut’s comprehensively self-chronicled experience reports, with the additions of a safety manual, sociocultural observations, and various additional commentaries. [ read more ]

Blitzed examines the role that various drugs played in the Third Reich by telling three main stories: the popularization of methamphetamine pills under the name Pervitin and their widespread use by the Germany military and civilians; Hitler’s use of narcotics and other drugs during the war; and the story of Hitler’s personal doctor Theodor Morell and his unorthodox prescriptions for “Patient A”, or as Ohler dubs him, “High Hitler.” [ read more ]

Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction, PTSD, and Anxiety offers something immeasurably valuable in the field of psychedelic discourse: a sane, responsible, well-informed voice in a chorus replete with fevered egos and third-hand hearsay. [ read more ]

To be clear, I am casting no aspersions as to the extent of Gorman’s genuine expertise with the technique. I respect that he learned it straight from the source, and have no reason to doubt his ability to administer sapo skillfully to himself or others. What I do feel compelled to question is his ability to make meaningful statements about why or how the relevant phenomena function the way they do. This review may seem surprisingly harsh so far, but I’m going to argue such harshness is fair. [ read more ]

...an adeptly written autobiography about a British Marine’s return to the armed services and a subsequent episode of further self-discovery in the Amazon jungles. Now, let’s face it, does the world need yet another book on self-discovery and the ayahuasca experience in South America? To his credit, the author delivers a definitely novel perspective on one man’s journey. He is an engaging writer, and expertly immerses the reader in the moment. [ read more ]

The Toad and the Jaguar is an instant gold standard on current 5-MeO-DMT information. Metzner is to be congratulated on this relatively short but information-dense work, which ties in practical usage, all the possible red flags, and multiple angles of approach to the subject matter. [ read more ]

The book is both a consideration of general topics in psychedelic-influenced language studies, as well as an account of the author’s own “outrageous twelve year adventure” of largely solitary psychedelic exploration, inspired in large part by her experiments with Glide, a visual language system she developed in the course of her researches. Slattery’s personal journey is both remarkable and inspirational. [ read more ]

What stands out in the pharmacology and toxicology studies presented in Novel Psychoactive Substances is more the negative space of what isn’t there than the positive space of what is. [ read more ]

In Sacred Knowledge, Richards collates this rich background and distills his years of thinking about psychedelics’ psychotherapeutic and spiritual uses into a book that is readable for educated general readers, intellectually firm enough for scholars, and flavored by his personal experiences. [ read more ]

Only through explicating every taboo we hold can we arrive at social mores, and ultimately legal structures, that honor the diversity of human desires and experiences and stop penalizing people for behavior that does no harm to anyone else. In essence, our refusal to acknowledge taboos and the weak basis on which they rest prevents meaningful social, cultural, and political change. [ read more ]

The Manual of Psychedelic Support includes everything one would need to start a new psychedelic care organization from the ground up, or to fine-tune and improve the practices of an established group. [ read more ]

In Dreamland, the culprits are pharmaceutical corporations, doctors, and decentralized Mexican drug retailers. The story really is one of capitalism run amok. While the book tells a compelling story of how profits were pursued, it doesn’t tell us exactly why demand skyrocketed, though it makes a few suggestions. [ read more ]

This comprehensive narrative charts the psychedelics’ (mostly LSD) fall from grace after a “Midcentury fascination with LSD and the mystical, mind-expanding ‘psychedelic’ experience…” (Siff, Introduction). [ read more ]

The choice of the name “Nexus” is meaningful, as that was a common name for 2C-B in the 1990s. Though most people won’t catch this association, and will instead understand “Nexus” to imply connectivity (indeed, the same reason 2C-B was given this slang name originally), the effects of the fictional Nexus are not unlike amplified versions of the empathogenic and psychedelic effects of a phenethylamine like 2C-B. [ read more ]

Fadiman and his collaborators are to be congratulated for having put together such a handsome, helpful and comprehensive collection of important information. It’s hard to imagine a better introduction to responsible psychedelic use, or a better signpost pointing towards its future horizons. The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide is an indispensable resource that surely belongs on every tripper’s shelf. [ read more ]

BodyWorld, written and illustrated by Dash Shaw, is a remarkable graphic novel and one of the best works of drug fiction in recent years. The comic is set in a mildly dystopian sci-fi future. It’s 2060 and there’s been a second American civil war. The surviving large cities are polluted hives, but out in the “experimental” woodland town of Boney Borough things seem peaceful, if insipid. Peaceful that is until the arrival of protagonist Paul Panther, a hardboiled “outsider” ethno-botanist posing as a visiting professor at the local high school while investigating reports of a hitherto unknown plant with psychedelic properties. [ read more ]

The pseudonymous “Dale Bevan” has written a self-published guide for those interested in taking LSD for the first time. It is written in a very thoughtful manner, and, to it’s credit, does not necessarily act as a cheerleading ‘info-mercial’ for use of the substance. What we are given here is a fairly balanced overview of LSD in terms of it’s history, chemistry, and the author’s own experiences with it. [ read more ]

Hearing voices. Seeing fantastic plays of light and color. Feeling the body transformed in impossible ways. Encounters with phantom entities. Temporary relocations of self and subjectivity. For some, experiences such as these are to be found at the bottom of a shaman’s gourd or within the crystalline lattices of the latest research chemical. For others, however, experiences like the ones above are not the result of any deliberate intervention but instead are a spontaneous consequence of the simple fact that our experience of reality is the product of our brains, and our brains are capable of being disturbed or disrupted in any number of ways. [ read more ]

Downing smokes some really outlandish “rumored-to-get-you-high” substances—such as spider webs, toothpaste, and butterfly wings—all with a very humorous but still investigatory attitude. He even tests out the noxious concept of “jenkem”, one of the most obvious practical jokes on the Internet, which involves smelling bottled fecal fumes! And I don’t think that it’s too much of a spoiler of the book to reveal that Downing does NOT take battery acid to get high (phew!), although he certainly publishes a ton of Internet literature on this idea. [ read more ]

Those first few pages set up the theme of Net of Being: while Alex’s first book, Sacred Mirrors, largely focused on our shared but unique spiritual journeys as individuals, this book celebrates such paths within communities.

Both of Alex’s previous art books included works dedicated to the topics of physical and spiritual love, depicting how such divine bonding can lead to the incarnation of new human forms. Net of Being continues these strong melodies, showcasing a bounty of recent paintings, [...] as well as older works, including portraits from the late 1980s of Alex and his soul mate Allyson. [ read more ]

Don’t let the leopard-print short-shorts fool you! Four-part comic book miniseries Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery (reprinted at long last in a handsome hardcover “deluxe” edition) is one of the most sophisticated representations of a drug trip ever written or drawn. [...] At the same time in an alternate reality, an unnamed rock singer is dying of a drug overdose in the rain. He’s taken everything in the house, including quite a bit of LSD, and he’s talking on a mobile phone to the unseen voice on the other end of a suicide prevention hotline. All he wants to talk about are comic books. [ read more ]

Once again, it’s the interaction between the writing and the illustration that provides such a lush and unique means of expressing the psychedelic experience. To bring the world of Rogan Gosh to life, artist Brendan McCarthy mined his own childhood obsession with the Amar Chitra Katha tradition of Indian comic books—cross-wiring that with the electric offspring of punk-rock pop art to produce a lurching, spiral play of hyper-color lotuses, sitar-rayguns, corridors of endless uncertainty, ashrams of the absolute, and the dead-end sprawl of South London. [ read more ]

With illustrations by Janjetov and brain-melting color by Beltran, The Technopriests is an eye-popping visual feast. Jodorowsky has been quoted as saying, “I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs”. The same would seem to be true of his work in comics. Indeed, in collaboration with Janjetov and Beltran, he brings worlds to life that would be impossible to film, even with today’s CGI wizardry. [ read more ]

High Price is an autobiography of research scientist and drug expert Carl Hart, Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, and Director of the Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Laboratories at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The problems Hart describes in his upbringing and environment spring mainly from racism and poverty, often erroneously attributed to drugs. A much larger role then the effects of any drugs were the effect of the criminal justice system… [ read more ]

Smoke Signals is a brilliant chronicle of the insanity of US drug policy, later foisted on the rest of the world, through the example of the healing green bud. A cover blurb from Douglas Brinkely suggests, “Every American should read this landmark book!”, and he is right. [ read more ]

One would expect that there’d be a lot to say about any centenarian, and this is even more the case with an individual as exceptional and influential as Albert Hofmann. Since Albert Hofmann’s story began 107 years ago, Dieter and Lucius then take us back in time, setting the stage by describing the beginnings of the Modern Era, when the industrial revolution, capitalism, and technological innovations were booming. [ read more ]

In this concise and persuasive book, Kirsch debunks what he calls the myth of antidepressants and the brain chemistry imbalance theory of depression. Kirsch. is [...] an expert on placebo effects. Kirsch and colleagues found that antidepressants worked only very slightly better for treating depression than placebos did. [ read more ]

What would you say to the possibility of a riveting, yet thoroughly academic, nonfiction page-turner? Stephan V. Beyer’s tour de force, Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon, is nothing less! It is when talking about his teachers that Beyer is most revealed as a humble and thoughtful human being. [ read more ]

There are certain books that, once read, alter one’s mind permanently. This is such a book. Naïve readers and patriots beware: You will never think about the world in the same way after you have read just the first two chapters of American War Machine. The book’s major thesis, simply put, is that: “US backdoor covert foreign policy has been the largest single cause of the illicit drugs flooding the world today.” [ read more ]

By the 1975 publication of Realms of the Human Unconscious, Stanislav Grof was prepared to assert the existence of “a vastly extended cartography of the human psyche” including two new realms whose non-existence were central to the (even now) prevailing scientific worldview: the perinatal––relating to the experience of embryogenesis and birth––and the transpersonal––relating to experiences of the synchronistic, telepathic, karmic, or otherwise out-of-body variety. [ read more ]

A mere twenty-seven years in the future, forbidden pharmaceuticals fused with novel nanotechnology may present the post-human possibility of telepathic transcendence. But at what price? [ read more ]

Overall this was a fairly interesting but extremely unpolished piece of writing. The numerous journeys on DMT that Turner relates often expand into philosophical reflections. The book is a revision of and expansion on a series of accounts previously posted to an Internet message board. It’s an idiosyncratic and unique account, with the author’s writing style and observations consistently veering back and forth from the awkward to the insightful. I did appreciate that Turner does not proselytize, and I found his honesty to be endearing. [ read more ]

Razam does a great job detailing the myriad cast of characters involved in the ayahuasca tourism phenomenon in Peru: from native to gringo shamans, ayahuasqueros to tabaqueros to perfumeros, spiritual to hedonistic “seekers”, and everyone in between. [ read more ]

Two prominent researchers argue that many European caves are linked to shamanic ritual practice and initiation. At 120 pages, this book is essentially a long essay laying the basis for the authors’ shamanic hypothesis and attempting to ground it in biological terms. While I found their central thesis to be underdeveloped, the authors do an admirable job of surveying the available evidence, providing a valuable analysis of the known art. The book is lavishly illustrated, though the pictures are rarely captioned with date information. [ read more ]

Seven’s descriptions of the effects of using mind machines while on assorted psychoactives are unique to the psychedelic literature. These alone make the book worth reading. Over the course of his tale, Seven reveals himself to be a likeable character—flawed, as we all are, but inspiring in his honest exuberance. [ read more ]

As a bright young suburban kid, Norberg held a typical anti-drug attitude until his early teenage years, when his eldest brother Dave admitted to smoking pot and dropping acid. Initially shocked, Sheldon soon starts experimenting. [...] Although he goes to college, he’s more interested in partying and dealing drugs than attending classes, and he sees himself as a kind of psychedelic guru for those around him. [ read more ]

Long before the Shulgins’ alphabetamine love stories appeared on bookstore shelves, Marcia Moore and Howard Alltounian gave us Journeys Into the Bright World, a drug travelogue focused on the transpersonal effects of ketamine. [ read more ]

[...] author David David Katzman has taken the plunge and produced an exuberantly psychedelic narrative. [ read more ]

Krishna In The Sky With Diamonds concentrates on a 55-verse section of the ancient Indian text “The Mahabharata” (chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita), a fascinating sequence that can be read on its own merits, or, as the author meticulously lays it out, as a parallel to an intense psychedelic experience. Teitsworth clearly knows his subject, and ties in his own past psychedelic experiences with insight and honesty. Also woven into the comments are quotes and references from other sources. [ read more ]

