Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom (Hardcover) Andy Letcher's Shroom is an excellent history of the magic mushroom (mostly A. muscaria, P. semilanceata, and P. cubensis). Most of what one finds in psychedelic literature is idiotic speculation - from Timothy Leary's fantasy that if only enough people would take LSD we'd have world peace to Terence McKenna's arbitrary math with which he claims some sort of apocalypse in 2012. Thankfully, Letcher's history is sober. His central thesis is that the mushroom is in fact a drug that has only recently become popular and that there is little or no evidence for the use of mushrooms for mystical experiences outside of the modern context. He discusses Siberian shamanism, Mexican healing practices, accidental poisonings in Europe, and the modern explosion of mushroom use from Wasson through Psilocybe Fanaticus.

$24.95

 

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism (Paperback) Daniel Pinchbeck's greatest feat is that he has managed to find his way right into the heart of the post-New Age crowd that keeps trying to find answers to life's trying questions. This book describes P's wide-eyed wanderings from one (pseudo)shaman to the next; this includes several spiritual/commercial eco-trips that guide him into partaking substances such as ayahuasca, iboga, Psilocybe, DMT, LSD, NPT etc. And we should not forget the Burning Man, where Pinchback's amorous impulses finally land on receptive grounds. Whew! It did take a long time.

$15.95

 

Peyote: And Other Psychoactive Cacti by Adam Gottlieb, Larry Todd (Illustrator), Derek Westlund (Editor) Classic on peyote an psychoactive cacti growing. Describes obtaining seeds, growing, cloning and grafting, and extracting maximum output of mescaline and other alkaloids. Includes Peyote, San Pedro, Donana and other cacti. Discusses legal aspects with appendix from attorney Richard Glen Boire. List of Suppliers.

$14.95

 

Psychedelics Encyclopedia by Peter Stafford, Jeremy Bigwood, Sebastian J. Orfali (Editor) Psychedelics Encyclopedia draws from scientific research, personal accounts, and popular literature to document the properties attributed to psychedelic substances, their preparation and use, and the shifting social attitudes toward them over the past half-century. Psychedelics Encyclopedia is a remarkable sourcebook for anyone interested in the psychological, biological, physiological and cultural aspects of psychedelic drugs. A fascinating historical reference on psychedelic, psychoactive mushrooms, the MDA cluster, yage and harmaline, ibogaine, short-acting tryptamines (DMT, DET, DPT), nootropics, and other psychoactive substances. Each is treated with respect to its history, botany, pharmacology, physical effects, mental effects, forms, sources, purity tests,. Included are biographies, updates, and bibliographies for further research and studies. Psychedelics Encyclopedia is the seminal reference work.

$38.95

 

The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications by Christian Ratsch and Albert Hofmann This review will be short and to the point. There is no greater single book on psychoactive plants than this book. Ratsch has done an amazing job. His book is mind-bogglingly thorough and exhaustive. It beats "Pharmacotheon" (Ott), "Plants of the Gods" (Ratch, Hofmann and Schultes) or any other book I have ever seen that attempts to be a complete source of information of psychoactive plants. I have been waiting for a book like this for years. I don't think this book could possibly be out-done for decades. At best, we can only hope to see books that would be something like supplementary information in comparison to this book.

$125.00