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Reading is good for your brain

grimble crumble

grimble crumble

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
1,008
Hey BL, ive finally gotten back into reading again and it feels good. I guess its part of my new attitude of trying balance out stimulating my body and mind each day which ive found really improves quality of life. anyway the last book I read had extremely psychedelic qualities to it so I thought I would start a "psychedelic book thread" here in the psychelelic forums section, where people could mention books theyve read that had psychedelic tendencies to them also. Heres the catch though. The book CAN NOT overtly be about drugs or mention them frequently, preferably not all. that means no mckenna people. It makes it more intersting plus i think there is already a few other threads of that nature. I want books which promote the ideals of "psychedelic virtues" without having psychedelic drugs in them, Books that have psychedelic themes or psychedelic characters, or promote a more psychedelic way of life. Books that you think would fit well in the psychedelic culture. you get the idea.

The book I just read that fits this description is called. "The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You" by Dorothy Bryant. Its a very short and very simple read but its packed with great content. If you havent read it, I suggest you go out and get, i mean really you can read the whole thing in about a day or two.

Ultimately the Book is an allegory for spiritual growth. It also touches on philosophy, psychology and feminism and really makes you question the excepted ways of life the world currently lives in.

The story is about a succesful man who somehow finds himself living among a "primitive" tribe of people whos lives completely revolve around dreaming. There are many things in this book which remind of mushroom trips so much like the "hol-kas" experience, where they go to be cleansed or how when the man's world is being cracked there is laughter between him and the one hes speaking to just like on a hard mushroom trip. ugh its hard to explain but if you read this book you will definetily know what i mean. there are very strong ties with mushrooms.

so anyone else got any good books?
 
Very good idea for a thread.
Just starting to get back into reading :).

It definitely helped me as a kid and have watched my literacy skills suffer from not reading for years. All the books that will be suggested will keep me busy for a while :D
 
I hear Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a great book with psychedelic qualities without mentioning specific drugs often.

There's a material he talks about called "Soma" that facilitates the utopian world of the book.

I've never read it but it's definitely on my list. :)
 
a book called "how to win friends and influence people"

another one called "what everybody is saying"

two of the most interesting books i have read for years, look them up on amazon or whatever. eye opening
 
I've a favorite that I haven't visited again in a while:

The Wisdom of Insecurity - Alan Watts


...from the review list:


....

Alan Watts writes about the obvious. But, like so many simple things, we need his clear and effective writing to see that what he says is truely obvious. Basically, we spend too much time planning and anticipating the future and too much time thinking about, lamenting and wishing to change the past. I have dogeared too many corners underlying too many quotes to reproduce them all here, but let me give you a flavor:

"If happiness always depends on the future, we are chasing a will-o-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future,and ourselves,vanish in the abyss of death."

This quote is taped to the cover of my financial notebook that contains my financial portfolio data, 401K information and reams and reams of retirement plan calculations.

He also wrote:

"But tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present,since it is in the present and only in the present that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly."

This short book contains so many pearls, go get yourself a copy, pick some quotes, write them down, look at them, reread them (e-mail them to me) and get on with living today.

--Joe
Click to expand...
 
uniter said:
I hear Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a great book with psychedelic qualities without mentioning specific drugs often.

There's a material he talks about called "Soma" that facilitates the utopian world of the book.

I've never read it but it's definitely on my list. :)
Click to expand...

Quality book. A lot better than 1984 if you ask me.

The drug use in the book isn't viewed really in a positive light. It is used a way to control the members of the society.

If you want to read a Utopian novel that has a positive light on the use of drugs, read Aldous Huxley's other Utopian novel, Island. They use moksha, which is a mushroom like drug, as a spiritual tool. They also hint at the idea of them isolating LSA from ololiuhqui seeds to synth LSD.
 
I am reading Dune by Frank Herbert right now. It is basically a scifi novel about a rare and expensive drug called melange "spice" that gives people semi-psychic powers. Very well written. I find the way he describes the main characters extra-sensory experience of the flow of time and the endless possibilities and uncertainties of the future to be pretty psychedelic. Gives you a bit of the "mindfuck" feeling.

I agree that reading is a great way to keep the mind sharp. I find that if I don't read regularly for an extended period of time(6 months- 1 year at least), both my reading comprehension and my writing/spelling abilities become rusty. It definitely has other more subtle benefits as well.
 
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A lot of Asimov's writing is pretty damn trippy and thought provoking

The short story: The Last Question
by him is one of my favorites
 
I'd second Dune also but there's a lot more to it than "mindfuck" IMO.
 
I don't know if this really fits into the psychedelic category, but my dad recently got me the complete sherlock holmes (it's like a gajillion pages), and I've just been reading all the short stories (there's like 200 of them and they're all 10 pages long or so). They're pretty trippy in the sense that all this crazy shit happens and then sherlock holmes ties it all together in the end and solves stuff, which makes you go "HOLY SHIT OH YA I REMEMBER THAT WHY THE FUCK COULDN'T I THINK OF THAT!" I highly recomend any sherlock holmes stuff!
 
trout fishing in america
catch 22
the magus
the unbearable lightness of being
the way of zen
underworld
the stranger
mr palomar
if on a winters night a traveler
white noise
franny & zooey

check these out
 
The Celestine Prophecy
The Tenth Insight
The Celestine Vision
Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Mutant Message Down Under
 
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