Hi y'all,

I just wanted to give a shout out on my behalf of my friend [Dr] David Luke aka recently promoted Nexian 'psychicdeli'. David is one of the main organisers of the amazing Breaking Convention conference myself and a number of other Nexians have attended, both recently and in the past. He has a strong background in psychology and parapsychology and has a particular research interest in anomalous and exceptional human experiences, particularly those catalysed through psychedelics. David is one of the main players involved in the growing psychedelic research scene in the UK, and he is also a seasoned psychonaut and a Class A dude of the highest order. He also happens to be a very talented word-smith, and has the capacity to educate and entertain at the same time. I got the book myself (I even got it signed by David, what a fan boy!) and it is very much aligned to my particular interests. Several chapters devoted to DMT, and lots more good stuff aside, I can recommend it highly.

Otherworlds: Psychedelics and exceptional human experience.
by Dr David Luke
Muswell Hill Press: London

A psychonautic scientific trip to the weirdest outposts of the psychedelic terrain, inhaling anything and everything relevant from psychology, psychiatry, parapsychology, anthropology, neuroscience, ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, biochemistry, religious studies, cultural history, shamanism and the occult along the way.

Staring the strange straight in the third eye this eclectic collection of otherworldly entheogenic research delivers a comprehensive and yet ragtaglledy scientific exploration of syanaesthesia, extra-dimensional percepts, inter-species communication, eco-consciousness, mediumship, possession, entity encounters, near-death and out-of-body experiences, psi, alien abduction experiences and lycanthropy. Essentially, its everything you ever wanted to know about weird psychedelic experiences, but were too afraid to ask…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1908995149

“Emphasizing parapsychological aspects of the psychedelic experience, Luke’s new book fills in a fascinating and previously neglected lacuna in the burgeoning field of human studies with these compounds. ” – Rick Strassman, PhD

“A psychedelic Indiana Jones. ” – Matt Colborn, PhD

“David Luke’s delightful one-liner about his book is that it’s ‘about weird people in weird places taking weird substances doing weird things and, importantly, having weird experiences’ . . . On reflection, it’s much more profound than that . . . So weird reader, forge ahead without fear. ” – Dean Radin, PhD

“In his fascinating book David plunges into this controversial topic and gives the backstory, the front story, and possible ways forward to bring paranormal and psychedelic research together, and further our understanding of both. ” – Dennis J. McKenna, PhD

“A remarkable collection and a necessary one. This body of research illuminates aspects of psychedelic experiences usually obscured or denied in the medical and clinical research and sensationalized in the popular press. ” – James Fadiman, PhD

“A real Dr Gonzo. ” – Will Self

Nice one Bancopuma!

Sounds pretty nifty, I've been wanting a good psychedelic tome to read...

This quote from the Amazon page is promising:


i.e. the book appears to be essays on parapsychology and psychedelics, which most surely do intersect nicely at some points, but the discussion of which is most often so saturated with woo that it maintains it's incredulity and uselessness. Think I'll check this one out at some point soon...wonder if its available over the counter here in the city?

Hey null24, there's lots of good stuff in there. There is a really wide spectrum of interesting topics with a variety of different fields traversed. All the chapters are comprehensively referenced to the scientific literature, so it remains grounded, even when exploring lofty subjects, and there is a nice pinch of direct, subjective psychonautical explorations in the mix too. I like David's way with words; he has the ability to educate while entertaining at the same time. Parapsychology in general gets a bad rap and there is a negative bias against it from mainstream science to a large degree, things are changing though and the constant flak from sceptics means a good portion of the research is actually conducted rigorously (more rigorously than some areas of more mainstream scientific researchers some researchers have observed) and there are definitely some good people like David doing some interesting research in the area.