Synopses & Reviews
It's been forty years since Timothy Leary sat beside a swimming pool in Cuernavaca, Mexico, ingested several grams of the genus Stropharia cubensis, and experienced a dazzling display of visions that led him to herald the dawning of a New Age. And yet, from the counterculture movement of the 1960s, through the War on Drugs, to this very day, the world at large has viewed hallucinogens not as a gift but as a threat to society.
In Hallucinogens, Charles Grob surveys recent writings from such important thinkers as Terence McKenna, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil, illustrating that a reevaluation of the social worth of hallucinogens-used intelligently-is greatly in order.
About the Author
Charles S. Grob, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Hallucinogens Revisited
1. A Conversation with Albert Hofmann - Charles S. Grob, M.D.
2. The Role of Psychoactive Plant Medicines - Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.
3. Psychedelic Society - Terence McKenna
4. Two Classic Trips: Jean-Paul Sartre and Adelle Davis - Thomas Riedlinger
5. The Good Friday Experiment - Huston Smith, Ph.D.
6. Chemical and Contemplative Ecstasy: Similarities and Differences - Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
7. Drugs and Jewish Spirituality: That Was Then, This Is Now - Lawrence Bush
8. Using Psychedelics Wisely - Myron J. Stolaroff
9. Successful Outcome of a Single LSD Treatment in a Chronically Dysfunctional Man - Gary Fisher, Ph.D.
10. Sitting for Sessions: Dharma and DMT Research - Rick H. Strassman, M.D.
11. The Psychedelic Vision at the Trun of the Millennium: A Discussion with Andrew Weil, M.D.
12. Making Friends with Cancer and Ayahuasca - Donald M. Topping, Ph.D.
13. An Ethnobotanist's Dream - Glenn H. Shepard, Ph.D.
14. Shamans and Scientists - Jeremy Narby, Ph.D.
15. Ritual Approaches to Working with Sacred Medicine Plants: An Interview with Ralph Mtzner, Ph.D.
Appendix A: The Psychology of Ayahuasca - Charles S. Grob, M.D.
Appendix B: Deconstructing Ecstasy: The Politics of MDMA Research - Charles S. Grob, M.D.
Appendix C: Psychiatric Research with Hallucinogens: What Have We Learned? - Charles S. Grob, M.D.
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