http://www.erowid.org/library/review Reviews of books, articles, and movies Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:59:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 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 ] http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=297 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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=296 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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=285 ...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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=284 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, ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=294 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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=295 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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=293 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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=283 Drawing from behavioural economics, Heyman shows how the failure to sacrifice short-term gains (getting high) for long-term gains (sobriety-aided productivity) is endemic to a consumer culture, and how important a person's social context is to reining in the penchant for pleasure. This, he argues, explains the effectiveness of Alcoholics ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=292 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 ... http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=290