Sylvan’s aim is to posit the power of rave culture as being globally transformative; however, he seems to think that the mere experience of universal connection is sufficient so far as positive political action goes. Missing also is the critique of rave culture as merely being part of what Herbert Marcuse called repressive desublimation: the blowing off of steam that serves in the long run to cement social norms. In the end, anyone in contemporary culture believing that the best way to enrich your soul is to lose your mind, and that the best means for doing that is through the exuberance of the body, is going to be fighting an uphill battle for legitimacy. In the struggle to honor and dignify this style of worship, Trance Formation is a solid resource. [ read more ]

...a major work that definitively documents the racism inherent in the domestic application of the United States’ war on drugs. The historical comparison to the Jim Crow era of entrenched legal discrimination and the contemporary evidence of structural racism in all things police and prison-related are incontrovertible… [ read more ]

Americans seem to pay little attention to the ongoing “drug war” in Mexico in which some 65,000+ people have died. The prevailing assumption is that this is either a turf war between rival cartels, or a war between the forces of the state (primarily the Mexican drug police and the military) and the traffickers. John Gibler’s To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War offers a competing explanation. [ read more ]

If the aim of Moore’s book is to “cover both sides of the debate over amphetamine prescription and use” then her work is, to put it mildly, an embarrassing failure. The book is unabashedly in favor of stimulant drug use, going so far as to dismiss the better part of those problems associated with said stimulants as being largely the result of insufficient legal access to speed, owing to pesky government restrictions. [...] If, however, the goal of The Amphetamine Debate is to provide aid, comfort, and what is essentially a resource guide for anyone wishing for greater legal access to stimulant medications––a resource guide camouflaged in a stupefyingly shallow way as a seriously researched impartial exploration of a difficult issue––than, for what’s it’s worth, I suppose the book is probably a success. However, woe betide anyone looking for a genuine engagement with the debate alluded to on the book’s cover. [ read more ]

If Western, Christian and modern society is marked by the strong stigma of drugs and their users, other experiences, in other times and cultures, may show a quite different scenario, for example, of the religious use and the positive associations of altered states of consciousness. This is the subject of the articles in The Ritual Use of Plants of Power. [ read more ]

The distinctions between drugs and food, vice and necessity, and medicine and poison may be found in history. The articles in Alcohol and Drugs in the History of Brazil show, for example, that modern mercantilism has favored the commerce of certain substances such as wine and tobacco, suppressing the use of others, which began to be associated with addiction and marginality and have been regarded as harmful to health. [ read more ]

Hanson paints a complex picture that includes findings from hundreds if not thousands of research studies. The heart of the book is a dissection of the effects of various commonly used psychoactive substances on the brain, and a discussion of possible treatment options, including newer pharmaceuticals compounds, that attempt to stem cravings and thus prevent the ubiquitous condition known as relapse. Hanson devotes three long chapters to discussing pharmacological agents used to treat substance abuse, addiction, and craving. Many new drugs either just coming on the market or not yet on the market are discussed. This detailed generalist account is probably the most comprehensive single work on the topic for the lay reader. [ read more ]

The stories and relationships in which Rasmussen seems to be most invested, and which he teases out in the greatest detail, concern the subtle (and not so subtle) ways that speed itself seemed to direct the evolution of culture in the United States—the culture of the American medical community, if nothing else. For a well crafted history and critique of the ongoing evolution of that “speed” with which we are plunging forward, and the chemicals that fuel and are fueled by it, we have Rasmussen to thank for his educational, entertaining, and ultimately troubling book. [ read more ]

With Speed-Speed-Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine (I’m not sure of the title’s significance; is that like ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’?), he delivers a terrific book on just about every aspect of the notorious substances, amphetamine and methamphetamine. He has some good sections on meth’s manufacture, its relationship to MDMA, and its function and dysfunction in the world of sex. Additionally, the book is full of personal anecdotes from Farren’s career as a British rocker playing in “punk-before-there-was-punk-rock” bands. [ read more ]

Originally published in 2008 under the title Peopled Darkness: Perceptual Transformation through Salvia divinorum, this book is based upon a series of experiences the author had over several years. Arthur is able to bypass the bewildering sensory effects of his initial experiences with an articulate analysis and description of a true “relationship” that he develops with the substance, especially with that of a 5X concentrate. [ read more ]

Much of Sage Spirit: Salvia divinorum and the Entheogenic Experience is comprised of journal-style descriptions and subsequent analyses of the author’s Salvia divinorum journeys, wherein he encounters a realm of other consciousnesses, beings, and intentions. A central element to his ritual is the use of rhythmic, patterned sound. The book concludes with thoughtful guidelines on how to conduct a salvia ceremony for groups or for the individual. [ read more ]

D. M. Turner, late author of The Essential Psychedelic Guide, produced the first slim book on the topic of Salvia divinorum. Thoughtfully and cogently written, Turner takes care to point out potential hazards from using the substance, such as severe-but-temporary disorientation. Although this book was written at the beginning of the salvia renaissance, it remains an excellent general treatment on the subject. [ read more ]

DeKorne, author of the influential Psychedelic Shamanism (1994), has written a masterful follow-up to his observations and insights, especially in regard to a spiritual and self-realizing path. I consider this work essential reading for anyone remotely interested in the metaphysical aspects of psychedelics. It’s also a very useful guide towards a non-dogmatic model of looking at the universe, and, as the book is subtitled, a way to transcend the 2012 myth. [ read more ]

Only 150 pages or so long, with color or black and white glossy illustrations on almost every page, High Society is presented as a visual history of the use of psychoactive substances, but Jay’s narrative transcends this. Such are Jay’s talents in telling this story and in picking what fascinating tidbits to include and what not to, this book would be almost as good without any illustrations whatsoever. [ read more ]

One of the most interesting features of this book is the fact that joining Ram Dass and Metzner—whose conversations with Bravo form the bulk of the text—are a rich assortment of shorter but no less personal statements by a wide selection of surviving individuals who were involved with psychedelics in the 1960s. If Leary, Ram Dass, and Metzner were the “fathers” of the movement, then these other folks were the mothers, foster-parents, midwives, baby-sitters, mischievous aunts and uncles, fellow travelers, and simple eyewitnesses to the growth of the culture that was birthed during that time. [ read more ]

Beyer’s book offers broad discussions more than new data or highly focused arguments; despite some arcane and fascinating discussions of magic stones and sex with plant spirits, I suspect that ethnobotanists and anthropologists familiar with the Amazon will find relatively few surprises. But the ant hills of detail are not the point. Singing to the Plants is designed to inform a wider audience–and gently bust some myths–by presenting this almost literally kaleidoscopic phenomenon through a number of distinct lenses: anthropology, ethnobotany, pharmacology, psychology, international law, cultural politics, and magic both crafty and occult. [ read more ]

A lengthy pamphlet could be written concerning the attitudinizing, the lack of documentation, the bias, the plain errors in these chapters, but it would be unfair to a conscientious public servant trying to deal level-headedly with the grave social problem of narcotics addiction. But psychedelics have nothing to do with narcotics addiction. We can only wonder at Dr. Louria’s orientation when he implies that the threat of general hedonism is a problem in the same category. This book is only of value for a knowledge of the context out of which so many of the future attacks on the use of psychedelics will be taken. [ read more ]

This is the first book for Feiling, a British documentary-filmmaker, and it is a rollicking work of muckraking advocacy journalism. He seems to have interviewed numerous people, from heads of state to street-level users and dealers, and everyone in-between. The conversational snippets he includes are elucidating and entertaining. Not really just a book about cocaine, this is a book about the stupidity and corruption that exemplify governance of our modern world, viewed through the lens of the cocaine trade. [ read more ]

Fadiman gets right to the guided session instruction without disclaimers and apologies—a courteous gesture considering we’ve waited for more than a generation already. The guidebook is replete with suggestions for both guide and voyager regarding everything from music, food and lighting to finer aesthetic points. The six aspects of the well-conceived voyage are set and setting (which you knew), but also: substance, sitter, session and situation. The six stages of a voyaging session are all simple and easily spelled out, as well, but this is rather like saying most of the paintings in the Louvre are made with canvas, brushes and paint: within Fadiman’s simple protocol exists a universe of possibilities. [ read more ]

Neal’s book Psychedelic Healing is a roadmap with a destination of the integration of Psychedelics into society. Along the way, Neal works to remove roadblocks preventing this, starting with the philosophical shift from psychology to psycheology weaving the soul (psyche is Greek for soul) back into the study of the core self. [ read more ]

Too many books are described as essential reading, but for anyone who has ever been touched in any way by substance abuse or other addictions, or for anyone who knows someone who has, and especially for anyone dealing professionally with medical and policy issues related to addictive drugs, this book simply must be read. Its importance cannot be overstated. [ read more ]

“Consciousness is at once the most obvious and the most difficult thing we can investigate.” Susan Blackmore expounds upon, parses, and analyzes the great question and subject of consciousness. The elusive subject is often defined here by that which it is not, seemingly to home in on the “right” questions to ask… [ read more ]

Davis makes connections, and he writes about making connections, and he traces much of this back to psychedelics, and in particular that mildest but most commonly used of psychedelics: weed. But that is the tip of the iceberg. Davis deeply understands psychedelics (and one would imagine, experientially), and he sees the formidable challenges they provoke. The other thing that Davis does that is important, and unbelievably rare, is to totally integrate the highest of high culture with the lowest of low; the world of intellectual theorists with the myriad subcultures of partiers who vastly outnumber them; the value of relying on science while retaining an appreciation for the essences of spiritual reality. [ read more ]

After examining the role of drugs in the success of various criminal groups, Glenny voices his strong support for legalization, characterizing prohibition as a major contributor to the existence of enormous networks of organized criminal activity around the globe. In particular, Glenny describes how the chaos that has long enveloped Colombia results directly from the utterly flawed logic of the war on drugs, with devastating effects on an agricultural-commodity-producing nation. He also provides evidence that the future of the large-scale trade in illegal drugs lies in synthetics. [ read more ]

The author tracks the experiences of twelve people, including himself, who have had the San Pedro experience. Carefully researched, this book is as much on spirituality and psychology as it is on the history and science of the enigmatic San Pedro cactus. The fact that this book works on so many different levels makes it a true pleasure to read and reread. [ read more ]

This fascinating and illuminating essay was one of four articles devoted to “The Herb Dangerous” that ran in the first volume of The Equinox, a review devoted to “Scientific Illuminism” that was edited by the notorious Aleister Crowley early in the 20th century. Arguing that hashish helps “roll away the stone” from the deeper dimensions of both ceremonial magic and Buddhist meditation, Crowley identifies three main effects of the drug. [ read more ]

Despite some issues with the nitty-gritty details, DeKorne’s book belongs alongside Terence McKenna’s i>True Hallucinations and D.M. Turner’s The Essential Psychedelic Guide as one of the best books to emerge from the psychedelic florescence of the early 1990s. [ read more ]

By the time the poet, plant alchemist, and sometimes computer programmer Dale Pendell published his mammoth three-volume Pharmako trilogy this last decade, the world had seen at least a century of texts attempting to squeeze spiritual insight and religious correlates out of psychoactive experience. Pendell, however, managed to write a work of erudition and imagination that was not only strikingly original, but also wise. Whipper-snappers would do well to study the content of these great books, along with their form—a patchwork of citations and lore and lyric flights that express the multidimensional quality of psychoactives themselves. [ read more ]

Chemical Cowboys helps elucidate some of the hidden commodity chain that ends with that serotonin kick flowing through you. Not much here on the production side, and virtually nothing on consumption; the book focuses on distribution. And the distributors described appear, with some exceptions, to be working for amoral and even psychopathological criminals. [ read more ]

Though The Spirit Molecule struggles to clearly define its overall message, the director is to be applauded for his bravery and persistence in reporting on this controversial topic. For readers of Dr. Strassman’s book, the film brings the characters to life and provides an intimate insight into the deep personal nature of their experiences. [ read more ]

Characterized simultaneously as a Fantastic Realist, a Surrealist, and a Psychedelic artist, Mati Klarwein’s art is difficult to pigeonhole. [ read more ]

Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930) produced his prose, poetry, musical compositions, and drawings while living as a patient at the Waldau Sanitarium, near Bern, Switzerland. Walter Morgenthaler, Wölfli’s physician, produced a unique look at Wölfli in Madness & Art; it is one of the first books to focus on the art of a mentally ill person, treating him as an artist of merit, rather than viewing his work solely as a symptom of disease. [ read more ]

So what’s all the fuss about? The Codex appears to have time-travelled from some future human world or parallel dimension. It is written in an impenetrable “language”, which may well be imaginary and untranslatable. Still, the more one looks at it, the more it seems to have a logical structure; the numbering system, for example, seems internally coherent. Read full text of review in original context… [ read more ]

