Great introduction/jumping-off point for what, in the interested reader, could become a serious passion to explore consciousness and the possibilities that lie outside normal perception.

Pinchbeck details his personal journey and experimentation with psychedelics and in particular: shamanism. His travels begin in the exotic landscapes of Gabon in Africa. Since his experience with iboga there, he was solidified in his

Good dive into the life of a psychonaut. Pinchbeck details his various experiences with psychedelics and delves into the "scene" as well as reviewing some relevant historians and philosophies surrounding the concept. Presenting the subject matter with personal anecdotes works well for the pace and allows Pinchbeck to easily keep the interest of the reader. There are also some titillating more far-out concepts explored.

If you got something out of it more power to you, I'm watching my drinks around you though.

Very well written and researched book but only deals with the Sacramental portion of shamanism and not some of the more philosophical aspects like stories

A holy book. One of the most intense books I've ever read.

At several points along the way I experienced a palpable, almost dangerous, sense of being overwhelmed, swept away, by what I was reading and by the peculiar psychic phenomena that seemed to meaningfully accompany my reading.

I suppose it's a possibility that Pinchbeck just made stuff up. There's another possibility: Reality is infinitely weirder than I ever imagined. In an updated version of Pascal's wager, my money's on the latter.

"Salvia divinorum."

Surprisingly one of the best books I've ever read. The author deftly brings together philosophy, literary prose, history, and personal travelogue. I'll admit the last 10 pages are just too irrational and bizarre, hell incoherent even, to be swallowed, but the preceding 290 are consistently fascinating.

this is one of the few books I've ever thrown across a room

Wow, I have rarely seen such an arrogrant prick writing so lazily. If the subject matter hadn't been absolutely fascinating, it would have gotten 1 star. Because of the subject matter, I only hated it (or more precisely, hated the author).

@pointblaek

That moment when you finish a book and your entire conception of what it means to be a human being changes. The kind of book that leads you to a fantasmical realm as you hold hands with reality.

I spent New Year's Evening, until well after the new year's arrival, reading this, after hesitating given its mixed reviews. I'm glad I did, for within these pages by a "psychonaut," there's wisdom and hard thinking about not thinking about psychedelic experiences. The blend of the author's trips with a bit of travelogue and a lot of summations of both mainstream (if still marginalized) and fringe explanations for what happens under the influence works. What hobbled the progress was the constant harping about how bad Western materialism, globalised greed, and relentless distraction are. We all know this, but the jeremiads could have been cut down by 95%. There's clever insight throughout, but patience with the writer, who indeed can be a bit of a scold from a quintessential progressive New York intellectual milieu, is a prerequisite, as others have noted.

Excellent. The author tends to philosophize a bit, but overall if you want a quick but solid introduction to psychedelics this is the book for you. Definitely a re-read.