THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION by Aldous Huxley
Huxley's classic from 1954, which sparked the
rediscovery of psychedelics by a wide and varied
audience. "There is nothing the pen of Huxley
touches which it does not illuminate, and as the record
of a highly civilised, brilliantly articulate man under
the influence of an astonishing drug, The Doors of
Perception is a tour de force." The
Daily Telegraph, London. ©Mrs. Laura Huxley
THE JOYOUS COSMOLOGY by Alan W.
Watts
One of the world's leading investigators of the
psychology of religion evaluates the psychedelic
experience both objectively and from the vantage of the
author's own personal experiments. Foreword by Timothy
Leary and Richard Alpert. HTML edition, table of contents
and complete text, ©1962, 1970 by Pantheon Books.
LSD, MY PROBLEM CHILD by Albert
Hofmann
Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD and discoverer of
psilocybin, the active principle of the "magic
mushroom," recounts the history of his discoveries.
HTML edition, table of contents and complete text, ©1980
McGraw-Hill Book Company. Translated by Jonathan Ott from
the German, LSDMein Sorgenkind, 1979
THE ROAD TO ELEUSIS by Wasson,
Hofmann, & Ruck
Acting on an insight into the true nature of the
Mysteries of Eleusis, R. Gordon Wasson sought the
collaboration of Albert Hofmann and Carl A.P. Ruck, a
classical scholar specializing in Greek ethnobotany.
Closely coordinating their research, the three
scholar-scientists first offered documentation on the
religious rites at an International Conference on
Hallucinogenic Mushrooms in 1977. These astonishing
findings, given here in a much expanded version, leave
little doubt that the ancient secret of Eleusis has at
last been unveiled. The HTML edition includes Table of
Contents, Introduction and Chapter I. © 1978 by Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich.
THE SECRET CHIEF by Myron J.
Stolaroff
"Conversations with a Pioneer of the Underground
Psychedelic Therapy Movement" by Myron J. Stolaroff.
The PROLOGUE to The Secret Chief by Stanislav
Grof, M.D., is reproduced in The Psychedelic Library by
permission of the publisher, The Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies. ©1997 by Myron J.
Stolaroff.
THE NATURAL MIND by Andrew Weil
"The Natural Mind is one of the classics
of consciousness investigation. Dr. Weil's emphasis that
it is consciousness and intention that are primary in
determining our response to drugs, rather than drug
chemistry, is an insight we need today to determine a
rational approach to drug use and abuse."
Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. Preface to the revised
edition and Chapter 1 reproduced in The Psychedelic
Library by permission of the author. ©1972, 1986 by
Andrew Weil.
THE MARIJUANA
SMOKERS by Erich Goode
"This timely and dispassionate bookbased on
a survey of 200 marijuana users and on thousands of
man-hours spent in direct observationportrays the
marijuana phenomenon as it actually is. Dr. Goode
convincingly shows how misconceptions and widespread
fears over the morals and life styles of drug users have
hindered an enlightened understanding of the use and
effects of marijuana." Published in 1970, this book
has withstood the test of time and remains one of the
most important works on the subject. The complete text is
available here by permission of the author.
HIGH
CULTURE: MARIJUANA IN THE LIVES OF AMERICANS by William Novak
A classic text on marijuana and its effects on normal
everyday Americans by a jouranlist and reviewer whose
work has appeared in many well-known publications, and
has been an editor and teacher of writing at Tufts
University. The complete text available here by
permission of the author.
ON BEING STONED
by Charles T. Tart
"A Psychological Study of Marijuana
Intoxication" was published in 1971 and remains a
most important source of information for both
professionals and the general public. With the recently
escalating debate concerning government intransigence on
the medical marijuana issue, On Being Stoned
appears in The Psychedelic Library as a valuable antidote
to misinformation and hysteria. The complete text is
available here by permission of the author. ©1971 by
Science and Behavior Books.
DRUG, SET, AND SETTING by Norman E.
Zinberg
"This is a major work, by one of the world's
leading experts on drug use and abuse. It is a book full
of insights. Zinberg has provided us with a candid report
on the reality of drug use in some of its most common
features. By concentrating on the human dimensions of
controlled use, he has etched in remarkably revealing
detail the broad spectrum of use within which abuse may
be better understood and more accurately defined."
Arnold S. Trebach. ©1984 Yale University
THE MYTH OF ADDICTION
and DRUGSPEAK
by John Booth Davies
"The Myth of Addiction is an immensely readable, provocative text which is fast becoming a
classic. It is a book which anyone aspiring to present a new structure to explain
drug use must take into account. As a result of the publication of The Myth
of Addiciton, it is no longer possible to talk the language of addictiondisease,
having to have, compulsion, loss of control, expurgation of guiltwithout sensing
the presence of John Davies looking on and forcing the question, 'what exactly do I think I am
trying to explain?'" Douglas Cameron, University of Leicester.
Second edition, ©1997 by OPA, Harwood Academic Publishers.
