So I'm almost finished with the last book batch, and looking to acquire a few new ones next month.

Here are some that I have in mind:

A Primer of Drug Action

Tibetan Book of the Dead

Introduction to Neuropsychopharmacology

The Biology of Transcendence

In Search of the Miraculous

Practicing the Jhanas: Traditional Concentration Meditation as Presented by the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw

(in the context of a beginner to meditation who thinks that practicing samatha will be beneficial for the later development of vipassana)



Have you read any of these? Would you recommend, and why ?

No takers?

I've read The Tibetan Book of the Dead and In Search of the Miraculous...both highly recommended.

The TBotD gives a fairly accurate(yet generalized) map of the territory one may encounter during entheogenic journeys. Along with some advice for steering oneself towards peak experiences and away from dark or base experiences. It is a book every psychonaut should have in my opinion. It was created by Timothy Leary and his boys in the early days of LSD research in the 1960's. I've found that I rarely think about the book until I'm within a trip and I need its advice. More than a few times remembering its message pushed me right back into the light before I spun out.

In Search of the Miraculous is a great summary of Gurdjieff's teachings from his pupil Ouspensky. It got me into Gurdjieff and gave me alot to think about. Although, when I've met students of Gurdjieff they say it pales in comparison to the teachings Gurdjieff wrote himself.( such as Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson) But I have heard his books are purposely dense, contrived, and esoteric, so, Ouspensky's summary is a great way to jump in and begin blowing your mind with some summaries of the teachings right now.

As far as meditation books go I'm a huge fan of Undoing Yourself with Energized Meditation by Christopher Hyatt. This book is highly entertaining and makes one rethink their reality while also giving an extremely easy to follow and effective meditation method devised by Hyatt through researching and combining various meditation and yogic practices into one method that is easy to understand and practice for a modern person from the Western Hemisphere. Check it out...whole book for FREE! Undoing Yourself

It would be wild if we started a book club type thing, and conversate over the books. From things regarding psychedelics/sci fy or whatever.

Hey I mistook the Tibetan Book of the Dead for the much later "The Psychedelic Experience: based on the Tibetan book of the Dead" which is derived from the Tibetan original and put into a tripping context. Still worth checking out anyway. I'll have to look into the Tibetan original myself.

The Tibetan Book of The Dead is a great piece.

I HIGHLY recommend the ancient indian texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads.

They strongly resonate with mystical experience and the psychedelic experience....especially the dmt experience.

Definitely a book club!

For me the TBotD was most valuable for its conceptualising of conscious processes. 'You are in reality a natural form of emptiness' 'the aggregate of motivational tendencies' etc. I felt more aware of myself while reading it, but have typically forgotten all the best bits!

Hows the reading going nexalizer?

There is a "Book Bin" sticky under Music/Art/Literature. It's not quite a book club, but it's a start. Getting individuals who have read the same books discussing them in detail would be a beautiful thing though. I'm just not sure we'd have enough participation to keep it energized enough to deserve its own subforum. If enough of you believe I'm wrong, let me know and I'll mention it to Traveler.

One way this could happen would be to narrow music/art/literature to just music and art, then create a subforum called "Nexus Book Club". Then individual threads could be created to get into detailed discussion of books. There could be a sticky reminding everyone to search past topics about given titles before starting new threads, to keep the discussions coherent.

Thoughts?