Research Books

A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy

Unknown Author

A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy by Marlene Dobkin de Rios and Roger Rumrrill tracks the history of ayahuasca, its current use, and the many links between South- and North America that this 'spirit vine' has enabled.

A Really Good Day

Ayelet Waldman

A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman dives into the author's month long experiment with microdosing LSD to combat her mood disorder.

Acid Dreams

Martin Lee

Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion by Martin Lee & Bruce Shlain recounts more of the history of LSD than you were ready for. LSD is the glue that brings together CIA experiments, psychedelic research, counterculture, and biker gangs.

Acid Drops

Andy Roberts

Acid Drops by Andy Roberts recounts the history of LSD in the United Kingdom and explores this further through personal interviews.

Acid Hype

Stephen Siff

Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience by Stephen Siff explores the historic transformation of the media narrative surrounding LSD. It traces how the news media coverage had initially glorified its use in treatments for mental illness and hyped it as a mystical gateway for exploring the unconscious realm of the human mind.

Acid Revival

Danielle Giffort

Acid Revival: The Psychedelic Renaissance and the Quest for Medical Legitimacy by Danielle Giffort delves into the resurgence of psychedelics.

Acid Test

Tom Shroder

Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal by Tom Shroder details the complex cultural history of psychedelics through three stories. The book highlights the potential these compounds offer and the checkered past that has preceded the current moment.

Alien Information Theory

Unknown Author

Alien Information Theory by Andrew Gallimore aims to explain how DMT will allow us to see a higher dimension of reality than we currently can do. The book starts by explaining the neuroscience of psychedelics in a very informative, imaginary, and grounded way. Then from chapter 9 onward the reader is launched into hyperspace and Gallimore tries to convey how we are part of a larger HyperGrid (of information) that DMT is able to connect us to.

Autism on Acid

Unknown Author

Autism on Acid is an amazingly personal book written by Aaron Paul Orsini and documents his transformational experience with a variety of LSD dosages and how they have helped him in his struggles with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The book can be best seen as a case-study and an invitation for more research to be done. But that being said, it's an incredible case study and one that under four hours (do get the audiobook) will impact not only your mind, it will also touch your heart.

Ayahuasca Healing and Science

Beatriz Labate

Ayahuasca Healing and Science by Beatriz Labate and Clancy Cavnar is an upcoming scientific book that presents the latest perspectives on the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca. It highlights the ritual and clinical use and how it can treat a variety of mental health disorders.

Ayahuasca, Ritual and Religion in Brazil

Unknown Author

Ayahuasca, Ritual and Religion in Brazil by Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Edward John Baptista das Neves Macrae examine the religious rituals and practices surrounding the use of ayahuasca for healing and divination among indigenous communities, and discusses Brazilian public policies regarding ayahuasca and the handling of substance dependence.

Bicycle Day and other Psychedelic Essays

Alan Piper

Bicycle Day and other Psychedelic Essays by Alan Piper explores the roots of psychedelic culture, how the past work was influenced by ...

Changing Our Minds

Don Lattin

Changing Our Minds by Don Lattin is an exploration of the social, spiritual, and scientific revolution occurring via psychedelic substances.

Coming Full Circle

Shannon Duncan

Coming Full Circle by Shannon Duncan combines an informative guide on using psychedelics for healing with a memoir.

Confrontation with the Unconscious

Scott J. Hill

Confrontation with the Unconscious: Jungian Depth Psychology and Psychedelic Experience by Scott J. Hill looks at how Jungian psychology.

Consciousness Medicine

Unknown Author

Consciousness Medicine by Françoise Bourzat and Kristina Hunter is a guide and personal reflection on how to hold sessions with psychedelics. It's written for guides/coaches/healers and leans heavily on experience and tradition

DMT Dialogues: Encounters with the Spirit Molecule

David Luke

DMT Dialogues by David Luke and Rory Spowers, gives the reader a peek into the scientific conference on DMT, held in 2015, with Rick Strassman

Darwin’s Pharmacy

humans to describe them.

Darwin's Pharmacy by Richard Doyle explores the notion of an intertwined co-evolution between human beings and psychedelic plants.

