Hallucinogens: A Reader

By: Grob, Charles S.

Book Overview

It's been forty years since Timothy Leary sat beside a swimming pool in Cuernavaca, Mexico, ingested several grams of the genus Stropharia cubensis, and experienced a dazzling display of visions that led him to herald the dawning of a New Age. And yet, from the counterculture movement of the 1960s, through the War on Drugs, to this very day, the world at large has viewed hallucinogens not as a gift but as a threat to society. In Hallucinogens , Charles Grob surveys recent writings from such important thinkers as Terence McKenna, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil, illustrating that a reevaluation of the social worth of hallucinogens-used intelligently-is greatly in order.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585421669
• ISBN13: 9781585421664
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Tarcher
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

excellent

A very unique collection of essays. Everything from individual experiences to Kabbalist usage of psychedelics. This isn't your "normal" drug book, it is extremely informative. This book, coupled with "Psychoactive Sacramentals" is a real contribution to any library on drugs or the psychedelic experience.

essential

a beautifully designed and conceived work that lays out some of the more important articles ever written on the subject of Westerners' interpretations on the meanings of psychoactives.The reader is easily entertained and enriched by well-informed, educated voices who take it one step further by offering philosophical insights into the experiences - not just a play-by-play of what happens.The voices, while varied in education levels and mindsets, magically interweave, creating a theme decidedly organic and profound.One of the nice things about this work is the reader's ability to pick up the reading just about anywhere and glean instant nuggets of enlightenment that shall brighten many days.The world could use more works like this.Highly recommended.