Daniel Pinchbeck takes us on a personal psychedelic reverie into some places we can’t easily access independently, and for that, some credit is due (namely the rituals of ancient cultures as preserved by their modern descendants). The subject of entheogens needs as much positive exposure as it can get. Unfortunately, it seems he used this opportunity to cast himself as a tenured psychonaut, a kind of Terence McKenna, Jack Kerouac hybrid. There are moments in this book when his true prowess as a writer shines through, however, these don’t make up for his generalized glibness and pretentious prose.

Already a modern classic of psychedelic drug writing, distinguished by the author's dogged efforts to try every notable psychedelic drug he could get his hands on, even if it meant traveling to remote corners of the world.

Fascinating look into indeginous shamanic cultures of present day. Exploration of how these ancient ideas / methods have universal appeal & application to the healing of our souls & the planet. The use of "entheogens" - visionary plants in soul healing & communication with spiritual realms is ancient & worldwide shamanic practice still existing today, & a necessary resource to change our way of thinking about & seeing our relationship to the universe. It's been several years since I read this book & am looking forward to a re-read.

[Non-fiction but not tagging as such because it is so lacking in well-based arguments and supporting facts that it's really just someone spouting opinions for too many pages.]

I wanted to like this so badly. But my God, the man is just writing to hear himself speak most of the time, and his arguments are absolutely paper fucking thin, not to mention completely hypocritical. "This intellectual doesn't make their point completely!" he argues while creating such flimsy arguments as, "The way you describe that ritual doesn't sound like it's too close to your culture to me so I think it can't have been influenced by your culture" or "This guy did a ritual and was told he would die young and then happened to die young, these plants must impart the ability to see the future." Sorry, who's not making their point completely?

I was really ready to read a book about shamanism and the value it brings and how we're lacking in religious values like those represented in shamanism in our culture. I was ready to read an argument in favor of shamanic rituals, and to consider an argument from someone who genuinely believed in their spiritual power. But my god, the whole thing is essentially 'While I was high I was showed this evidence which I am now using as proof that the things I was shown while high are true' and it's so ridiculous I can't believe it got published. Do not recommend.

Alright, I’ve gotta call it quits on this one.

Probably just read Castaneida instead. Or drop acid and cut out the middle man.

Pinchbeck’s Breaking Open the Head is my first exposure to the long term effects of the psychotropic drugs on the human brain. I’m not saying Pinchbeck is a pot-head, but in my opinion he is a connoisseur of selected mind altering drugs that have the power to diminish prefrontal cortex functioning (although it did inspire me to seek Terrance McKenna’s counter culture’s lectures, that are quite thought provoking). And the returns of this prolong investment has the potential to produce abstract works such as this that unfortunately gain a following over time. I’m tempted to admit that Breaking Open the Head almost made me fall for a brake of my own as it introduce me to a new concept – the field of shamanism. In my debut novel ‘The Basenji Revelation’ I introduced a shamanic character that held answers to some of the protagonist’s questions, but I never imagined that my subconscious creative juices could so exactly match the reality of modern day shamanistic practices.

Pinchbeck is a mastermind at his craft. Over the course of several hundred pages he took me on a ride to the deep savannah of Gabon (interestingly enough The Basenji Revelation’s shaman was also located in Gabon) where exists one of the most powerful psychotropic drugs known to mankind (you’ll have to read to book to find out what it does to the human psyche). Next, I was transported to the murky underground of New York City where amidst questionable social characters Pinchbeck samples other drugs such as LSD and DMT. I also found myself in the jungles on South America where other potent hallucinogens further diminish ones own capacity for self realization.

The book is well constructed, carefully planned yet somewhat unrealistic in its central message – embrace the shaman within you. Despite the plea and my utter desire to find myself, I’m not interested in self-medication to determine my own calling.

I have long thought that if I were to experiment with any kind of drug it would be with hallucinogens. I like reading about trips and the rituals surrounding hallucinogens in various cultures throughout history. So when I saw this book at my local Barnes & Noble, I had to sit down and take sample.