In Part I, “Psychedelic Information Theory”, Kent lays out the multidisciplinary neuroscience that informs his Control Interrupt/Non-Linear Destabilization premise. This premise suggests that the primary action of psychedelics (mostly around 5-HT receptors, since that’s where research exists) is to destabilize neural network switching related to serotonergic and cholinergic visual processing, as well as the auditory, olfactory, and tactile senses. Part II, “Shamanism in the Age of Reason” extends the conversation into how tates of “neuroplasticity” are driven, by wave form mechanics, to internal, communal, and universal states of transpersonal consciousness, always with the question of how the information is valued. [ read more ]

A joint publication between The Beckley Foundation Press and the Oxford University Press, The Pharmacology of LSD is the first comprehensive review into the pharmacological effects of LSD and comes at a critical time in the re-emergence of research into psychedelic substances. [ read more ]

Orange Sunshine nicely complements other accounts of the cultural history of acid in the 60s such as Storming Heaven and Acid Dreams. Read those for the insightful discussions of the major political shifts and cultural changes of that singular and incredible era, as well as for the equally incredible story of the CIA’s engagement with acid. But read Orange Sunshine for the kicks. [ read more ]

Once a “devout atheist”, the author’s introduction to 5-MeO-DMT left him searching and researching for answers on how he came to experience such an intense spiritual awakening. He fortunately does not proselytize too much, making it clear that this is his own personal journey. With Tryptamine Palace, Oroc has presented a kind of syllabus or roadmap for not just 5-MeO-DMT, but most “true entheogens”, those substances that generate “the god within”. [ read more ]

Small towns frequently have high rates of drug use, but the heavy pot and psychedelic use of an earlier era didn’t give rise to nearly as many people setting themselves on fire, blowing up their houses or trailers, or losing their teeth, minds, relationships, and lives. Life in a small Midwestern town during the 2000s seems grimmer by an order of magnitude, though as Nick Reding explains in Methland, meth may be more symptom than cause of this decline. [ read more ]

If you are a geek for reading about psychedelic experiences and unusual juxtapositions (Comparing salvia space with the effects achieved from huffing aerosolized cooking oil… PAM, anyone? Or, tripping in a chicken coop?), and especially if you loved Zoe Seven’s books, give this one a whirl. If you hate trip reports, or if you are attached to having an “eBook” that at least pretends to be formatted like a book, consider pocketing your five bucks and looking elsewhere. [ read more ]

What Alli is doing with his book here is to not only further focus the ideas of the 8-circuit model proposed by Leary and Wilson, but to offer a program of various exercises, both mental and physical, to assist the reader in achieving a higher evolution of mind integration. [ read more ]

Scarcely pausing for a breath (except perhaps to inhale), Davis guides readers through a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is governed by a central computer intelligence, pretending to solve mankind’s problems via implanted computer technology permitting it to directly communication with citizens. [ read more ]

Lattin is a lively, skilled story-teller and adds details, especially interpersonal ones, that have been missing so far … he “recreates” numerous dialogues, and in the front matter says when possible he checked his reconstructions with at least one person who took part in the various conversations. [ read more ]

There are plenty of books written on the subject of ayahuasca out there, but this is definitely one of the best and most fascinating. Reading this book is akin to being shrunk into one of Pablo Amaringo’s paintings, where every square inch is a fractal segment of shamanic jungle lore and imagery. Tindall is an excellent and well-read writer, quoting from and referring to various literary sources, from Shakespeare to Thoreau, to wonderful effect. His ongoing candid observations of his own condition throughout the book allow the reader to be wholly empathetic to his story and make for a great read. [ read more ]

Whether or not the experiences themselves can be explained by the current scientific paradigm, it unquestionably is good science to describe and catalog the wide range of psychological mind states that When the Impossible Happens expounds upon. Stan is to be commended for presenting this documentation in a thoroughly enjoyable read. [ read more ]

Whether or not the ethylene theory holds any water, Broad’s descriptions of forgotten and arcane topography maps and sulfurous cliffside vents make for some very intriguing reading. [ read more ]

This book is based on a college course, and is presented in an informal, basic and easy-to-read format. I highly recommend it for the vast spectrum of relevant and interesting facts on the past and present history of the United States’ relationship with controlled substances. The big problem with the book is not the facts or subject material, but the shoddy presentation in terms of punctuation, typos, etc. [ read more ]

What happened to LSD psychotherapy in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) after Stan Grof came to the United States? This book describes the work of Dr. Milan Hausner, Medical Director of a psychiatric clinic in Sadská, near Prague, who supervised over 3,000 therapeutic LSD sessions from 1954 to 1980. [ read more ]

Delusions of Normality is one of those gifts that does a lot of heavy lifting for you—now you don’t have to read all the newspapers, books, and sociological sources Harpignies uses to gather facts, or at least patterns, that deconstruct mainstream assumptions about the depth and breadth of kinkiness or graft or drug gobbling in American life. [ read more ]

Weekends at Bellevue is the story of a cocky young doctor transformed into a thoughtful caregiver. Through understanding her own mental foibles, Holland becomes better equipped to deal with the issues of her psych patients. People fascinated by the ways in which the mind works, and how it can go off track, will greatly enjoy reading her tale. [ read more ]

The solution to addiction must be addressed through a transformation of society from one whose legal (and illegal) addictions are fueled by a free market philosophy to a society that recognizes the importance of meaningful psychosocial integration. The author outlines how this can be done politically, academically, and religiously.
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Huston Smith tracks his nearly ninety-year journey, which he divides into a horizontal, secular dimension and a vertical, sacred dimension. The first is a feet-on-the-ground report of adventures on earth; the second reports on his head and heart as they explore spiritual geography and time. [ read more ]

Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s search takes her to research anecdotes on mystical experiences and their transformation of people’s lives, unusual healing, genetics, psychedelic drugs with special emphasis on the Native American Church’s use of peyote, and the psilocybin experiments of the Roland Griffiths team at Johns Hopkins. Two odd omissions: the author cites neither Huston Smith’s Cleansing the Doors of Perception nor One Nation Under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church (co-edited by Smith and Reuben Snake), and fails to mention Ralph Hood’s Mysticism Scale and its years of use.
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Much has been written about Leary and his compatriots, but Albion Dreaming retains a gritty UK perspective. From the still-secret experiments conducted at Britain’s military research establishment at Porton Down, to Ronald Sandison, a doctor who opened the world’s first specialized LSD psychotherapy unit at Powick Hospital in Worcestershire in 1952, the author packs the pages with a riotous selection of well-sourced anecdotes. [ read more ]

...An unforgettable read about an unforgettable time. Regardless of your taste for their music, this is an invaluable account of not only a seminal American band, but of the very roots of the psychedelic counter-culture itself. The book is full of priceless anecdotes on what it was like to be a head in the then-hostile Texas environment, as well as insights into the West Coast musical and cultural scenes. Innumerable punk, new wave, and psychedelic bands have counted the 13th Floor Elevators as an influence. [ read more ]

Mike Jay, in The Atmosphere of Heaven, explores the golden age of gentleman amateurs—the years prior to and following the French Revolution—through the life of Dr. Thomas Beddoes, the founder of the Medical Pneumatic Institution, which was dedicated to the alleviation of suffering through the new possibilities of chemical medicine, and in particular, “factitious airs”, the newly isolated gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. [ read more ]

It is the second half of both The Age of Wonder and The Atmosphere of Heaven that considerably overlap, centering on the life and career of Humphry Davy and his experiments with nitrous oxide at the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. Beddoes hired Davy as his assistant physician and researcher at the Institution in 1798. Thus Beddoes becomes the crucial link in a chain that runs, we might say, Priestley → Beddoes → Davy → Faraday → Maxwell → Einstein. [ read more ]

The author shares an intensely personal but phenomenological account that wrestles with the scores of important and sometimes contradictory ideas that psychedelics can bring to mind. His experience of “the acid” toys with his concepts of personal and collective identity, shifting their boundaries in unexpected ways, as he undergoes dramatic alterations in consciousness that suggest new borders or horizons of self, other, and world. This is a rich, dense, philosophical, and psychological trip memoir. It may not be playful, but it is deep. [ read more ]

A gem from my favorite poet-author, Inspired Madness: The Gifts of Burning Man by Dale Pendell offers an excellent introduction for the curious virgin, while providing enough insight to stir a longing desire for pilgrimage in the most jaded, dust-encrusted veteran burner. [...] it contains no photographs, but is sprinkled instead with whimsically potent line drawings—art that captures the heart of the event like no other art I have seen. [ read more ]

Beyond the unsuccessful humorous Zombie premise, factual problems throughout demonstrate a lack of expertise on the topics at hand. While some errors of fact will creep into any work, it seems clear that Johnson did not have a qualified fact-checker edit his writing before publishing it. In addition to errors of fact, what cements this book as unsafe for children is when the author tells some young readers that their parents “don’t really love [them]”. Despite a few positive messages and possibly useful anti-drug content, this book is unsuitable for children until it is re-written. [ read more ]

An examination of America’s legacy of vilifying some substances and deifying others. In an exhaustive series of well-referenced examples, the author updates the concept, discussing recent developments such as congressional hearings on tobacco and the troubling state of the antidepressant industry. He explores how the reputation of a drug, as well as its effects, are often heavily dependent on contextual factors distinct from its pharmacological action. [ read more ]

Fourteen years after its publication, On Drugs still feels fresh in its call to move beyond divisive posturing and verbal constructions that quell discourse on one of the most significant questions we should be asking: how do drug-taking behaviors reflect and shape personal and societal consciousness? An intellectually invigorating yet down-to-earth pharmacography.
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Tastes of Paradise offers refreshingly succinct social analyses of the roles that spices, coffee, tea, chocolate, tobacco, and alcohol have played in Western culture, and complements longer works that cover similar territory, such as Dale Pendell’s Pharmako~ trilogy. [ read more ]

Author Zoe Seven’s magnum opus on contacting spirit forces, conspiracy theories, and working in Brazil with his plant allies, ayahuasca and Salvia divinorum. [ read more ]

Originally written in Portuguese—the language in which the majority of writings about ayahuasca religions have appeared—the book’s release in an English-language edition offers a reference guide that promises to stimulate further dialogue between people working with ayahuasca in ritual settings, and those from the scientific world. [ read more ]

An excellent resource for those interested in indoor and outdoor psychoactive mushroom cultivation; it appears to be the most elaborate and thorough text on the subject since Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide, written by Oss and Oeric. [...] complements the methods described by Oss and Oeric, and includes overviews on more recent methods, including the PF Tek and outdoor cultivation approaches for Psilocybe species not even known to exist three decades ago. [ read more ]

Ball has definitely covered previously unwritten ground in his discussion of Salvia divinorum. This is a significant contribution, which helps flesh out Terence McKenna’s oft-repeated urgings for us all to “map out hyperspace.” With all the easy talk of entheogenic shamanism this past decade or so, Ball steps up to the plate and provides concrete examples and structures to work with. [ read more ]

The author wisely chose to focus Peopled Darkness entirely on his own first-person experiences with the plant, and the philosophical questions that those experiences raised. While many people try any given drug once or twice, and can write up spectacular trip reports or even hit the lecture circuit as “experts,” relating riveting tales of their limited encounters, it is much more difficult to take the time to develop a long-term relationship with a single plant ally, like Arthur has done with Salvia divinorum. [ read more ]

The novice and experienced alike will be wowed by Leary’s articulation of the mental and physical sensations of his drug trips. A good collection of writings for anyone with even a fleeting interest in Leary or psychedelics. The majority of writings from the 1960s are presented within the context of the psychedelic movement and the new people and drugs that threatened to upset the status quo in America. Similarly, those writings from the 1990s focus on technology’s role in the future. [ read more ]

The quality of the art in Metamorphosis is absolutely breathtaking. Herein you will not find any fractal, computer, or totally abstract art; what binds this collection together is an emphasis on a classic approach. The editors have struck an excellent balance between light and dark themes, as well as drawing from a truly international pool of creative souls. The images are so varied and intense that I found it impossible to absorb the book in one sitting. [ read more ]

Mark Plotkin, who now runs an Amazonian preservation organization, delivers a fascinating story about his travels to the jungles of South America in search of medicinal plants. ...So elegantly detailed and well-written that even 16 years after its initial publication, it is still a must-read for anyone remotely interested in plant-based shamanism, or even for those just looking for a great book about life and adventure in the jungle.
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Exploring this book is a delight, with jewel-like bursts of color surprising the viewer down every passageway and excavated chamber. Like ineffable experiences of the Godhead, so too the impact of the art and architecture that make up the Temples of Humankind can not be adequately expressed in the words of any review. Quite simply, Damanhur: Temples of Humankind belongs in every entheoart lover’s library. [ read more ]

