Psychedelic Press UK
leary
Literary Review: ‘The Man who Turned on the World’ by Michael Hollingshead
Originally published in 1973 ‘The Man who Turned on the World’ by Michael Hollingshead recounts the author’s involvement in the psychedelic movement of the 1960s. Having been told by Aldous Huxley to talk with Timothy Leary, and having subsequently given Leary his first LSD trip, Hollingshead’s notoriety was assured. The book is a fascinating landscape … Continue reading
Literary Review: ‘White Hand Society – The Psychedelic Partnership of Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg’ by Peter Conners
Originally published by City Lights in 2010 ‘White Hand Society – The Psychedelic Partnership of Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg’ is authored by Peter Conners. The book takes a refreshing look at psychedelia’s most culturally potent point of history to date. Conners has previously published a memoir entitled ‘Growing up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of … Continue reading
Literary Review: ‘The Harvard Psychedelic Club’ By Don Lattin
Originally published in 2010 ‘The Harvard Psychedelic Club’ by Don Lattin is a work of narrative non-fiction. It biographically examines the lives of four men, involved in various ways with what was originally called the Harvard Psilocybin Project. Based on interviews with the surviving members and written accounts, Lattin’s book is a highly readable text … Continue reading
Literary Review: ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’ By Timothy Leary
Originally published in 1968 ‘The Politics of Ecstasy’ is a collection of essays by, and interviews with, psychedelic troubadour Timothy Leary. The book contains Leary’s central ideas for the Sixties psychedelic revolution; both social and scientific. Arguably less well received than ‘The Psychedelic Experience’, it is in fact a much more insightful perspective on both … Continue reading
Literary Review: ‘Sacred Mushroom of Visions: Teonanácatl’ Etd. Ralph Metzner
Originally published in 2004 ‘Sacred Mushroom of Visions: Teonanácatl’ is a relatively comprehensive sourcebook on the psilocybin mushroom. The book is edited by Ralph Metzner, who’s history with the psychedelic movement dates back to the Harvard Psilocybin Project. It contains contributions from a wide range of individuals and contains elements of science, theory, history and … Continue reading
Literary Review: ‘Psychedelic Prayers’ By Timothy Leary
Originally published in 1966, ‘Psychedelic Prayers after the Tao Te Ching’ by Timothy Leary is a work of textual interpretation, an exercise in creativity and an attempt to illuminate and guide the psychedelic experience through the lens of an ancient text. The cover drawing, a psychedelic, red horse motif, is illustrated by Michael Bowen. Having already … Continue reading
Literary Review: ‘Birth of a Psychedelic Culture’
Originally published in 2010 ‘Birth of a Psychedelic Culture – Conversations about Leary, the Harvard experiment, Millbrook and the Sixties’ is a fascinating insight into the early years of the Western social phenomena, known as psychedelia. Its multifaceted approach produces a wonderfully rounded examination of life within the burgeoning psychedelic bubble and the evolving atmosphere … Continue reading
Lessons from a Counter-Culturalist
What a strange and un-nerving presence Timothy Leary’s writings have in this post-psychedelic era. The remnants of a highly charged socio-political and quasi-religious philosophy, which not only erupted against the established norms of external power structures but which also celebrated the right to our internal freedom, is today, a spectre-like memory. Many of the important … Continue reading
