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 ]