THE MEANING OF
ADDICTION by Stanton Peele
The Meaning of Addiction presents an entire
non-reductive, experiential model of addiction. It is the
standard reference showing that addiction can never be
resolved to its biochemical components, as the NIDA and
NIMH are currently attempting to prove. "Stanton
Peele writes so clearly and cogently that his scholarship
and erudition remain continuously intriguing, adding to
the readability of a volume that will become a classic
contribution to the field." (Jules Masserman, Past
President, American Psychiatric Association.) ©1985 by
D.C. Heath and Company
DRUGS AND
RIGHTS by Douglas N. Husak
"This timely and important book is the first
serious work of philosophy to address the question: Do
adults have a moral right to use drugs for recreational
purposes? Many critics of the 'war on drugs' denounce law
enforcement as counterproductive and ineffective. Douglas
Husak argues that the 'war on drugs' violates the moral
rights of adults who want to use drugs for pleasure and
that criminal laws against such use are incompatible with
moral rights." Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and
Public Policy, ©1992 by Cambridge University Press
RELIGIONS, VALUES, AND
PEAK-EXPERIENCES by Abraham H. Maslow
"Traditionally, religion has been of the spirit;
science, of the body; and there has been a wide
philosophic gulf between the knowlege of the body and the
knowledge of the spirit. The natural sciences and
religion have generally been considered as natural and
eternal opponents. Abraham H. Maslow here articulates one
of his prominent theses: the "religious"
experience is a rightful subject for scientific
investigation and speculation and, conversely, the
"scientific community" will see its work
enhanced by acknowledging and studying the species-wide
need for spiritual expression which, in so many forms, is
at the heart of "peak-experiences" reached by
healthy, fully functioning persons."
STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS by Charles T. Tart
Stanislav Grof said of this book, "A beautiful
piece of work on the theory of Altered States of
Consciousness that will become a classic in the
field." First published in 1975, States of
Consciousness appears in The Psychedelic Library by
permission of the author. ©1975 by Charles T. Tart.
THE FORBIDDEN GAME by Brian Inglis
"A Social History of Drugs" by Brian Inglis.
One of the book's recurring themes is that Prohibition
has always led to an increase of drug consmption, coupled
with an increase in corruption and crime. A classic of
the Anti-Prohibition Literature, the author also wrote
one of the best accounts of The Opium War.
THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE by
William S. Moxley
"A Theory of Psychedelic Experience" by
William S. Moxley. Drawing upon recent research in many
fields of study, this work represents the first
multi-disciplinary theory attempting to define the
nature, cause, roots, and future of psychedelic
experience. Published for the first time in the Drug
Reform Coordination Network Internet Library. HTML
edition, copyright 1996 WSM.
THE PRIVATE SEA: LSD AND THE SEARCH
FOR GOD by William Braden
Published in 1967, Albert Hofmann wrote of this book,
"...a true intellectual pleasure...you certainly
penetrated deeply into the roots of the LSD problem and
have presented its many-sided aspects and its
relationship to present intellectual trends well and with
a thorough knowledge of the subject."
LSD THE PROBLEM-SOLVING
PSYCHEDELIC by Peter Stafford & Bonnie Golightly
Published in 1967. "Unless I have completely
misunderstood the message, this book must be looked upon
as a manifesto from one generation to anotherfrom
the young to their elders. As I see it, the younger
generation is telling us that it proposes to use
psychedelics because it considers them appropriate
instruments for living in the hurricane's eye of
accelerating change. These young people consider that it
is neither possible nor desirable to prevent them from
employing these substances in this way, and in fact they
are challenging lawmakers, law givers and law enforcers
to stop them." Humphrey Osmond, from the
preface.
HIGH IN AMERICA by Patrick
Anderson
"The True Story Behind NORML and the Politics of
Marijuana". Published by The Viking Press, New York,
©1981 by Patrick Anderson. Reproduced in The Psychedelic
Library with the permission of the author.
HENRY HYDE ON DRUGS by Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean
Chapter 5 of Henry Hyde's Moral Universe: Where More than Time and Space are Warped
Common Courage Press, 1999. "Henry Hyde played a significant role in creating public confusion about Contra
trafficking and ultimately steering the IranContra Committees away from a serious investigation of this highly volatile
subject that goes right to the heart of U.S. national security."
THE MAN WHO TURNED ON THE WORLD by Michael Hollingshead
Published by Blond & Briggs, Ltd., 1973. The
autobiography of one of the legendary figures in the
history of the psychedelic rediscovery, who in 1962
introduced the Harvard researchers to LSD. An
unaccountably scarce book.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF ETERNAL LOVE by Stewart Tendler & David May
"Born in the psychedelic Californian counter-culture of the 1960s, the Brotherhood and its allies were going to
transform the world with LSD." And so they did, but not as originallty conceived... Although this study contains no
small number of inaccuracies, and is unreferenced, it nevertheless provides valuable inside views of the 1960s not available
elsewhere. A rare book.
THE SEARCH FOR THE MANCHURIAN
CANDIDATE by John Marks
Published by Times Books in 1979. The extraordinary
story, compiled from documents released under the Freedom
of Information Act, of how the CIA conducted a series of
secret programs to find ways to control human behavior.
Marks' investigation reveals that the Agency was deeply
involved in research with psychoactive drugs,
psycho-surgery, electroshock, hypnosis and other methods
on Agency operatives, students, mental patients,
defectors, prisoners and prostitutes; many of these
subjects were unwitting or involuntary collaborators.