Erowid
 
 
Plants - Drugs Mind - Spirit Freedom - Law Arts - Culture Library  
Recent Reviews
ratingstars
The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves
by Jean Clottes & David Lewis-Williams
Publisher:
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 
Year:
1998 
Reviewed by Barnaby Thieme
8/22/2012

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 ]

ratingstars
Confessions of a Dope Dealer
by Sheldon Norberg
Publisher:
North Mountain Publishing 
Year:
1999, 2000 
Reviewed by Fork
8/21/2012

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 ]

ratingstars
Journeys Into the Bright World
by Marcia Moore & Howard Alltounian
Publisher:
Para Research Inc 
Year:
1978 
Reviewed by Fork
8/21/2012

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 ]