Book review
Getting Higher
Julian Vayne’s manual ranges from preparation and group ceremonies to integration after a psychedelic experience. An accessible collection of approaches, with roots in esoteric and spiritual practice.
Psychedelics
Where does experience meet evidence?
Critical book reviews on psychedelic history, research, culture, and interpretation.
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Book review
Alien Information Theory
Andrew Gallimore moves from psychedelic neuroscience to a theory about DMT and a higher-dimensional reality. A valuable explanatory first part, followed by less convincing claims about alien intelligence and a cosmic game.
Book review
LSD: My Problem Child
Albert Hofmann recounts LSD’s discovery, his first experience, early research and its spread beyond the laboratory. Notes on that history, including Hofmann’s concerns about risks and the conditions surrounding its use.
Book review
Autism on Acid
Aaron Paul Orsini describes his personal experiences of autism and LSD, including social understanding and self-acceptance. A case study and an invitation to further research, rather than established clinical evidence.
Book review
To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic
Ben Sessa imagines psychiatrists launching a psychedelic research project. An enjoyable premise, though the novel’s optimistic picture of psychedelic-assisted therapy goes further than the evidence it presents.
Book review
Manifesting Minds
Rick Doblin and Brad Burge collect MAPS Bulletin writing across science, therapy, art and spirituality. A welcome variety of perspectives, though readers can also find the material in the Bulletin itself.
Book review
DMT: The Spirit Molecule
Rick Strassman recounts organising human DMT research and the experiences reported by participants. A valuable history of psychedelic research, with reservations about the leap from vivid experiences to claims about another reality.
Book review
Ecstasy
A collection surveying MDMA’s history, effects, risks, research and proposed therapeutic uses. A valuable harm-reduction perspective and case for renewed medical research, reflecting knowledge available around 2001.
Book review
The Psychedelic Renaissance
Sessa surveys psychedelic history, research, culture and policy while arguing for careful scientific and therapeutic engagement. A balanced overview, with hope that research and practice can responsibly reconnect.
Book review
Food of the Gods
McKenna interprets human history through psychedelic use and proposes a role for psilocybin in evolution. Recommended as a window into those ideas, with reservations about its confident claims and romantic picture of the past.
Book review
TIHKAL
The Shulgins combine biography with accounts of psychedelic chemistry, therapy and drug policy. An argument for accessible information and shared experience, alongside therapeutic questions that still need research.
Book review
Magic Medicine
Johnson surveys 23 psychedelic substances through their effects, histories, cultural uses and possible medical applications. A measured tone and broad scope, with attention to the distinct perspectives offered by different substances.
Book review
The Psychedelic Experience
Leary, Metzner and Alpert adapt the Tibetan Book of the Dead into an early guide to psychedelic states and preparation. A historical document rather than a complete guide for use today, with reservations about its psychological and cosmic claims.
Book review
Drugs
Nutt compares the harms different drugs cause to users and society, arguing for evidence-based policy. Illuminating comparisons that challenge familiar assumptions about legal and illegal substances.
Book review
Mescaline
Jay traces mescaline through Indigenous ritual, science and popular culture. A detailed history, with notes on how cultural settings shaped its use and reception.
Book review
Heaven and Hell
Huxley reflects on visionary experience, art, light and the mind, including blissful and frightening states. Less engaging than The Doors of Perception, with reservations about unsupported speculation on illness and psychedelic experience.
Book review
The Doors of Perception
Huxley recounts a mescaline experience and reflects on perception, consciousness, contemplation and action. An engaging short book, with some explanations that belong to an earlier scientific context.