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The Big & Dandy Psychedelic Books Thread

i'll throw in my two cents as well... by category if that's helpful.

Philosophy:
The Doors of Perception - Huxley
the Leary, Metzner, Dass Tibetan Book of the Dead guide or whathaveyou
Remember, Be Here Now - Ram Dass

History:
Food of the Gods - McKenna
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Wolfe
LSD - My Problem Child - Hoffman

The Experience
Any Fear & Loathing, The Great Shark Hunt - Thompson
Qualitative Comments in Part II of PiHKAL & TiHKAL - Shulgin

For more hard science, I'd recommend stuff at pubmed, just type in names of people like David Nichols, Stanislov Grof, Alexander Shulgin, or just the names of the drug you're interested in...

This certainly isn't a comprehensive list....

I've read some of Grof's essays, and they've been pretty good. I usually think its a bit too far out there for me, then I later happen upon some empirical stuff that at the very least seems to support his ideas.

And I have to put a disclaimer, or asterisk, on most of the Mckenna & Leary et al stuff (excluding some of Ram Dass' later work) due to some things not being empirically supported (i.e. entity contact being connection with external intelligence and psilocybin playing an important role in early human evolution) and the latter's breaches of ethics in research. I think that may have been what sparked some of the debate between cloudy & big stroonz earlier... And I'm pretty sure you guys were refering to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle which existed in classical physics as well, and was in reference to subatomic particles, specifically electrons... which, IIRC, seem to exist in some type of probability field... anyway, high school physics, wikipedia, & what the bleep do we know didn't make me an expert on QM, so i doubt it has anyone else. Additionally quantum mechanics/physics is a largely unproven area itself, requiring what is still best described as "spooky action at a distance," so its hardly a good thing to base an arguement about empiricism on... but i digress
 
I second whoever mentioned the works of Stainislav Grof. Those books were a really enjoyable read for me, with emphasis on the Holotropic Mind.

Not too long ago I finished reading both Pihkal and Tihkal, which I found to be way more captivating and enjoyable than I thought they'd be! I had them both for reference purposes so long and kept putting off reading the 'love story' sections, but I couldn't put them down once I got going. I sincerely hope we don't have to wait for posthumous works, assuming the two have plans to release more material (I can't imagine they wouldn't).
 
I can't believe no one's mentioned this book yet...
Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics is a compilation of interviews with quite a few of the more prominent researchers of psychedelics. An amazing read. Albert Hofmann is in there, the Shulgins, Laura Huxley, Stan Grof, Ram Das....the list goes on.
 
I stumbled upon a book called White Rabbit: A Psychedelic Reader. Its a collection of psychedelic/psychoactive chapters and exerpts from the likes of William S Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Terrance Mckenna, Aldous Huxley, Miles Davis, Sigmund Freud, Charles Dickens and many many others. Its like a greatest hits collection, and a pretty good read.
 
underground_troll said:
I can't believe no one's mentioned this book yet...
Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics is a compilation of interviews with quite a few of the more prominent researchers of psychedelics. An amazing read. Albert Hofmann is in there, the Shulgins, Laura Huxley, Stan Grof, Ram Das....the list goes on.
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i can't believe i've never read that... definitely going on my list
 
I cant believe no one mentioned carlos castanenda.he wrote many books on the experiences of mescalito(peyote),devils weed(datura), and little smoke(mushrooms).the first book is the best.a must read.
 
planckunit said:
Quantum mechanics hardly proves that science is useless 8).And the measurement problem is only problematic for measurements on a small scale (elementary particle scale), as on any large scale with meaning in our macroscopic universe, statistical treatment of quantum mechanics can be used,and although the values of every single measurement is unknown the average of huge amounts gives exact results.
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Quoted for truth. I've studied quantum mechanics extensively, and it's hard stuff, even once one understands the mathematics required to delve into it. Many people seem to read about how differently things behave at the tiny scales at which QM is relevant and then try to extrapolate up to other realms, but it doesn't work like that. Part of what makes QM so profound is the fact that when dealing with quantum mechanical systems, much of our regular intuition about how the world works -- taken from our experience with things at human scales -- gets left behind.

Science (well, the scientific method) still works fine, just as it always did -- but when one tries to measure the state of something tiny, e.g. a spatially size-less electron "orbiting" a proton in the ground state of a hydrogen atom, one has to understand the meaning of that measurement and how it will affect subsequent measurements.

One major problem in modern physics today is the reconciliation of our working theory of gravity, which is observable over the incomprehensibly vast distances and collections of large bodies in space, with quantum mechanics, which describes interactions between the smallest, most fundamental bits of the Universe that we (physicists) are able to fathom.

Simply put, things get really weird at either extreme, and our everyday experience doesn't give us the tools we need to relate. :)

underground_troll said:
I can't believe no one's mentioned this book yet...
Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics is a compilation of interviews with quite a few of the more prominent researchers of psychedelics. An amazing read. Albert Hofmann is in there, the Shulgins, Laura Huxley, Stan Grof, Ram Das....the list goes on.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you mentioned this one; I'm about to purchase it. It sounds like a really interesting read! :D
 
I love when a thread like this pops up...always pick up on a few new titles.

These books have my full endorsement:

Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream - Jay Stevens

...likely the most extensive non-fiction account of the history of psychedelic drugs, not to mention probably the most absorbing non-fiction book I've ever read.

The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley (the essential classic psychedelic text)

Eminent Elders is also worthwhile from what I remember.

For a concise overview of the experience, including interpretations of more profound cognitive phenomena, based on a more current understanding of the mind/brain, I recommend:

Psychedelic Information Theory

The chapters under "Neurologic Deconstruction of Psychedelic Phenomena" are quite interesting, and short enough to keep one's attention. The diverse array of phenomena are surprisingly in accord with my own experiences.

Good luck searching. Careful though, realize that psychedelics have inspired lot of junk as well...I recommend steering clear of Pinchbeck, but I suppose some find him interesting.
 
Although not actually about psychs, most of Kurt Vonnegut's work evokes the psychedelic mindset in very intriguing and compelling ways. Read Breakfast of Champions first, then Cat's Cradle to see what i mean
 
If anyone is interested in an extremely personal inside view of Tim Leary during the early years I'd suggest Millbrook, A Narrative of the Early Years of American Psychedelianism by Art Kleps.

Kleps was a fringe character during the first exciting rush of psychedelic discovery, a school psychologist from the boonies who flew a little too close to the sun and went on to found a tongue-in-cheek psychedelic religion.

The book is hilarious and utterly mad, and probably wildly embellished, but also very honest. You can order a reprint or read it free online here: http://okneoac.com/m/chs/toc.html

Also, great list of classic literature here.
 
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The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal

Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light by Namkhai Norbu

The Supreme Source: The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

How to See Yourself As You Really Are by that Dalai Lama guy

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Phil Dick

Ubik by Phil Dick

try sneaking in some charles tart, stephen laberge, and J. Allan Hobson

a lot of that goes into sleep, consciousness, lucidity, awareness, and neuro-spritual stuff, but I still think that's related :)



and haven't read it yet, but it looks damn good and its bran spankin new...

The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America by Don Lattin
 
I am reading:

DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences

Author: Rick Strassman, MD
 
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