[A]n exhaustive overview detailing the botany, geography, history, mythology, archeology, chemistry, and pharmacology of this widely used entheogen. ...The book is considerably enhanced by 59 high quality black & white plates, 41 of which contain photographs. Many of the remaining plates are attractive pen-and-ink drawings by Donna Torres. ...All in all, this is as solid a reference book as I can possibly imagine, and one which should grace the shelves of every entheophile’s library. [ read more ]

Free of any political or medical pretense, Siegel deftly covers the past, present and future of drugs. Moreover, he rarely reveals his roots in academia by drowning the reader with overwrought or technical language. His anecdotes are insightful, if occasionally suspicious, but help make Intoxication a snappy and informative read. [ read more ]

Klea grew up in the swirling penumbra of Terence’s peculiar shadow, and, like many children of famous and colorful folk, had to consciously define her own creative voice apart from her father’s world. In its first, gallery iteration, The Butterfly Hunter did not mention her father’s name, because she wanted the work to stand on its own merit. It is a mark of her courage that her book takes on Terence’s legacy, and a mark of her success that she does it with such candor and care. [ read more ]

an uneven book that makes a heroic effort to describe the potent psychedelic entheogen from many points of view. It describes the use of this plant by the Bwiti tradition of West Central Africa from its earliest recorded history in the nineteenth century through the present day. [ read more ]

...how did America’s relationship with psychoactive substances become so troubled? In The Cult of Pharmacology Richard DeGrandpre argues that dominant voices in US culture and science distort our understanding of psychoactive substances through a form of essentialism he calls “pharmacologicalism”, in which drug effects are explained entirely by the physical and chemical properties of the drugs themselves. [ read more ]

This is a remarkable book. Epidemiologist Leigh A. Henderson, as a consultant to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and NIDA Project Officer William J. Glass started with the government’s own survey data, worked with the authors of a new, individual and community-level ethnographic study, analyzed and interpreted these half-dozen data sets very conservatively, and ended up concluding that LSD is relatively safe and the laws far too severe. Some would say that these conclusions are still too conservative. Perhaps that’s the point: Even a conservative reading of government data will not support today’s absolutist attitudes and draconian laws. [ read more ]

The Cacahuatl Eater leaves no stone unturned in telling the story of mighty chocolate. Ott sketches the cultivation of the plant Theobroma cacao from seed to sprout to fruit, then follows the harvested bean all the way through the production process to the dessert plate. He considers the cultural history of cacao, focusing on its use by the Aztecs, who not only drank a frothy, bitter beverage brewed from its beans, but used them as currency as well. [ read more ]

A good accompaniment to Ruck et al’s The Apples of Apollo. Recommended for university, major public libraries, and psychedelia collectors. Too much ancient-history context for my taste, but it may suit the taste of classicists who are willing to accept Hillman’s claim that in ancient Greece and Rome the non-medical uses of psychoactive plants was widespread and widely accepted as a natural part of life. [ read more ]

Focus on Hallucinogens is much better than it could be. While it does not acknowledge that anyone in the modern world could take psychedelics and have a pleasant or useful experience, it is well-researched and it contains some good information. Shulman offers a decent middle school primer to hallucinogens and gives a serviceable overview of the history of their use in traditional cultures. [ read more ]

Real Drugs in a Virtual World addresses issues such as how harm reduction websites, including Erowid, affect the use of club drugs, how drug information websites are utilized by drug-using subcultures, how individuals assess the accuracy of online drug information, and the impact of the internet on face-to-face conversations about drug use. [...] This book and a handful of academic papers constitute the breadth of research to date examining this critical issue. We appreciate the authors dipping their toes into this topic and hope that others follow in their footsteps. [ read more ]

Volume II of Psychedelic Medicine provides an in-depth transpersonal perspective of how psychedelics may facilitate spiritual healing, as well as some of the contraindications to psychedelic use that need to be discussed. [ read more ]

Among books on psychoactive mushrooms, Shroom is unprecedented in the degree to which the author demands that arguments be supported by evidence. No brief review can do justice to the rich detail and close analysis that Letcher offers. This is an essential book on the subject, and an important step forward in the evolution of how we talk about the history of entheogens. [ read more ]

This book will go a long way in providing balance in order to critically weigh information both favorable and critical of psychedelic substances. Despite political pressure, psychedelics are here to stay and current research cited supports the premise that there can be medical applications under controlled conditions. Even critics may find it difficult to deny use of these substances to those with psychological diagnoses resistant to treatment (e.g. PTSD) and those who suffer from chronic and intractable disease, such as cancer. Furthermore, the unsuccessful treatment of the social diseases of our times (i.e. addictions) opens the door to such an alternative treatment modality. [ read more ]

This two-volume treatise serves a useful purpose not only in providing an update on the limited number of hallucinogenic drugs that already have some therapeutic application (based on relatively limited research), but also by covering the history of these mind-altering drugs and the cultural, social, political, legal, economic, and ethical factors that have encumbered research on these compounds. Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. [ read more ]

This is the first professional study of ayahuasca from the perspective of cognitive psychology, and so far as I know, it is the most academically sophisticated example of how the cognitive sciences might approach other diverse mindbody states too. In data collection, detailed interpretation, and theoretical grounding, Antipodes sets a standard that future cognitive psychologists will strive to live up to. [ read more ]

In this self-published book, Poison I.V., one of the many aliases of the online mini-celebrity, records her long and winding trip from her first time to near-death experiences and back to sobriety. While many people have disapproved of her attitude in the past, this collection of experiences is well worth the read, and the message is positive. [...] The collection also spans a wide variety of substances including most psychedelics. The book chronicles the author’s love affair with methamphetamine, and the detriments to her health she suffered because of it (hospital visits, etc.). [ read more ]

With its all-star cast – Albert Hofmann, Stanislav Grof, Laura Huxley, Humphry Osmond, Abram Hoffer, Myron Stolaroff, Duncan Blewett, Ram Dass, and Ralph Metzner—Director Connie Littlefield’s Hofmann’s Potion chronicles and demystifies major psychedelic events of the 50s, 60s, and 70. The film is well-composed, both in content and artistically. Beautiful shots of the prairie, water reflecting light, and other nature scenes raise the tape to an artistic step above the usual documentary. [ read more ]

... [T]he shadow side of this book’s legacy is that it has helped create a state of confusion among its readership. Strassman’s outstanding work is marred by unsubstantiated speculation regarding possible connections between meditation, death and dying, the pineal gland, endogenous DMT, and quantum mechanics. [ read more ]

The Herb Dangerous series is comprised of four distinct works by four different authors. They are collected here under one cover, along with a 65-page introduction by Israel Regardie, who was one of Crowley’s best students and widely considered to be one of the twentieth century’s most important occult authors. [...] I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the relationship between psychoactives and the mystical or religious experience… [ read more ]

This book is particularly memorable for its many wonderful accounts of animal intoxication. Despite the title, most of the cases that Samorini recounts do not involve psychedelics, though he does describe some greedy goats refusing to share Psilocybe mushrooms. Like Jonathan Ott in Pharmacophilia, Samorini contends that intoxication is natural. It is an instinctual drive commonly found in many animal species, and not the debased artifact of corrupt human society that it is commonly believed to be. [ read more ]

Hunter S. Thompson’s magnum opus records a semi-fictionalized drug-fueled torpedo ride through the incandescent heart of Las Vegas in search of the American Dream. Ablaze with mescaline, LSD, cannabis, ether – hell, you name it – Thompson’s literary alter-ego Raoul Duke wanders under the bright lights of the strip with his attorney Dr. Gonzo. [ read more ]

Personal accounts, which include the author’s own struggle with her alcoholic sister, are presented alongside statistics that examine race, sex, and class differences, as well as a bibliography and index that provide quite a bit of what a drinking woman (or dry alcoholic) needs to know in order to battle the demon in the bottle. The cover of the paperback is quite appropriate. The title is blurred on top of a black background; below, a lone woman holds a wine glass. [ read more ]

Nearly 60 years after it was published, Carbon Dioxide Therapy remains the definitive statement on carbogen as a psychiatric tool for treatment of neurosis. The book’s author administered a blend called “Meduna’s Mixture”, consisting of 30% carbon dioxide and 70% oxygen, to hundreds of patients, and the results of his research are copiously document in this engaging monograph. Exposure to increased levels of carbon dioxide can be dangerous or even be fatal, but Meduna encountered no serious problems in administering his 70/30 blend in sessions of up to 50 breaths in length. [ read more ]

This book does an excellent job of succinctly covering the history of Salvia divinorum up to the new millennium, pulling together the various aspects of ethnobotany, pharmacology, cultivation, chemistry, and contemporary use, into one place for the first time. Alas, it doesn’t present any recent information . . . do we really need another book on Salvia divinorum at this point? The answer may be “yes,” but predominantly because this book is in German, and hence will reach an audience that might have a hard time reading the myriad of information that is already available in English. [ read more ]

In his remarkably entertaining new popular science book . . . software engineer Ramez Naam walks us through a giddying array of possible futures, all of which have very real and very clear roots in the science of the present day. In chapters such as “Choosing Our Bodies,” “Choosing Our Minds,” and “A Child of Choice,” Naam offers case study after case study demonstrating how techniques originally intended to heal will eventually be used to enhance the human experience. [ read more ]

Although these essays were originally published in various other places, they have recently been edited liberally for inclusion in this volume, making the collection a unique offering. The book wrestles with Smith’s essential question: “Do drugs have a religious/spiritual importance?” . . . This edition of Cleansing the Doors of Perception is well produced, with an easy-to-read layout and font, on a cream-toned paper, and an adequate index. [ read more ]

Charles Hayes has brought together a mind-blowing collection of first-person psychonautical voyages in his book Tripping: An Anthology of True-life Psychedelic Adventures. Hayes is a gifted writer whose edgy style accurately conveys the various nuances of the psychedelic experience without being overblown. The book’s introduction provides the appropriate historical nods, while showcasing Hayes’ exhaustive knowledge and understanding of the topic, and exposing the cutting edge of current underground drug culture. [ read more ]

Robert Forte has compiled an excellent selection of “appreciations, castigations, and reminiscences” as a festschrift to Dr. Timothy Leary. Along the way we hear tales from John Beresford, William S. Burroughs, Ram Dass, Allen Ginsberg, Albert Hofmann, Aldous Huxley , Ken Kesey, Terence McKenna, Claudio Naranjo, Thomas Riedlinger, Winona Ryder, Myron Stolaroff, Hunter S. Thompson, Andrew Weil, Robert Anton Wilson, Rosemary Woodruff, and many others. An impressive cast of characters to be sure. [ read more ]

The book is a cornucopia of arcane his/herstories of plants and their effects on human civilization. Information swims through these pages—information untold and unrevealed, except for the most curious amongst the connoisseurs of plant inebriants. Information to get lost in… information to find yourself in… information that reveals secrets… information to set a course for distant shores with… [ read more ]

The First International Conference was held in New York City in 1999, and this book collects the proceedings, plus more. Adding to pharmaceutical and toxicology research is new information regarding therapies that use ibogaine, including traditional Bwiti therapies, various encounter and shock therapies, dream therapies—even amateur therapies using ibogaine in uncontrolled doses, based on self-help models. [ read more ]

Across eleven chapters, Pickover cuts a wide swath with his literary machete, hacking through such subjects as language, DMT, machine elves, Terence McKenna, his hometown in upstate New York, book publishing, the virus theory of language, Einstein, God, transcendence, the Big Crunch, and, oh yeah, Burning Man. ... Sex, Drugs, Einstein, & Elves isn’t so much a coherent narrative as a pastiche of thoughts, a stew where nearly everything – including a porcelain kitchen sink – has been tossed in. [ read more ]

Each of Carpenter’s chapters contains numerous descriptions of encounters with what seems to be an internal ecology of the mind. If nothing else, even if you take Carpenter’s writing with a grain or even a boulder of salt, this makes for some very interesting reading on at least a science-fiction level, like some DXM remix of Flatland or A Voyage to Arcturus. [ read more ]

The background that Moffitt Cook provides is “just enough,” and one can listen to the musical track without feeling mentally overloaded or taxed. The accompanying CD consists of 18 representative songs that each particular shaman uses. [ read more ]