The thing I liked most about this book is how Mr. Pinchbeck combines his sources - scholarly, historical, philosophical, esoteric and personal - and provides a much more detailed perspective on hallucinogens and the mystique surrounding them. He has interviewed people who have studied the compounds involved and have kept record of their apparent effects on the trip, and those insights tend to lead you much deeper into wondering why a natural compound provides a warmer, more nurturing trip while a man-made compound that is just one molecular step removed causes colder, hostile trips. He has delved into the culture surrounding hallucinogens - be it South American medicine brujos or Burning Man - and has found out what has drawn people from such varied social circles to the same place. Mr. Pinchbeck himself is a seeker, sharing his own experiences and reasons for seeking them out. He relates his experiences - trips good and bad - along with his perspectives on it, but expresses both his hypotheses and doubts, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions.

I found this to be a very well-researched and balanced presentation of a sub-culture that has been much maligned since the 1960s. Anyone thinking about becoming a psychonaut would do well to give it a read.

Very interesting investigative journalism at it's finest.

I've gone back to this book time after time because there is so much valuable information in it from several perspectives - including Pinchbeck's own subjective eyes, historical, cultural, and scientific.

A MUST READ for anyone who has ever taken psychedelics, or is considering taking psychedelics. I recommend this book to everyone I know because it sums up so much of what I believe...if everyone were to read this book, I believe that our culture would be a more accepting place for those who responsibly take psychedelics.

I will warn you that Pinchbeck is highly dogmatic in his claims about psychedelics, and if you're looking for a light read, this IS NOT it.

Be prepared to have your head broken open.

Breaking open the head is a complete mind F%#@. The central theme of the book is drug use as a means of enlightenment and spiritual growth, with under lying themes of human perception and various interpretations of reality. The narrator travels to various remote cultures throughout the world and explores ancient rituals through the use of hallucinogens. Daniel Pinchbeck is a fascinating human being and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his first hand retelling of his adventures in the spiritual realm.

“In contemporary life we do whatever we can to deny intuition of the invisible realms. We clog our senses with smog, jam our minds with media overload. We drown ourselves in alcohol or medicate ourselves into rigidly artificial states with antidepressants. Then we take pride in our cynicism and detachment. Perhaps we are terrified to discover that our “rationality” is itself a kind of faith, an artifice, that beneath it lies the vast territory of the unknown.” — Daniel Pinchbeck, Breaking Open the Head (page 100)

A fantastic, well-documented, and enjoyable exploration of psychedelics and the supersensible realms into which they can catapult us. I’ve read other books about traditional medicines, shamanism, and related phenomena by shamans and scientists, but I relate more to author Daniel Pinchbeck, who begins this journey as a self-described cynical, intellectual atheist, struggling to find meaning in his existence. As a born skeptic, he asks good questions and explores many teachings, traditions, and myths of cultures along the way. By the end, he is far less jaded and open to new and unconventional ways of thinking—and so was I.

An accidentally brilliant experience - a tome of spastic babbles, laden with unintentional sexism and xenophobia, which manages to say nothing about the world and everything about its author.

Homeboy is so self absorbed. He, a wise white boy, spends half the book critiquing western society for its ignorance and condescension towards other cultures, while consistently displaying the same carelessness in his writings. He visits Huatla in Mexico, describing the town as a "Third World backwater," "rough, functional, and ugly," "the smell of cheap gasoline hung in the air," his hotel was "plain, concrete-walled, with a septic smell."

Instead of charting various shamanic practices, as the title of the book suggests, Pinchbeck decides to spend the book tripping balls on whatever he can find, cobbling together images and puddle-deep insights from his journeys to bestow upon the reader. Across the 300-ish pages of the book, we witness his writings grow more disconnected, arrogant, self-righteous, irrational - and entertaining.

There's no knowledge to be found here. But, if you want to watch a man zap the shit out of his mind and see the effect this has on his prose and ability to structure a book - you're in for a trip.