If you're not familiar with Christian Raetsch, he's written a wonderfully comprehensive Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants (translated to english in 2005... I picked it up for $80 and consider it a bargain, the book is amazing). He's a very interesting individual and a great cannabis advocate.

This talk in particular comes from his experiences with Himalayan shamans. Lots of intresting background on their practices in the context of the talk. I highly recommend giving it a watch. He's German, but his accent is quite clear.

http://video.google.com/...4168262&q=&hl=en

is this the type of thing where someone believes people taking psychedelics started civilization?

No, it's more like examining their place at the root of culture in the earliest traditions we have record of.

And, it's kind of just an interesting survey of Himalayan psychoactive plants.

Christian Raetsch was also at the World Psychedelic Forum in Basel this year and was one of the speakers I really enjoyed listening to.

Me and my GF wanted to buy the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants at the WPF but it was a bit too expensive for us at that time.

its a great book. i can recommend it to anyone. however i have my doubts about him as a person as he doesnt seem very scientific about many things. one thing which started my doubts was that he was invited to talk at a psytrance party and he went up there and shouted into the mic "ihr nehmt wohl alle nicht genug L SSSSSSSS D" which means as much as "you all dont seem to be taking enough LSD". (he lives at the edge of hamburg city.. where i live too) I dislike scientists who talk about drug use as if it were something cool. He seems to think of himself as if he were some kind of guru for germany's psy trance scene. I would have hoped for more wise words to come from his mouth. It kind of reminded me that not everyone taking these substances may be actually doing the right thing with them.

A thing what I like very much about Albert Hofmann is that one time in Basel he started his speach with "I am not a guru. I am a scientist." I think too many people think of LSD as a party drug. It might be useful as that but you get much more out of it for yourself if you use it creatively and take a long walk through the alps instead of using it for party purpose.

But his book is AWESOME i gotta say! Weird that they took until 2005 to get it translated. Its a classic!

But for anyone who can't afford buying it.. I kinda know this book by heart. So if you have any questions. Just ask!