It may be a rare thing for a second edition of a book to warrant its own review, but such is definitely the case with the new edition of the Schultes’ and Hofmann’s 1979 classic Plants of the Gods. Any and all criticism of this book should be viewed as minor, as it is truly a marvelous work. Rätsch has taken a great book and made it better. Especially if you own the first edition, you owe it to yourself to pick up this revamp. It is visual delight, a joy to read cover-to-cover, and it will no doubt be revisited repeatedly for years to come. [ read more ]

Sutin seems to have no agenda beyond telling us the story of his subject’s life as well as can be gathered from the source material available (which he seems to have studied well). Sutin makes no claims without verifiable sources, and he also does a fine job of carefully and fairly pointing out inconsistencies and differing accounts from different sources (or sometimes from different works by Crowley himself). This is refreshing, as most writers on Crowley seem to want to either condemn or praise him. [ read more ]

Ball offers a practical guide to ways of thinking about mushrooms and their capabilities. [ read more ]

...informative, well researched and well presented. Neither a coffee table book nor light reading, Booth’s work is an in-depth look at the cultural history of the cannabis plant that manages to be both readable and educating. [ read more ]

Some of the material in this book is irreducibly technical and will be intelligible only to people with backgrounds in chemistry. However, the novice reader can easily skim the brief technical digressions and understand the majority of the book.
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...a fascinating book about a Peruvian shaman who performs (or performed) healing ceremonies employing San Pedro cactus as the sacrament and medicine. Evidently this book is a transcription of a filmed documentary that took place in 1978. Even with nothing but the black-and-white still shots from the film as illustration, the book sustains the reader’s interest from cover to cover. [ read more ]

Two books under one cover: a call to draw us out of the Dark Ages in which we live into a brighter future where people can reconnect with the spirit through the immediate experience of the sacred through the ingestion of entheogens (sacred plants, hallucinogens, psychedelics or what have you); and a dictionary of terms related to divine inebriants, shamanism, psychonautica and the like. [ read more ]

In addition to providing an important window into the formerly-classified world of US chemical weapons research, Chemical Warfare is a valuable source of information on a plethora of psychoactive compounds, including BZ (QNB), LSD, THC, scopolamine, and atropine. Technical information included in a long Appendix will greatly interest the specialist, particularly toxicologists and pharmacologists. [ read more ]

Here we have no more than a collection of case reports on people with alcohol and/or illicit drug problems who have engaged with a number of psychotherapists in the USA. So what’s new – what is this “new treatment for drug and alcohol problems”? What’s new is that these are case studies from the USA where the goal of abstinence and dutiful adherence to the disease concept and 12-step approaches to therapy are not observed. [ read more ]

Journalist John Marks filed a Freedom of Information Act suit against the CIA and received seven boxes of documents pertaining to MKULTRA. The destruction of these records had been ordered by CIA head Richard Helms and MKULTRA director Sidney Gottlieb in 1972, but they were spared through a clerical error. Marks reviewed the heavily-redacted material and supplemented his research with extensive interviews of numerous key figures. The results of his investigation are documented in this book. [ read more ]

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. [ read more ]

In the recent book Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics, a number of the contributors have recognized the value of psychedelics and have pointed out ways in which they can be helpful and of value. While many of the presentations provide deeper understanding of the value and benefits of employing psychedelics, my own experience indicates that there remains room for further understanding and clarification that can provide more effective results. In fact, in some instances it is reported that states are reached when psychedelics are no longer indicated. While in my paper cited above I point out that such a stage can and should be reached, in some of the situations reported the full potential of psychedelics has not been recognized. Very often the desire to abandon further psychedelic exploration is the result of reaching heavily defended areas in the psyche which are quite painful, yet which when resolved result in enormous gains in profound understanding and well being. In other situations, important attributes and methods of enhanced achievement have not be recognized. [ read more ]

I would imagine there are other books that go into more detail on this, but I found Plant’s chapters on the hidden politics of cocaine and heroin to be fascinating. She also goes into some detail about a number of other interesting subtopics related to drugs in history. [ read more ]

Fans of Terence McKenna’s work will not find anything new from him in this book. However, it is interesting to see his peculiar ideas bounced off Abraham and Sheldrake. [ read more ]

In this novel, every important image becomes its own opposite. At the center of the circle, like the ringleader of symbols, is the drug. What is Substance D? We are never told of its effects. I imagine it to be something like a mix of ketamine and methamphetamine. We are told that there are two kinds of people: those who are addicted to Substance D, and those who haven’t tried it. [ read more ]

The Road to Eleusis is an entertaining and engaging read. It argues well, but not convincingly. We do not know for certain if hallucinogens were employed in the rites of Eleusis, much less if said hallucinogens were derived from ergot. The authors have made brilliant and sometimes strong arguments on behalf of their theory, but ultimately, and ironically, the conviction that Ruck and Wasson exude persuades the reader against their thesis, for it appears that in this matter there can be no certainty.
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In The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art, Lewis-Williams draws on his own previous work, and also that of cognitive psychologists like Heinrich Klüver and Ronald Siegel and anthropologists like Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, who have cumulatively demonstrated that, in altered states, the same visual and sensory phenomena are generated both in the lab and in the field. [ read more ]

Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday Practice of Enlightened Living is not a book about Yoga poses or how to achieve the perfect body. It is exactly what the title describes, a work on utilizing Yoga daily to learn who we are as individuals. Chapter by chapter, Farhi show us how we can cope with living in the word as part of the collective. It doesn’t matter how you start Yoga or why, but do it and see where it leads you on the path to self-awareness and acceptance of others. [ read more ]

In Psychedelic Horizons, Dr. Tom Roberts sums up his fascination with psychoactives in the following words: “As an educational psychologist, I am grateful to psychedelics for teaching me that our minds function in many mindbody states.” The exploration of the concept of different mindbody states is one of the more intriguing theories in Dr. Roberts’ book. [ read more ]

In Shroom, Andy Letcher has cut through this dense tangle of pseudohistory and urban legend with bracing scepticism, clearing the space for an elegant and authoritative telling of the true story that it conceals. He establishes that although fungi have fascinated, inspired and revolted us throughout history, and one source of this fascination has certainly been their strange intoxicating properties, there are only two parts of the world – Mexico and Siberia – where there is clear evidence that these properties have been deliberately sought out and culturally sanctioned. [ read more ]

2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl alternates frequently between first-person accounts and third-person reporting, but throughout, Pinchbeck’s tone remains conversational. Events from his personal life unify the text, allowing the reader direct access to Pinchbeck’s motivations and the seeds of his hypotheses. [ read more ]

To honor her apprenticeship with various smoking mixtures, Ross wrote this charming, curious little book, which combines a “mix” of personal reflections, aphorisms, recipes, quotations, and practical data on around 150 seeds, flowers, roots, and plants that Native Americans have huffed and that you can too… [ read more ]

...an excellent book for those interested in the social, political, ethical, spiritual and historical aspects of the religious use of entheogens. Edited by Robert Forte, this collection includes essays, interviews and transcripts of speaking engagements from various authors with differing areas of expertise approaches the topic of the religious use of entheogens. [ read more ]

Claudia Müller-Ebeling’s contributions are the highlights of the book. Based on works of artists living in early modern times (e.g. Albrecht Dürer, Hans Baldung Grien) she presents the image of the witch as seen by these artists or their patrons. However, one cannot say if living “examples” of this image have ever really existed. (Klapp) ...Klapp finds the book useless at filling the casual gaps in his personal knowledge. But hopefully the more important and justifiable objections of Klapp’s nitpicking do no harm to all those healing magical words. (Holbein) [ read more ]

Wilson draws upon a variety of disciplines to tease the “Soma” out the Irish Celtic past. Anthropology, mythology, entheogen studies, comparative religion, linguistics and etymology, and other approaches are employed. He presents his theme as a reasonable suspicion, one that may lead to further evidence if experts in various fields should be inspired by his research. Writing on a more mythopoetic level, Wilson gives us a fascinating perspective on Soma as a tertium quid, a third dimension or reconciliation of a number of dichotomies… [ read more ]

If you were to buy only one book on mushroom cultivation, this would be it. Armed with The Mushroom Cultivator, absolute beginners will not need any other book, as Chilton and Stamets provide all that the reader needs to know from the beginning to the end of the mushroom-growing process. Although psilocybian mushrooms are included, these are neither the exclusive nor main focus of the book. For the most part, the authors focus on legal edible mushrooms that can be grown openly in the home or yard.

[ read more ]

The California-based poet and herbalist Dale Pendell has made the place of plant knowledge his home. In three volumes—Pharmako/Poeia (1994), Pharmako/Dynamis (2002), and now Pharmako/Gnosis (2005)—he has covered the gamut from the stimulants to the sedatives, and with his latest has given us an extensive treatment of the hallucinogens. [ read more ]

One could say that Trout’s Notes on San Pedro is to Trichocereus cacti species what Alexander Shulgin’s TiHKAL
is to tryptamines. And just as only chemists with interest in tryptamines could fully appreciate TiHKAL, only botanists with a special interest in mescaline-containing cacti can fully appreciate Trout’s Notes. [ read more ]

It is heartening to see Grey’s recent stylistic development being applied in both new and familiar ways; the mark of a good artist is one who isn’t afraid to reinvent himself from time to time. Clearly Grey has his chops down, and I am pleased to see the new directions that he is taking, while retaining the spiritual focus that causes his art to rise above the nihilist, post-modern abstractions that litter the art community like so many disturbing—yet dull—abortions. [ read more ]

Metzner is to be commended for putting together a solid collection of subjective and objective information that illuminates the potential healing quality of ayahuasca. The stories of personal growth are compelling, and the scientific evidence presented speaks to the relative safety of ayahuasca when properly consumed. While there are sure to be a multitude of books published on the topic in years to come, Ayahuasca should stand the test of time as an historically significant contribution on contemporary psychonautical therapy. [ read more ]

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 ... [ read more ]

Jonathan Ott’s latest book kicks off with a poem. In reviewing this, it would be unfair to both the reader and to Mr. Ott, if I didn’t make it clear that—in general—I am not a fan of poetry. With that noted, I can say that I almost wasn’t able to read “Phytomphalos” in its entirety. Ott’s poem is heavily inspired ... [ read more ]

My first impression of this book was the smell of its leather cover—gorgeous, and quite appropriate that a book on snuffs would engage the reader in such a manner. Indeed, the slipcase, the binding, the luxurious paper (which contributed its own crisp smell), the line drawings by Elmer W. Smith, the excellent typography, and even a woven burgundy place-holding ribbon, ... [ read more ]

Marlene Dobkin de Rios is an anthropology scholar who specialized in the relationship between primitive societies—essentially from the american continent—and mind-altering substances. In her book Hallucinogens: Cross Cultural Perspectives, 11 traditional societies are examined, some of them long-gone and some still active. [ read more ]

David F. Musto presents a penetrating assessment of the history of American anti-drug policies, and the impact of propaganda on public opinion. There is no single book that does a better job of summarizing the history of—and motivations driving—the intensive efforts directed against those who use inebriating substances, and how social controls on these people have been orchestrated within American ... [ read more ]

With Psychedelics Reimagined, Thomas Lyttle has assembled a diverse collection of writings, and as has been consistently true for his past works, this book will be of great interest to anyone with a love for this field. However this particular work also has substantial value for many other people. While it could just as easily have been entitled Psychedelic Monographs ... [ read more ]

In 1963, Harriette Frances went to the International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park, California, to explore whether a legal substance being used at that time for psychotherapy could straighten out or enrich her life. She had been suffering from serious depression and had attempted to commit suicide. This mother/wife/artist was desperate, yet also searching for something ... [ read more ]

A quick read loaded with insights, The Secret Chief Revealed serves multiple purposes effectively. The actual “text” of the conversations is less than 100 pages, but the introductions, forward, prologue, tribute, epilogue, appendixes, additional tributes, and a special section devoted to resources, introduce the reader to some of the main personalities involved in psychedelic research, and extend the book ... [ read more ]

An illustrated pocket-sized book on how to deal with being the underdog in the war on drugs in America, Busted provides tips on how to avoid cops, observations of a variety of situations with the law (most gone bad) and useful charts, such as how long you’ll do time if you’re caught with weed in Arizona as opposed to Michigan. ... [ read more ]

Ayahuasca Analogues is certainly not light reading, although it is a slim book of a mere 127 pages. As those who appreciate the writings of Jonathan Ott would expect, this book is dense with information: detailed, technical, extensive, and thorough, for those who want to know all there is to know about the history, pharmacology and pharmacognacy ... [ read more ]

If I were to teach a course about psychedelics, the first book I would have my students read is Higher Wisdom. Edited by Roger Walsh and Charles Grob, this gem of a book provides in-depth interviews with fourteen psychedelic luminaries. Collectively, their published books, papers, lectures, and research reports would take up a significant amount of shelf space.

