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 ]