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The Big & Dandy Psychedelic Books Thread

If you ever wished for a single book that described exactly how psychedelics worked and just why they are so important, then this is the book you have been waiting for!
I might pick this up the library, or if they don't have it buy it for cheap somewhere. It sounds interesting and like it could be a nice read. I probably could integrate some of this information to my trips.

Good to know yaesutom, thanks.
 
While a quick read of the sections that could be accessed online proved interesting, I did find one thing that, because of my own academic background, stood out like a sore thumb: There were several errors in the structural molecular diagrams of various compounds

They omitted the hydrogen attached to the indolic nitrogen atom (important when considering say ALD-52 & LSD)

They omitted the '+' sign that should have been next to the quaternary nitrogen of choline/acetylcholine, yet had incuded it in structures of ionized amino acids (important as some anticholinergics contain a quaternary nitrogen, yet are not hallucinogenic due to their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier)

The most popular of the classic dissociatives are Ketamine (a veterinary anesthetic) and dextromethorphan (DXM, the active ingredient of the cough-suppressant Robitussin) which are both structurally similar, DXM being a bit more complex.

No they're not; ketamine is nowt like dextromethorphan

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They're different in numerous ways, so structurally it's like saying that a starfish is similar to an ant.


Normally I wouldn't have brought it up, but as in the blurb it describes itself as

Destined to become a classic within the field

I think that it needs to be proof read/researched more thouroughly before it can genuinely call itself a 'classic'.


It did make an interesting read, other than that though
 
Now this (http://www.maps.org/books/higherwisdom/ ) book IS destined to become a classic.

Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics

Contributors include Gary Bravo, Ram Dass, Betty Eisner, James Fadiman, Gary Fisher, Peter T. Furst, Charles S. Grob, Stanislav Grof, Michael Harner, Albert Hofmann, Laura Archera Huxley, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Alexander T. “Sasha” Shulgin, Ann Shulgin, Huston Smith, Myron Stolaroff, and Roger Walsh.


I B
 
The Big and Dandy Psychedelic Books Thread

This brand new book by the best-selling author is absolutely fascinating, as I discovered by listening to his interview from November 1 2005 on coasttocoastam.com:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2005/11/01.html

Graham Hancock describes his 11 experiences taking Ayahuasca in the amazon among Shamans, the link between psychedelic experiences of people who take dmt & ayahuasca & mushrooms and communication from transdimensional beings from possible other dimensions or the spirit world while people are in these other states of consciousness. He likens the brain to a tv receiver that is normally tuned to "station normal" but when a person enters an altered state, they are tuned to another reality and can even receive communication from these beings, or ancient teachers of mankind that even left there mark some 35,000 years ago when Graham postulates that human beings acquired a form of consciousness that makes humans who they are today.

Graham Hancock doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. He actually took Ayahuasca for 5 weeks and didn't just speculate about it.

The book is some 500 plus pages and takes about 6 to 10 days to be delivered from amazon.uk. It won't be published in the US until 2006 but is about $35.00 if ordered by air mail from overseas.

Graham in his 3 hour interview with George Noory on Coast to Coast refers to Rick Strassman and Bud Hopkins, John Mack, and many others in this remarkable interview. I have no affiliation with Graham Hancock or the sale of his book, but I have read his other book "The Fingerprint of the gods" and "the message of the Sphinx".

I believe you can also download his Nov 1 2005 interview from Bearshare or other places, possibly even soulseek if you search hard enough asuming you allready own the original interview, which can be downloaded as mp3 from coasttocoastam.com for about $7.95 for a one month trial subscription which can be cancelled at any time.

I also enjoyed the other following interviews:

August 22 2005: Cydonia Symbols (Mars Pyramid & Sphinx) with Hoagland

Spet 29 2005: Borders of Reality with Cliff Pickover who discusses DMT and psychedelics and has also released a new book entitled "Sex, Drugs, Einstein and Elves."

Oct 24 2005: Prof Lawrence Krauss discusses New Dimensions & Cosmology.

Oct 17 2005: The Life of Tesla

An older Interview from March 28 2005 or so with the author of "Breaking open the Head" Daniel Pinchbeck who talks about his experiences taking various psychedelics. Try downloading this 3 hour interview from a file sharing network (listed above)as it is past 90 days old and can no longer be downloaded from coast to coast.

Here is a link to Graham's new book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN...3817773-7067006
 
Hancock is modern day von Daniken and a complete kook. Maybe his new book is worthwhile, but "Fingerprints of the Gods" is rubbish.
 
Nice one. All the above books look quite interesting. I'll have to check them out at some point in the future.
 
quite the analytical tour, that Psych IT (bit starkly so if you ask me), but refreshing nonetheless. the problem i have with analytics in general is that somehow it doesn't seem to really answer anything, it just 'assesses'. well, not completely so, but when searching for answers they themselves constantly have to leave the analytic stance, so it always has this 'forced' feel to it. but its too early to form opinions, although it striked me that you can cling to 'material real' just as hard as leary &co clinged.
i must say he seems to take (on?) various stances further on. im still undecided whether im curious enough though
 
The primary purpose of this book is to identify and examine the many various forms of psychedelic experience in an attempt to explain the underlying neural and pharmacological processes which cause these various phenomena to arise.

Like the title "Information Theory" implies, the author perhaps wishes to establish a semiological map of the psychedelic practice, by identifying the involved variables and writing them down. He may not have all the vocabulary, training or all that, but he's doing it. He's ended up being colloquial and humorous, but he does seem to have the experiential side of it well placed within an admittedly scientific framework. Therefore, I like it a lot :). The book may however not end up being recognized outside the already practicing psychedelic people.. but could, in practice, be a valuable resource and a good read nonetheless.


Looks like it's going to be a thorough one, especially once part two is completed.
What answers would you expect to get? On the pragmatic side, it seems that this is supposed to be a kind of handbook for communities and individuals (or "shamans", as he mentions in part 1) using psychedelics. You know, the kind that helps to prepare, understand and integrate on personal and cultural levels...

So, what type of analysis would you prefer to see in the future?

edit: seems it's more or less done, just not published..
 
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fastandbulbous said:
While a quick read of the sections that could be accessed online proved interesting, I did find one thing that, because of my own academic background, stood out like a sore thumb


with all due respect, this book has not yet been published, and it still is undergoing peer review, as far as I can tell, and I imagine that the errors you pointed out will be fixed eventually, or if you feel so inclined, i think you could post some of those that you caught to their forums: http://www.tripzine.net/pit/viewforum.php?f=2

The book looks interesting to me, but I definately am interested in it being informationally sound, and I think all input would help to produce a book that might really benefit the community.

//moracca
 
The Big and Dandy Psychedelic Books Thread

Around 2004-2005 people were talking about this new book that supposedly was going to come out..

What happened?
 
I figure it would take quite some time to make a COMPLETE psychedelic index. It would take many years just to trip on all the substances alone. But I'm not sure if it's going to be in any way similar to pihkal or tihkal. Haven't read or heard much about this new book.
 
i have been wondering the same thing. i'm also pretty sure it -will- have some similarities with pihkal & tihkal, because a few entries from it were released when the DALT compounds hit the RC market recently, if my memory serves correctly.
 
^^there was one released for 2c-b-fly also. I'm going insane waiting for this book...
 
I don't think I've enjoyed reading anything as much as PiHKAL and TiHKAL! To say I'm looking forward to another work of 'fiction' by Ann and Alexander Shulgin is an understatement.
 
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