Fortunately for those ... [ read more ]

While studies of indigenous use of the psychotropic drink ayahuasca (or yajé) in the Spanish-speaking countries of the Amazon region have resulted in an impressive bibliography over the past few decades, relatively little has been published to date about equivalent practices in Brazil. This gap has now been filled by an anthology in Portuguese of 26 essays by ... [ read more ]

In 1970, counterculture guru Stephen Gaskin led a cross-country caravan of hundreds of hippies from San Francisco to Tennessee, where they established The Farm, an influential commune that still exists today. During its heyday, The Farm was a nexus for idealistic pioneers, spiritual seekers, and troubled souls for whom the standard script of American life was no longer adequate.

Voices ... [ read more ]

Smythe-sewn hardcover; 941 pp.; 32 pp. index; 27 pp. bibliography with 1059 citations, 5 pp. mushroom bibliography with 178 citations plus bibliographies to individual articles; 8 pp. botanical systematics appendix. Foreword by Albert Hofmann, p. 6.

The long-awaited publication of Christian Rätsch’s Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen is a major publishing event for ethnopharmacognosists as well as psychonauts, to both of which ... [ read more ]

As the title states, the latest edition of From Chocolate to Morphine is an easy to read and informative guide to drugs of all kinds. From beginning to end, the authors maintain the approach of providing the facts about drugs while explaining relevant terms and presenting first hand experiences of drug use. Each chapter deals with an issue ... [ read more ]

Psychedelic Chemistry has been a long standing favorite, a must for every clandestine chemist’s bookshelf for decades. It was first published in the seventies, with the most recent edition appearing in 1981. While a lot has transpired in psychoactive chemistry since then, with PIHKAL and TIHKAL taking notable preeminence among such books, Michael Valentine Smith’s Psychedelic Chemistry nevertheless towers over ... [ read more ]

The Yage Letters begins with the letters William Burroughs sends to Allen Ginsberg while Ayahuasca-touring in Central America and the Colombian outback in 1953, and concludes with the letters from Ginsberg who follows his friend’s steps in 1960 and takes on his own journey of visionary enlightment in Peru. What was thought to be an initiating and liberating journey turns ... [ read more ]

Peter Lee’s The Big Smoke presents the process of opium smoking, from planting seeds to smoking the prepared opium. Along the way, Lee offers a brief historical background ranging from the international opium trade of previous centuries to the current ban on harvesting and use. The book features copious black and white images to supplement the material. ... [ read more ]

After spending enough time identifying yourself as a member of the “psychedelic community” at large, you begin to take for granted the fact that the war on drugs is an awful monstrosity. You get used to the numbing barrage of horror stories that seem to pour through news outlets on a regular basis. You nod cynically and get ... [ read more ]

Benny Shanon’s The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience is one of the most compelling books on altered states I’ve read, up there with James’s Varieties of Religious Experience, Huxley’s Doors of Perception (to which Shanon’s title alludes) and PIHKAL and TIHKAL by Ann and Alexander Shulgin. Unlike, say, the psychedelic performance artist Terence McKenna ... [ read more ]

In Eating the Flowers of Paradise, Kevin Rushby tells the story of an epic trip—not just a tale of a literal intoxication, but of an emotional and intellectual obsession. A decade following a job teaching English in the Yemeni city of San’a, where Rushby first enjoyed qat, he decides to return to Yemen by way of Ethiopia, where the drug ... [ read more ]

LSD: My Problem Child is a wonderful guided tour through the history of LSD and the very thoughts of Dr. Hofmann. The book covers the discovery of the compound, its use in early psychiatry, and its later use in the counter culture. He also presents a great deal of information about his early experiments on animals, himself, and his ... [ read more ]

In The Magic Land Of Peyote is a pioneering journey into the heart of the most iconic peyote-lovers and peyote-worshippers Indians of Mexico : the Huichols. Fernando Benitez is a leading Mexican anthropologist, author of the reference Los Indios de Mexico, and was one of the very first to experience the annual Huichol pilgrimage to the mountains of north-eastern ... [ read more ]

What happens when chaos theorist Ralph Abraham, morphogenetic fields theorist Rupert Sheldrake and entheoprovocateur Terence McKenna get together to talk shop? A surprisingly lucid trialogue of crosspollinating far-flung speculation on the nature of reality, consciousness, the imagination and human destiny.

Chaos, Creativity and Cosmic Consciousness (earlier published as Trialogues at the Edge of the West) is edited from transcripts of a ... [ read more ]

Cannabis is a very thorough text describing research on cannabis extracts as part of modern prescription medicine. The clinical trials involved are meticulously outlined for the reader. The material highlights how much work and analysis goes into complex pharmaceutical testing. Along with the research, Russo has included some aspects of marijuana history. There are a couple ... [ read more ]

I can still remember the party almost ten years ago at which I was first introduced to the visionary art work of Alex Grey. At the time, I was just getting my feet wet with psychedelics, as were a number of my friends, and we crowded around a copy of Sacred Mirrors, Grey’s first collection, and oooohed and ahhhhed ... [ read more ]

Having read the reviews on Tatarsky’s Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, I was drawn to Denning’s book because it looked more like a “how to” text than a collection of case studies. This proved to be right, and the book is a good reference for those who need more of a “cookbook” approach. Denning’s approach, even when writing, is “clientcentered”. This book ... [ read more ]

Ecstasy: The Complete Guide is a mammoth, 400+ page anthology, whose subtitle – A Comprehensive Look at the Risks and Benefits of MDMA – sets out the ambitious nature of the book’s scope. This extensive set of essays touches on nearly the gamut of issues surrounding Ecstasy in our society today, from a fundamental look at what is known ... [ read more ]

The cover of a recent Time magazine special issue features a crafty-looking yoga-babe sitting in padmasana alongside the headline: How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body. It’s just another sign of a sea change in the mainstream representations of mind, as new psychoactives, imaging technologies, and pop spirituality recontextualize the neural dance of consciousness and flesh. The boundaries between ... [ read more ]

To fully appreciate What the Dormouse Said, it helps to think back to what the world was like in 1959, when this story begins. At that time, with a few rare exceptions, the entire computing profession was focused exclusively on mainframes; even the concept of time-sharing was considered a heresy. There was no student protest movement, not a single campus ... [ read more ]

Hooked on Heroin is a reprint of the 2001 Swedish edition, translated into English, with appropriate changes. The work focuses on research Lalander did in the Swedish city, Norrköping. He interviewed and observed young heroin users with the intent of highlighting the growing use of heroin and the subculture that is created around it.

The book begins with the problematic ... [ read more ]

The subtitle of Dan Russell’s epic dissertation, Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy, says it all. Make no mistake, this is not a book about the so-called “war on drugs” we hear about in the newspapers, the one being fought on our streets between cops and druggies or border guards and drug smugglers. Nor is this the tale of ... [ read more ]

I was introduced to psychedelics well into graduate school in chemistry and sometime after I had already formed my present spiritual view, so it came as quite a relief to find that these substances were so well able to help me bridge the gap between the science that I’d been trained in, and my spiritual views which often resisted any ... [ read more ]

Right from the start, Stephen Harrod Buhner claims his book is heresy, “that fermentation and plant use—as medicine, as psychotropics, as teachers, as companions on our life path—are an inescapable part of what it means to be human.” It’s not exactly clear what the heresy stands against, aside from a vague notion of “popular beliefs” regarding alcohol, and undefined “politically ... [ read more ]

In Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul, Joan Parisi Wilcox delivers a highly descriptive narrative of her fascination with ayahuasca’s visionary experiences. Her account offers an insider’s view of the traditional ayahuasca ritual, in which a shaman administers the drug and guides the experience of the initiate.

Wilcox’s interest in the ceremonial use of ... [ read more ]

Rick Strassman is a good storyteller. The prologue to his new book is engaging right from the start, as we encounter Philip and Nils, Strassman’s first two volunteers, who volunteer as human guinea pigs in order to find the appropriate dose of intravenous DMT to utilize for a long-term study Strassman is about to conduct into the biomedical effects ... [ read more ]

Zig Zag Zen explores the intricate relationship between Buddhism and psychedelics in the West. There are several ways to approach reviewing a book like Zig Zag Zen, because books affect people for different reasons at different points in their lives. There was a time when I would have read this book as a metaprogrammer, experimenting with psychedelics and ... [ read more ]

There is something a little bit scary about reading The Road of Excess -– this meticulous exploration of the influence of narcotics on literature is like a late night literary overdose.

The author, Marcus Boon, is Assistant Professor of English at York University in Toronto, and his academic background shines through without bogging down this intriguing subject.

Where it becomes scary ... [ read more ]

Antero Alli’s Towards an Archaeology of the Soul is not an easy book to read, and this is perhaps best explained by the book’s subtitle: A Paratheatrical Workbook. Every page of this book asks you to get up and do, which can be quite a challenge to take sitting down.

Inspired by the groundbreaking laboratory theatre approach of Jerzy Grotowski, ... [ read more ]

In his recent book, The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, Buddhist seeker and explorer Ian Baker delivers 500+ pages of well-researched background and detailed travelogues recounting his quest for Shangri-La. We follow Baker and his companions on three separate journeys into Pemako, a perilous and isolated region of Tibet. Baker’s major geographical discovery ... [ read more ]

Did you know that heroin was once legally sold as a cough syrup, that lithium (the same thing I put in my watch?) is the magical drug for bi-polar disorders though no one can explain how it works? That cocaine, after being advocated by Freud, was as popular then in the pharmacies as Valium is today? That the ... [ read more ]

The first half of Digital Mantras creates an historical backdrop upon which the author splashes his vision of the next wave of art and knowledge and, in the end, of reality. It weaves together discussions of language, philosophy, music, and visual art, both in theory and in practice. The second half of the book delves into the present ... [ read more ]

There are two dominant attitudes toward modernity inside contemporary drug culture, and both of them, in almost diametrically opposed ways, attempt to slip outside of our history, that engulfing tsunami of politics and commodities, technology and cultural memes that make up the West. On the one hand you have the romantic turn ... [ read more ]

A cursory glance at the areas of inquiry of researcher Rupert Sheldrake might set off some skepticism alarms: paranormal events, morphogenetic fields, psychic phenomenon involving pets. But Sheldrake is careful to not sound like a quack in a book that asks to be taken seriously by both scientists and inquisitive laymen. In Seven Experiments That Could Change the World, ... [ read more ]

I remember being surprised when I first encountered resistance after bringing up the Grateful Dead in conversation among younger members of the psychedelic community. Even in light of some annoying public perceptions shaped by the embarrassing behavior of part of their audience and their own personal disintegration towards the end, I always assumed that their crucial contributions to the tapestry ... [ read more ]

The Heroin User’s Handbook, by Francis Moraes, bills itself as neither “glorifying nor demonizing the drug.” The words “Don’t Try Heroin” are printed in bold across the middle of the very first page. But the last page of the book lists the “Ten Commandments of Responsible Heroin Use” and the pages in between are completely crammed with ... [ read more ]

Addicted is a collection of short essays about substance abuse, written by Canadian authors. The stories flow, but at times it’s like swallowing shards of glass, especially when the writers hit raw nerves. Frequently, their images conjure up memories of similar incidents that happened, both to the self and others. The editors, Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, ... [ read more ]

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung collects about 350 pages of vintage essays by Lester Bangs, whose rock-critic career lasted from 1969 to his death in 1982. Musically, this coincides with heavy metal, glam rock, progressive rock, and punk. Psychotic Reactions contains essays on all of these, but discusses everyone else too, including John Coltrane, Barry White, Elvis Presley, Kraftwerk, Tangerine ... [ read more ]

Lidsky and Schneider provide a splash of cold water on the marketing-driven world of smart drugs. The book is organized into two major sections: introductory material and an alphabetically-organized reference section. The introduction is a readable, non-technical, and short overview of smart drugs and the problems of memory and age-related cognitive decline. The reference section has entries ... [ read more ]

Stephen Gaskin’s Haight Ashbury Flashbacks is a mind-blowing “diary” of his days as a teacher at San Francisco State College during the Summer of Love. Gaskin would go on to help found The Farm, an influential commune that has survived for decades in Tennessee, but this book documents his formulative, pre-guru years, as he and his fellow teachers, teaching ... [ read more ]

Barbara Hodgson’s Opium: A Potrait of the Heavenly Demon is bound in a deep purple cloth hardcover and filled with glossy pages. The book deals with a wide variety of art and literature concerning the opium dens and smoking in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She focuses on North America, Europe, India, and China, with brief ... [ read more ]

Psychedelic my ass.

