I can't think of anything important or deep to add here, excuse me!
Posts: 356 Joined: 27-Oct-2018 Last visit: 17-Feb-2023 Location: The dream room, wonderland
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Hi reader! Can you suggest one or more psychedelics related books that i might enjoy reading?
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Music is alive and in your soul. It can move you. It can carry you. It can make you cry! Make you laugh. Most importantly, it makes you feel! What is more important than that?
Posts: 2562 Joined: 02-May-2015 Last visit: 04-Sep-2023 Location: Lost In A Dream
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Hi, Have you visited the Book Bin of the Nexus? If not, you'll find many good suggestions there. There are a few other book threads that can be found with a quick search of the forum. Personally, I've enjoyed reading: LSD: My Problem Child by Albert Hofmann Food of the Gods by Terrence Mckenna Plants of the Gods by Schultes, Hofmann, and Ratsch (This one is essentially an encyclopedia of psychedelic plants and their origins) Hope you are able to find something you like! Good luck! New to The Nexus? Check These Out: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
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I can't think of anything important or deep to add here, excuse me!
Posts: 356 Joined: 27-Oct-2018 Last visit: 17-Feb-2023 Location: The dream room, wonderland
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Thank you TGO for the suggested books, LSD my problem child is already on my buy list the others i will check. I was not familiar with the Book Bin im still exploring and learning about DMT-Nexus. Thank you for your post.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 9 Joined: 18-Nov-2018 Last visit: 31-Dec-2018
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Could you be a bit more specific on the sort of books you're looking for? For example, are you more interested in the history of psychedelics, the culture surrounding them, the chemistry, spiritual reflections on them, psychonaut-focused fiction, etc.
Just let me know, and I'll share the writings I've enjoyed.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 370 Joined: 01-Jun-2014 Last visit: 20-May-2023
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i can't recommend "How To Change Your Mind" by Michael Pollan highly enough. fantastic read; engaging, witty, informative, enlightening and satisfying. he's an incredible writer; hard to put down. also, a great book to gift to people who need some education on the current psychedelic renaissance. a game-changer. enjoy!
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 14191 Joined: 19-Feb-2008 Last visit: 03-Feb-2025 Location: Jungle
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Just some off the top of my mind.
Acid dreams: The complete social history of LSD (as the title says, goes over the early LSD history, the hippie movement, brotherhood of eternal love and the underground chemists, etc)
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (a writer follows ken kesey and the merry pranksters in their tours around USA in their bus doing parties, giving acid, and kickstarting a lot of what we know as the psychedelic hippie movement)
PIHKAL / TIHKAL - two classic books by Shulgin, first part of each book are stories from the Shulgins about their past, their thoughts about the law, their experiences with synthesizing and taking drugs with their groups, etc. Second part of the books is more chem oriented, with the synthesis pathways they used for different drugs, and a quick description of the subjective effects according to themselves or their group.
Flashbacks - Timothy leary's autobiography. Fun to get to have an inside view of his life.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 673 Joined: 04-Jul-2015 Last visit: 12-Jun-2024
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Several of the previous suggestions just went on my order list. I greatly enjoyed 'Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream' by Jay Stevens. It is a good overview of the modern history of Psychedelics up until the mid '80's. It enhanced my perspective and filled some blanks for me. 'Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and its Quest to Spread Peace, Love and Acid to the World' is a heckuva story and they made a documentary for it too. My flesh moves, like liquid. My mind is cut loose.
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Come what may
Posts: 1698 Joined: 08-Mar-2015 Last visit: 23-Mar-2019
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'Brotherhood of the screaming abyss' by Dennis McKenna is a really good book if you like Terence or Dennis. I like them both so it was a very enjoyable read! The original ' The Tibetan book of the dead' is a must read for any psychonaut. 'The psychedelic experience - A manual based on the tibetan book of the dead' by Timothy Leary, Raplh Metzner, and Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass) is also a must read 'The doors of perception' is a well written book by Aldous Huxley 'The psychedelic explorer's guide' by James Fadiman was a good book. For me it was like a refreshers course in psychedelics. Good information and sound advice through and through. "In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link." ~Carlos Castaneda
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I can't think of anything important or deep to add here, excuse me!
