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Books about drugs?

lso "replacement of the junk-dependent cells" means no shit imo
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There was a certain trend in literary to write about addiction in terms of physical: cells, hunger, screaming etc; and there's even some truth at thinking about addiction as "sickness" of metabolia and cells. But remember that Burroughs wrote fiction and although he descibed addiction with words of physical, his intention wasn't to write a scientific explanations but metaphorical descriptions and causes, and so his words shouldn't be read too literally!

Junk-dependent cells are but metaphorical explanation given to physical dependence of opiate addiction, although explanations and causes ala Burroughs could be and often are much more terrifying! Similarly, when junkie's shooting dope he is figuratively feeding his junk-dependent cells and those cells are sucking all the junk from the shot like thousands or million new-born babies sucking the junk-milk from milking-bottle dropper; and when junkie's having withdrawals, all those junk-dependent cells scream voiceless screaming like all those babies left dying by their mothers; screaming would be hell to junkie and the voice hurts him cause he left cells die starvation; all cells having to die for the new generations with no junk-hunger.

Burroughs words are not exactly these and I don't know did he have that feeding or killing themes, but they could have been there. But some explanations are given by metaphors, differing degrees.



BTW, You could find the same sort of metaphorical reasoning from the books written roughly at the same time as Burroughs... Jean Cocteau writes about his WD's much the same way in his book about opium, though he was French artist and smoked opium before Burroughs shot dope. Burroughs writes more realistically, but there is that aspect of absurdity present there.

Of course, it should be remembered also that Burroughs' Junkie was written in 1950 and the state of scientific knowledge regarding opiate addiction was also quite much behind today's scientific knowledge. It could be fun to write a book which uses similarly metaphorical reasoning and figures but would be based on today's scientific facts and explanations. Of course, it would be more fun (easire at least) to read that sort of book written by someone.

Who'll start writing?
 
Either way, I thought it was an interesting book. I got lost sometimes due to "jive" lingo and perhaps lack of experience but some of it seems so deep and profound for a "junkie" (not to insult anyone at all there).
But like it was stated, it was from his point of view in that period, so who is to say that it is right or wrong really.
I'm glad to see that people have taken interest in this thread. :)
A recent book on heroin is "The Heroin Diaries". I'm a huge fan (read it twice) but I know its not everyone's cup of tea. Nikki echos some of what this author does with "Once you tasted excess, everything else tastes bland." William B. said something of the sort about the world being dulled and life-less without junk. But I'll tell you this much, you should at least check out his soundtrack. Most are pleasently surprised. :)
 
Pillthrill said:
Either way, I thought it was an interesting book. I got lost sometimes due to "jive" lingo and perhaps lack of experience but some of it seems so deep and profound for a "junkie" (not to insult anyone at all there).
But like it was stated, it was from his point of view in that period, so who is to say that it is right or wrong really.
I'm glad to see that people have taken interest in this thread. :)
A recent book on heroin is "The Heroin Diaries". I'm a huge fan (read it twice) but I know its not everyone's cup of tea. Nikki echos some of what this author does with "Once you tasted excess, everything else tastes bland." William B. said something of the sort about the world being dulled and life-less without junk. But I'll tell you this much, you should at least check out his soundtrack. Most are pleasently surprised. :)
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Profound for a junkie? Its not like opiates make you stupid. Some of the greatest poets and authors of all time have been addicts of some sort. Can you imagine an alcoholic being a great writer? F Scott Fitzgerald was just that, although he never wrote while drunk.
 
The 50th anniversary edition is great, it has a bunch of cut stuff. Best is how Burroughs originally wanted to end the book focusing on (the discredited) "orgone therapy" and how he was using it to cure his addiction. Burroughs was a brilliant guy in some respects but a total crackpot in others.. ha, and he chided Kerouac for his believe in buddhism.
 
Best books about drugs.. ?

Fiction or Non-Fiction..

Title of the book, author and brief description would be greatly appreciated ;)
 
Pills A Go Go by Jim Hogshire

Opium For The Masses by Jim Hogshire

The Hells Angels A Strange And Terrible Story (by Hunter Thompson)

use Google for details
 
Sex, Drugs & Magick by Robert Anton Wilson

I've had translated title, but it's probably Living With Drugs by Michael Gossop - this one's rather for those who have little knowledge about drugs, eg. most parents

And of course there are many more specialistic books, like The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics by Richard Davenport-Hines (for me a bit boring :P )
 
DMT: The Spirit Molecule is a good read, it's only about DMT though.
 
Pharmako/Poeia, Pharmako/Dynamis, and Pharmako/Gnosis by Dale Pendell (I highly recommend all three of these)

PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story and TIHKAL: The Continuation by Alexander and Ann Shulgin (again, both are highly recommended)

The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience by Benny Shannon

The Road of Excess: A History of Writers on Drugs by Marcus Boon
 
THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION BY ALDOUS HUXLEY

Gave me a whole new outlook on life, man.

Explains a theory that people can experience EVERYTHING at the same time but the brain acts as a filter and keeps out everything that isn't entirely necessary to our survival, but that drugs break down this filter and allow us to experience other things that are out there...

Fucking amazing.
 
It's fiction but it's semi-auto-biographical....Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis...also The Informers is a companion to this book, many of the characters show up again, etc. These are mostly about living in LA and being a rich yuppie cokehead/pill user. I loved the whole story, and LTZ is the book that got me into reading on my own.

More, Now, Again by Elizabeth Wurtzel is all about abusing ritalin, coke, dex, other uppers. It's really good. It makes you feel like youre trapped in your head...and even though it's really sad and depressing, it made me want to tweak so bad. It's still such a good read.
 
Diary of a Drug Fiend - Aleistar Crowley.

Non Fiction

his honeymoon with drugs, and journey into full blown addiction with his fiance(?), and how he escaped.

even if you arent into the whole Crowley thing, its still an amazing read.
 
I have a soft spot for the first drug book I ever read :Go Ask Alice.

It's written as a diary, but apparently was a fake to warn teens against drug use.

It made me actually go out and try them~!
 
The Doors of Perception was mind boggling superb, but for casual reading I really enjoy 'Tripping - An Anthology of Psychedelic Adventure'.
 
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