With a title like Psychedelic Decadence, I had high hopes. The summaries for this book promised to cover many of my favorite topics: horror movies, psychedelia, David Bowie, comic books, biker gangs, vintage porn… what more could I possibly ask for? Substance would have been good. Grammar would have been nice, too. And I ... [ read more ]

Psychonauts love to read trip reports. This is probably rooted in the same mental circuitry that fosters that connectedness and fraternity that is so evident when two or more experienced folks get in the same room together for more than, say, five minutes. The talk turns to tripping, and the stories start to flow. People who’ve walked ... [ read more ]

At the age of 31, our fearless hero and narrator, Joey, embarks upon an ambitious and reckless attempt to transform his consciousness, first teaching himself the arts of remote viewing and lucid dreaming, then developing his skills at inducing OBEs (Out of Body Experiences), then applying neurofeedback, electrical brain stimulation, and heavy doses of serious psychedelics and other drugs to ... [ read more ]

Dangerous Drugs covers a wide variety of substances, from illegal (like marijuana and khat) to legal, such as caffeine and alcohol. The book is split up into easily navigated sections that discuss a wide range of basic issues, including drug effects and withdrawal symptoms. A few pages of color photos in the middle of the book provide the ... [ read more ]

David Black’s ACID: A New Secret History of LSD is another addition to the ranks of titles that attempt to recount the basics of modern psychedelic history. Much like Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain’s Acid Dreams, Black’s book focuses primarily on the role that Global Intelligence Services played in the scientific exploration and eventual illicit distribution of good old LSD-25. ... [ read more ]

Psychoactive Sacramentals is the latest book in CSP’s Entheogen Project Series, a set of books that includes the frustrating anthology, Entheogens and the Future of Religion, and Huston Smith’s important collection of essays, Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals. The Chicago Theological Seminary and CSP held a conference in 1995, inviting “theologians, ... [ read more ]

Changing My Mind, Among Others is a selection of the irrepressible Tim Leary’s “Lifetime writings, selected and introduced by the author”. Its themes move from psychology to brain change to religious experience to politics to psychedelic sci-fi futurism. In many places it can be a hard slog and the ideas presented go on at length, usually delving into ... [ read more ]

A short booklet (published on-demand) reminiscent of daily meditation books. Includes grouped concepts and quotes under headings such as “Knowledge and Truth”, “Wholeness” or “Epiphany”. For those who enjoy interesting thoughts to ponder about the nature of being human, whether sober, in meditation, or in other altered states. [ read more ]

Covers most of the mainstream recreational drugs with a 2-4 page summary for each. On the more accurate side for books of this type, though a number of errors can still be found. The tone is relatively neutral, avoiding the hyperbole of more anti-drug authors. A little uninspiring, with little new information for anyone knowledgeable in the field, but in ... [ read more ]

A short and concise summary of information about mezcal. Includes some nice photos, a brief history of mezcal, modern cultural ties, production information, and recipes. [ read more ]

A fun collection of trip reports, weighted heavily towards the silly and absurd rather than the serious. The generally 1-2 page stories are organized by substance (mostly psychedelics) and provide a sense of the experiences to be had with psychoactives. [ read more ]

A surprisingly nice attempt at integrating psychedelic concepts into a sci-fi/fantasy novel. Wisman alternates between telling the story of Eden, and occasionally breaking out to write about his own use of “a powerful chemical substance”. He never names this psychedelic material, but describes his frequent work with it and the thoughts and philosophical meanderings he experienced while under its effects, ... [ read more ]

The Marijuana Question purports to be a summary of what “scientists” have found about the health risks of marijuana. Unfortunately their biases get in the way of scientific neutrality. The book is well-written and well-documented, but presents a very one-sided argument in which the conclusions are foregone. Research which supports their conclusion is lauded and made to look definitive while ... [ read more ]

A nice look at the field of ethnobotany during the early 1960s. Kreig describes the histories of a variety of plants with medicinal or psychoactive properties as well as interviews with ethnobotanists such as Richard Evans Schultes. Green Medicine also includes a nice series of photos of Schultes, R. Gordon Wasson, Roger Heim and others involved in the field. Good ... [ read more ]

It can be difficult to find information about human research with toxic solvents. Solvent neurotoxicity provides a good overview of both human and animal research for a series of solvents including toluene, sylene, styrene, and trichloroethylene. Includes great reference lists. [ read more ]

Interesting format of short quotes (1/2 – 1 page each) by different authors. Blurbs are grouped by topic, providing a variety of views, thoughts, and short experiences about an individual (Leary), a group (the Grateful Dead), a substance (LSD) etc. [ read more ]

Hideous Absinthe offers a nicely balanced look at the history, facts, and mythos of absinthe. Adams offers reader an in-depth look at the role absinthe has played in artistic culture (especially that of the 19th century), and succeeds in doing this without taking sides. Among other issues, Adams attempts to clarify what level of influence absinthe had upon artists such ... [ read more ]

A reference manual designed with the physician in mind. Pagliaros’ Comprehensive Guide to Drugs and Substances of Abuse is organized into two major parts, with the first being introductions to depressants, stimulants, and psychedelics titled “Psychodepressants”, “Psychostimulants”, and “Psychodelics” [sic]. The authors explain their decision to change the spelling of the word ‘psychedelic’ as an attempt to make ... [ read more ]

Mediocrity. Uninspired regurgitation with no depth, insight, or references. [ read more ]

Contains a 1902 article titled “Mescal: A Study of a Divine Plant”, by Havelock Ellis. [ read more ]

Contains a chapter titled “The Visions of Hasheesh” as well as sections on Tobacco and coffee. Describes the author’s experiences with these substances while in Damascus. Very interesting and poetic account in travelogue style from 1855. [ read more ]

An interesting book because of it’s legal history. Ten years after it was originally published, a triple-murder was committed by a man named James Perry who used this book as his guide for the murder. The publisher, Paladin Press, was sued by the family of the victim and eventually settled out of court. They agreed to destroy all remaining copies ... [ read more ]

This book attempts to take a look at the important topic of the effects of psychoactive drugs on sexual response, reproduction, and other aspects of sexuality. It covers hormone therapies (estrogen, testosterone, etc), recreationally-used psychoactives (alcohol, opioids, etc), and a number of different classifications of pharmaceutical medications. This book is a good start at covering a laudable topic, but the ... [ read more ]

Oh my god, this is one of the worst psychoactive-related books that I’ve ever seen. If it weren’t sitting here in my hands in hardcover print, I’d assume it was a bad usenet post. The entire book is preachy, uninformed, and filled with errors. It weaves a strange description of peyote, psilocybe mushrooms, and Amanita muscaria mushrooms where the boundaries ... [ read more ]

An interesting historical look at the type of information that was publicly available about psychedelics in the early 1960s. In addition to the main text, it also contains short sections on peyote (and religious freedom issues involved with its use by the Native American Church), mescaline, Amanita muscaria, carbon dioxide (carbogen), glue sniffing and a few more. [ read more ]

This book takes a reasonably serious look at the debate over drug legalization. Unfortunately, the bias of the authors is quite apparent in the way they look at the debate. Rather than sticking to presenting the various sides of the existing debate, the authors come at the issue from the assumption that legalization is a bad idea and from this ... [ read more ]

I have to admit. When I opened this book I was starting from a jaded point of view. I have read a lot of books on entheogens and it seems that there is little ground that has not been travelled when it comes to the intellectualisation of an experience that in all reality has little to do with intellectualisation.

As I ... [ read more ]

A nice overview of the issues and controversy surrounding the use of cannabis. Understanding Marijuana addresses the evidence and current state of knowledge about issues such as cannabis history, gateway effect, impact on thought and memory, subjective effects, pharmacology, physical health effects, medical marijuana, social issues, law and policy, and treatment of problematic cannabis use. Earleywine cites resources and research ... [ read more ]

How can we save the world from the marijuana epidemic? Are we doomed? Marijuana Alert is an overly dramatic and alarmist piece about marijuana. What more can we expect from a book with a foreword by Nancy Reagan. Contains a one-sided look at the some of the research about Cannabis which is only worth perusing if you’re interested specifically in ... [ read more ]

A contorted text which goes out of its way to try to show that even moderate recreational use of “sensual drugs” is more harmful than the medical use of the same substances. The authors define “sensual drugs” as those which “give the user a strong sense of pleasure”, including amphetamine, cocaine, opiates, alcohol, barbiturates, inhalants, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and cannabis. ... [ read more ]

Pharmakon is an interesting analysis of the integration of psychoactive use as a part of occult practices; Cultivating the sense of magic all around through the altered states achieved by drug use (primarily hallucinogens). It is a wide-ranging (though somewhat loosely organized) and intelligently written book that should be interesting to anyone interested in the relationship between psychoactives and spirit, ... [ read more ]

This is a collection of nine small classic psychedelic and drug related books published between 1969 and 1983. It’s a nice inexpensive collection for those who want to have access to these texts in print form. Several of these texts are already available on the web. The included titles are:

The Book of Acid, by Adam Gottlieb
Peyote and Other Psychoactive Cacti, ... [ read more ]

Dale has dazzled us again with the recent release of Pharmako/Dynamis. For all those enchanted by Dale’s first book, ‘Pharmako/Poeia’, do not read this review. Go and get the book. You will not be disappointed. Others of you who know little about Dale’s work… read on. [ read more ]

While not an easy browse, The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology addresses the known actions of neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine, etc) in a well-organized and understandable way. Good for anyone with a serious interest in the workings of these substances. [ read more ]

I had high hopes that ths book might contain some useful data. But what I discovered was a book with heavy bias against marijuana which taints any data the author might present. The tone of the book is one of continuing crisis, with exaggeration and hyperbole used to frighten the reader into agreeing that marijuana must be bad.

The chapter on ... [ read more ]

Not since “The Doors of Perception” has one book so accurately and beautifully described the transformative nature of the psychedelic experience. Pinchbeck alternates between personal journey and cultural history, spinning a thread which connects all of us – psychonauts, policy makers and just plain folks – to something greater than ourselves… [ read more ]

Facing Drugs is a small book from Australia, intended for the parent who is concerned about their child’s possible drug use. While it avoids the worst of the errors common in books of this class, it is relatively uninspiring and predictable. As usual, there is no acknowledgement of the possibility of illegal drugs being used with responsibility intent or purpose, ... [ read more ]

Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior contains quite a bit of interesting information. Generally reasonably balanced and accurate, but they need to fix the glaring problems with their page on “toad licking”. There’s one newer edition…we can hope that it was resolved by then. [ read more ]

The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs series is generally well-balanced and informational. While Heroin: The Street Narcotic follows with those traits, it is also an exception, in that it contains a number of relatively prominent errors. It looks like the updated version (1992) may have tried to fix errors introduced in the original version, but in some cases just further confused ... [ read more ]

The Heroin User’s Handbook is a good single-book guide to the full range of issues surrounding heroin use. It covers common myths, how to go about acquiring heroin, details about common methods of ingestion, health risks, legal and social issues and the all-important question of addiction. Overall the quality and style of writing are quite good although there are a ... [ read more ]

We have significant reservations about this book because of the questionable business practices of the author Sean Shayan. While his marketing suggests that his projects and the Temple of Ecstasy are spiritual, caring, community organizations…their past practices have appeared to be purely profit driven and set up to take advantage of the uninformed. As an example, throughout this book Shayan ... [ read more ]

We were really happy to discover this book in a mainstream bookstore, having not heard of it before. Its a great collection of information and references on a wide variety of psychoactive plants. The title “of Herbal Medicine” is slightly misleading as the entire book is about psychoactive herbs and plants. When I first picked it up, I assumed it ... [ read more ]

An excellent book for the exploration of religious perspectives in relation to entheogen use. [ read more ]

An amazing alphabetical glossary to the legal status of every controlled substance. A great reference for anyone interested in the ins and outs of U.S. drug laws. [ read more ]

If you’re interested in Aldous Huxley, this is a must read. Photos, personal letters and much insight into Aldous and his relationship with both his wife Laura, and the world. [ read more ]

I can safely say that I liked this text very much and would recommend it to anyone looking for a textbook in psychopharmacology that does not shy away from a balanced, substantive coverage of controversial topics such as entheogens and non-medical drug use in general. [ read more ]

de Quincy might be said to have paved the way for the writings of William James on nitrous oxide, Aldous Huxley on mescaline and even the gonzo journalism of Hunter S. Thompson. But de Quincy has nowhere near the stature of Huxley, either as a writer or as a thinker—for good reason. [ read more ]