Posts: 356 Joined: 27-Oct-2018 Last visit: 17-Feb-2023 Location: The dream room, wonderland
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Hello people! Eleusis thank you for your post. Im more interested in the history,culture,experience and their chemistry. ducdevil thank you for this recommendation i recently watched Pollan on JRE podcast he was talking about his 5-meo-dmt experience, its on my buy list. endlessness thanks man, Pikhal,Tikhal i already ordered ha Acid dreams i liked so i might order it. Wolfnippletip, DmnStr8 thank you for posting guys im sure i will order The Tibetan book of the dead, and some of the others are already on the way to me. Nice
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 9 Joined: 18-Nov-2018 Last visit: 31-Dec-2018
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As people have mentioned, the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is an excellent book, following Kesey and the pranksters through the original Acid Test parties and all that.
Plants of the Gods by Shultes and Hofmann is a must-own. The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner is criminally underrepresented, and definitely worth reading. Provides not only information and context, but some practical shamanistic exercises. If you like it, he also has a follow-up, Hallucinogens and Shamanism
If you're interested in psychology, anything by Stanislov Grof will do you well.
It isn't strictly tied to psychedelics, but Alan Watt's The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are really helped me integrate my early DMT experiences and serves as an excellent introduction for a westerner into eastern philosophy. If you have more interest in that direction, PM me-- I have no shortage of reading material in that field.
On the chemistry side, TiHKAL and PiHKAL are must-owns. DMT:The Spirit Molecule is worth reading as well, though I definitely can tell the people on this site aren't the intended audience. Psychedelic Medicine by Richard Miller gives an excellent overview of the state of modern entheogen-assisted therapy.
If you'd like to get more into practical chemistry, Zubrick's Organic Chemistry Lab Survival Guide is the best resource you can have.
I realize I've just dumped a lot out on you, so let me pull back: if you only read one book on here, it should be Alan Watt's The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.
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I can't think of anything important or deep to add here, excuse me!
Posts: 356 Joined: 27-Oct-2018 Last visit: 17-Feb-2023 Location: The dream room, wonderland
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Hi Eleusis and thank you for the recommendations after searching further into books you mentioned i ordered The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, and im curently checking out the others. I actually ordered and are soon to arive 8 books so far, kinda expensive but im sure it will be totally worth it thank you all.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 56 Joined: 06-Nov-2018 Last visit: 22-Nov-2019
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I can vouche for The way of the shaman, helped me early on in a practical way my thirst for spirituality. I found โShaman, Healer , Sageโ by Alberto Villoldo to be a much more useful book as far as learning rituals, sacred space, gazing, death rites etc.
Dreamtime and Inner space by Holger Kalweit, explains in-depth practices and ascetic living by the shamans of various countries. I think it was kinda wordy and dragged on a bit sometimes. Yet it helped me learn that different states of consciousness can be learned from psychedelics and induced without their aide.
Natural magic: the magical state of being by Barry saxe/David Carroll - this book is really just amazing to me, so much that I had begun to rewrite it in order to make it more readable and compact. Had the effect of changing the way I perceive the world and renewing my belief that thereโs more to life than this physical realm. Lots of practical knowledge and insight.
Eckhart tolleโs The power of now and his sequels are especially useful for reminding me of the importance of living in the moment.
โIshmaelโ has a unique perspective on the way society has developed and why itโs doomed to fail, seen through the eyes of a gorilla. Another brain changer.
Currently reading Mushrooms and mankind by James Arthur. Talks about the impact of mushrooms on human consciousness and religion. The idea that Jesus is a mushroom is new to me, and itโs refining my understanding of Christianity. A nice short read packed with fresh ideas.
Iโm looking at โConscious breathingโ by Joy Manne as my next read. I could use some tools to help ground myself.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 144 Joined: 10-Sep-2018 Last visit: 05-May-2022 Location: lalaland
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The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 11 Joined: 24-Nov-2018 Last visit: 27-Dec-2018
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My favorite series of books is the pharmako series by Dale Pendell.. its a series of 3 books and covers all poisons (drugs), not just psychedelics..but all are worth the read.. the way he ties together ethnobotony, pharmacology, chemistry, historical, personal experience, philosophical, and occult perspective into a book of poetry is so perfect and unique.. ive literally given my sets of books away multiple times and reordered.. totally worth it..
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