Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America by Jesse Jarnow
Heads, as a biography of psychedelic America, is in some respects a history of American culture’s entwining with LSD, and in another a kind of frank love note to the bearers of this culture.
Tagged: review
Listening to Ayahuasca by Rachel Harris
Listening to Ayahuasca is a testament to the life-affirmation that can come from working with the medicine. But Rachel Harris does not shy away from delving into the thornier issues incumbent in its aggressively enthusiastic uptake by the West.
Who Am I? Yoga, Psychedelics & the Quest for Enlightenment by Allowah Lani
The last few years has seen a plethora of books that blend personal narrative with the exploration of various aspects of psychedelic drugs. Who Am I, as the title suggests, is one such book. Allowah Lani, a Generation-X yogi from...
Leaf by Leaf by Leaf Fielding
Leaf Fielding, member of the legendary ‘Operation Julie’ LSD-manufacturing-and-distribution ring, was busted in 1977 and spent five years in jail, ending his sentence at Leyhill Open Prison. He published his memoir, To Live Outside the Law, in 2011 – a...
Re-reading Ayahuasca: Cultural complexities of the vine unpicked
“You are the shaman,” announced Terence McKenna at the beginning of a new phase of the archaic revival. With thousands of you-shamans going to Iquitos every year to get their feathers, it may be time to unpack that idea, and...
The Gantry Episode by June Drummond
The Gantry Episode (1968) by June Drummond was published by Victor Gollancz. One of a host of novels published in the late 1960s, which all had LSD being pumped into a local water supply as their major premise, this particular...
Lovemaster by Lambert Macy
Published in the United States in 1967, Lovemaster by Lambert Macy is a hippie exploitation novel set against the backdrop of LSD’s emergence into the youth culture of the 1960s. It is told from the point of view of protagonist Dr...
Below the Mainstreaming: A Review of Beyond Psychedelics
At the end of September the psychedelic community gathered together in Prague, Czech Republic, for the Beyond Psychedelics conference. Over three days, numerous speakers and psychedelic enthusiasts shared their revelations, insights, hopes and beliefs in what was a brilliantly delivered...
Undercover: Operation Julie – the Inside Story by Stephen Bentley
As a historian of LSD culture in Britain (author of Albion Dreaming (2008) and Acid Drops: Adventures in Psychedelia (2015) with a special interest in the people and events which coalesced into what has become known in drug culture shorthand as...
Articulations: On the Utilization and Meanings of Psychedelics by Julian Palmer
Julian Palmer’s Articulations (2014) is a personal treatise on psychedelic plants and substances based largely on the author’s 15 years of “profound research”. Taking into account both natural and synthetic substances, the author outlines the lessons he has gleaned from...