Jay Stevens’ history of LSD in the United States, Storming Heaven, is probably the most visible and well-regarded work on the subject. As such, it is rather unfortunate it is no better than it is. The subject is certainly a colorful one, filled with characters of proportions far more mythical than any others in recent memory. [ read more ]

Despite the introductory tone of the book, Pellerin manages to cover a great deal of the material that makes psychedelics so interesting, even to non-users: Janiger’s LSD therapy for the stars of Hollywood, CIA mind control experiments, the connections between psychedelics and antidepressants, and so on. [ read more ]

He makes me want to believe, makes me gleefully toss away my incredulity and ride with him along the Rio Putumayo, high as a kite on fine Columbian Gold. Thanks to McKenna’s able pen, a dumb hippie dope story metamorphoses into a strangely fascinating and compelling tale of a mythical voyage to the heart of the Jungle (oh, the archetypes!) that leads to an eschatological transformation of human consciousness. [ read more ]

I’ll be blunt. If you live in the United States and have used ANY drug that our society has seen fit to declare illegal, stop what you’re doing and BUY THIS BOOK NOW. Most U.S. citizens are shamefully unaware of the rights guaranteed to them by the U. S. Constitution and the constitutions of the several states, and the sad ... [ read more ]

One of my favorite habits is a periodic visit to the local bookstore to look for interesting new secondhand acquisitions in the “drugs” section. On one of these periodic jaunts, I ran across a slim title with a blank spine which I pulled out in curiosity to reveal a most enticing title: Yet Another Beautiful Day In Paradise (YABDIP). ... [ read more ]

The Psychedelics Encyclopedia, by Peter Stafford is an excellent general reference work on the subject. I recommend it strongly as a first purchase for anyone interested in visionary drugs; it should be part of every entheogenic library. [ read more ]

After nearly 20 years, Grinspoon and Bakalar’s Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered remains a valuable reference work on the subject of entheogenic drugs. After too long a period out of print, it has been republished by the Lindesmith Center, the first in a series of reprints of classic works on drug policy for which I, for one, have high hopes. [ read more ]

Turner’s slim volume is not entirely without its merits. Foremost among these is the extremely personal nature of the narrative. [...] But the personal, even idiosyncratic nature of “The Essential Psychedelic Guide” is a double-edged sword. Turner’s style occasionally degenerates from the agreeably informal to the inappropriately casual… [ read more ]

The Secret Chief is an edited interview between Myron Stolaroff and a man referred to as “Jacob” – the ‘Secret Chief’ – who performed psychedelic psycho-spiritual therapy with 3,000 people between the 60’s and his death in the late 80’s.

The book offers a frank discussion between two experienced psychedelicists about the processes Jacob developed over his many years leading people ... [ read more ]

Imagine going for a session with your therapist. He reminds you of the structure of the session. You have brought the family pictures you were assigned to bring. The therapist offers you a ritual cup with your potion for the day. After drinking the potion you retire to a comfortable sofa and don the earphones to listen to music ... [ read more ]

Marijuana is highly addictive. Marijuana is a gateway drug. Marijuana is more potent today than in the past. [...] Zimmer and Morgan devote a chapter to each of these ‘marijuana myths’ in which they examine the existing scientific evidence to see whether these assertions hold true. Their conclusion, on almost all counts, is a resounding no. [ read more ]

Music and drugs have been intertwined in countless cultures over the ages. Youth cultures in the US and Europe have played out this dynamic over and over again in the past decades: the psychedelic movement produced psychedelic rock, reggae music celebrated the marijuana plant, and grunge supposedly glamorized heroin. One of the most striking recent partnerships of drug scene and music scene, that between Ecstasy and Acid House, is chronicled in the illuminating new book Altered State, by Matthew Collin. [ read more ]

The text of the book varies from very good to spotty. [...] The target audience of the book is the mainstream audience of folks who are looking for a short overview of information on ecstasy. For that, the tone is level headed and the information clearly stated. [ read more ]

When we received a copy of the first edition of this book, we were disappointed by the large number of errors found in the section on Hallucinogens. We were told that the second edition corrected the errors that we had pointed out. Unfortunately, after reviewing the second edition we have found that this section is still rife with errors and ... [ read more ]

The ‘Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs’ series does a reasonable job of attempting to be non-judgemental about the recreational use of psychoactive substances. This volume, ‘Marijuana: Its Effects on Mind and Body’ takes an in-depth look at the use, abuse, pharmacology, and social impact of marijuana use. It leans considerably more towards a prohibitionist attitude than legalization, but presents a comprehensive ... [ read more ]

Zuni Fetishes is a very interesting look into the world of power objects. It’s a cross between a cultural study, a personal story, and practical guide, and despite myself, I found that I was drawn to the concept of fetish use as soon as I started flipping pages. It’s cleanly written and an easy read. Definitely recommended for those interested ... [ read more ]

The Little Book of Ketamine is a quick read that covers pretty much all the basics about the recreational use of ketamine. While it doesn’t go into a lot of detail about the current status of research or the pharmacology of ketamine, it does include safety and usage information, descriptions of some of the better known characters in the history ... [ read more ]

This is a good basic book on shamanism. It doesn’t have a lot of in-depth discussion, but does a fine job of covering the basics of shamanism, from traditions in various parts of the world and their common elements to the theories, purposes and fuctions of shamanism. One of its best features is a nice collection of color photos. This ... [ read more ]

Despite this book’s sensationalist title it has a reasonable tone and some good information. It’s section on the Myths of Drug Addiction does a good job of trying to answer the worst of the myths about drugs and crime, and the realities of addiction. Some of the information is rather out of date, but it’s an interesting look into past ... [ read more ]

We are extremely disappointed in the editor and publisher of this book. Sales of the most recent editions are being limited to police and “professional organizations” only. The book contains primarily charts of identification information for professionally produced pharmaceutical tablets and their imprints. Intentionally restricting access to to this type of information for widely available substances will do far more ... [ read more ]

While a bit out of date (1987) this book is a pretty good collection of information. It covers a wide variety of substances in encyclopedic style and presents an even-handed and non-judgemental account of the effects and dangers of street drugs. Despite the somewhat grandios claims on the back cover, it only provides a few short pages about each substance. ... [ read more ]

This book contains a lot of good information about drug testing. None of the information is exclusive…you can find most of it in many other places, but it does a pretty good job of compiling all the basics together in one text. [ read more ]

The Marriage of the Sun and Moon is an absorbing and fun meander through Weil’s thoughts about altered states of consciousness. Using the loose structure of discussing his yin/yang moon/sun theory of human awareness and his 1971 driving trip from the U.S. to South America, Weil discusses intentional vomiting, caffeine, eating mangoes, hot chile peppers, laughing, Uri Geller, solar eclipses, ... [ read more ]

An interesting historical account of the use of “narcotic” drugs in the 19th century. There seems to be a lot of interesting tidbits in this book, though I found it a bit confusing to navigate. Much of its appeal lies in seeing through the eyes of a knowledgeable contemporary scientist. The Seven Sisters of Sleep is an intriguing curiosity rather than a sound reliable resource. [ read more ]

A historical pharmacotheon. This 1920’s look at the major mind altering substances is well-organized and full of interesting information. Like The Seven Sisters of Sleep, this is more of a historical curiosity than a reference book…but none-the-less this cultural perspective is worth a read. [ read more ]

This is a cute little pamphlet/book that lists good stuff about hemp. They’ve included everything from the more common “saving the forest”, “sustainability, and “the hempmobile” to the less common “hemp hummus” and “tantra” uses. You’re not going to convince anyone of anything with this book, but it’s definitely a fun look at the hemp issue. [ read more ]

The Great Book of Hemp takes a fun, interesting look at the uses of hemp. It includes information on hemp’s history around the world, medicinal uses, spiritual uses, and the controversy surrounding it’s prohibition. It is heavily footnoted, well illustrated and includes more hemp facts and trivia than I’ve seen gathered anywhere else. Its only drawback is that the fun ... [ read more ]

An extremely interesting topic from a one-sided viewpoint. Zaehner’s use of derogatory phrases such as “apostles of the psychedelic cult” and “propagandists of psychedelic religion” to describe anyone who is interested in the possibility that entheogens could produce a mystical state…is a good example of his position. His tone is sometimes quite mocking and he seems entrenched in traditional religious ... [ read more ]

This classic book, written by Terence McKenna under a penname, has short succinct sections on Locating and Identifying Mushrooms, Collecting Spores, and Home Growing and Harvesting Instructions. Many good photos of the entire process. Revised and rereleased in 1986. [ read more ]

This is one dense book. Information on the botany, ethnobotany, physiology, ethnology, history, and ritual use of peyote among various native tribes. Contains a large bibliography of books, papers and studies on peyote from the 1930s to the present. This is definitely not a quick read…but a very good resource/reference book.

CSP Entheogen Chrestomathy Entry
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This well known guide to growing poppies and extracting opium presents useful information in a format and style accessible to just about everyone. I’m disappointed that there’s no footnotes or references, though there is a brief bibliography. Useful as a basic source of information about opium and poppies, but doesn’t go into great depth in any particular area. [ read more ]

A good book for helping answer those persistent myths and misunderstandings about marijuana. The book is organized into chapters each based on a particular myth. Various forms of the myth at the beginning of the chapter are answered by a quick answer and then the rest of the chapter is devoted to providing explanations, evidence, references, technical data and charts ... [ read more ]

Dense. A lot of information packed into this one. A bit more one sided than I’d like to see from a book of this type…for example it claims that no physical withdrawal symptoms exist for marihuana. Last revised in 1977, but otherwise it’s an extremely well researched, well referenced, informative book. Not a quick read.

CSP Entheogen Chrestomathy Entry
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A good cultural marker of what was going on in San Francisco in the late ‘60s. Perhaps not quite as good as the hype about it suggests. [ read more ]

This well meaning book provides good basic information about a select group of “designer drugs” including china white (fentanyl), crack, mdma, MPTP, crystal meth, and PCP. It has interesting and diverse quotes from interviews with a wide range of characters including experienced users, police, chemists, physicians and researchers. The chosen audience is those outside the entheogen communities… with an angle ... [ read more ]

This is a poorly written book with a completely one sided point of view. Unable to see past their own preconceptions, the authors define all use as abuse or misuse and consistently give information of questionable accuracy. Its only saving grace (which earned it the 1 star) is its list of herbal alternatives. This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone argue against the use of opium or cannabis and then turn to recommend poppies, datura and wormwood as useful herbal alternatives. Good for a chuckle but that’s about it. [ read more ]

We didn’t provide a rating of this series at the top of the page. It doesn’t really fit easily into a 1-5 scale. It’s a classic. In many ways, this is one of the best series we’ve ever read. In other ways, it’s a series of cheap romance novels. Highly Recommended. [ read more ]

This small book has page long sections covering the basic cultivation parameters for dozens of home growable hallucinogens; from poppies to daturas, kava kava to morning glories, san pedro to syrina rue. The basic sections are Cultivation and Propagation, and Harvesting for each plant. The descriptions are useful, but not detailed enough to suffice as your only souce for growing ... [ read more ]

An excellent, though rather dense resource for those interested in the chemistry of drugs. See our chemistry section for examples of Merck Index drug entries. [ read more ]

This is an indepth description of the controversy and cover-up surrounding the discovery and translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The book is well-written and an interesting study of the politics of academic studies, though it leans a little toward conspiracy theories. Either way, it’s a good description of the events causing a 45 year delay in the release of ... [ read more ]

This is a great new translation (1996) of some of the 700+ Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the mid ‘40s. The texts contain controversial history, religion, and politics with a decidedly adventurous side. Read the original text of maps to buried treasures along with translations and commentaries on both biblical and sectarian texts….all with the endless fun of confusing little ... [ read more ]

One Nation Under God is the story of the Native American Church and its battle to try to keep the native american use of peyote legal after the Supreme Court’s catastrophic Smith case. The book opens with nice introductions by Sentator Inouye, Huston Smith, and Reuben Snake and then moves into a number of short personal testimonials from NAC members.

The ... [ read more ]

The first thing Ott does is to explain his use of the neologism ‘entheogenic’ in the title and throughout the book. He says that since we know from experience that shamanic inebriants do not provoke “hallucinations” or “psychosis,” it would be incongruous to refer to traditional shamanic use of “psychedelic” plants. He states that his term “is not meant ... [ read more ]

This book, published by Loompanics, has been mentioned on usenet a number of times.

I had the opportunity to briefly look it over last weekend. Naturally, I headed straight for the chem section, a chapter titled, “Extractions”, or something.

Well, I must say that I am completely unimpressed with this bozo Dekorne’s abilities. The information he presents is riddled with errors ... [ read more ]