Drug Use for Grown-Ups

Carl Hart

Drug Use for Grown-Ups by Carl Hart argues that we (adults) should have much more liberty in choosing how to use (illegal) drugs and are that the current laws are what is most damaging about them. The book is focused on America, but the findings and recommendations generalize to everywhere in the world.

Drugs Without the Hot Air

Unknown Author

Drugs Without the Hot Air by David Nutt is an eye-opening book that delights with statistics and rational information about drugs and their effects. Effects on you, your environment, government, international effects, and effects compared to riding a horse. The book's aim is to inform the readers and to make possible a drug policy aimed at reducing harm.

Ecstasy

Unknown Author

Ecstasy: The Complete Guide edited by Julie Holland gives a solid and near-complete overview of the scientific and therapeutic knowledge about Ecstasy

Entheogens, Myth & Human Consciousness

Unknown Author

Are entheogens at the foundation of the religions and myths of the Western world? Follow Ruck & Hoffman through ancient myths

Entheogens, Society & Law

Daniel Waterman

Entheogens, Society & Law: Towards a Politics of Consciousness, Autonomy & Responsibility by Daniel Waterman explores the use of psychoactive plants and substances that occasion 'religious' or 'mystical' states and their biological underpinnings that make it a quantifiable phenomenon, while also emphasizing the notion that empathy, meaning and purpose emerge from three intersecting areas of human life: biology, consciousness, and culture. It critically analyzes the tensions between powerful institutions exercising hegemonic control and individual's search for a meaningful existence through drug use and expands the prohibitionist discourse through broader existential, ethical, and humanitarian considerations that are central to religious or therapeutic traditions.

Ergot Alkaloids

Unknown Author

Ergot Alkaloids brings English readers Albert Hofmann's seminal 1960s encyclopedia detailing his historic investigation into magical plants and their psychotropic potential.

Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs

Dennis McKenna

Ethnopharmacologic Search by Dennis McKenna is a collection of essays by specialists in the fields of ethnopharmacology, chemistry, botany, & anthropology.

Food of the Gods

Unknown Author

Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna is one of the most famous books on psychedelics. It explores our human history through the lens of psychedelics (psilocybin specifically) and forms a theory (stoned ape) that is both loved by some and not accepted in scientific circles. McKenna also argues that we have to restore balance to nature and ourselves (archaic revival).

Gateway to the Inner Space

Christian Ratsch

Gateway to the Inner Space by Christian Ratsch brings together several essays by psychedelic researchers. These include essays by Stanislav Grof, Ralph Metzner, and Terence McKenna.

Getting Higher

Julian Vayne

Getting Higher by Julian Vayne is a book manual for exploring the use of psychedelic substances, it provides info for embarking on a psychedelic journey

God on Psychedelics: Tripping Across the Rubble of Old-time Religion

Don Lattin

God on Psychedelics by Don Lattin explores the questions of why psychedelics are being used outside of particular religious frameworks.

Hallucinogens and Shamanism

Michael Harner

Hallucinogens and Shamanism by Michael Harner is a little book that brings together ten essays about psychedelic use by shamans by various anthropological researchers.

Handbook for the Therapeutic Use of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25

Duncan Blewett and Nicholas Chwelos

Handbook for the Therapeutic Use of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25: Individual and Group Procedures by Duncan Blewett and Nicholas Chwelos is the first widely circulated handbook on how to use LSD in the context of therapy. The handbook is surprisingly relevant (not outdated) and offers clear and structured (in stages) overview of psychedelic (LSD) therapy.

Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens

Charles Grob

The Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens edited by Charles Grob and Jim Grigsby offers scientists an overview of our current understanding of psychedelic research. Chapters by veterans such as Dennis McKenna and David Nichols, and top researchers like Torsten Passie and Enzo Tagliazucchi intertwine to give a (near) complete overview of psychedelic research.

Healing our Deepest Wounds

Unknown Author

Healing our Deepest Wounds by Stanislav Grof argues that there are approaches to therapy that utilize a specific non-ordinary state of consciousness that enables individuals, with support, to access and heal deeper levels of trauma from the personal and collective unconscious. Grof describes various approaches to achieving this Holotropic state and using it for healing, with his focus on Holotropic Breathwork and psychedelic therapy.

Heaven and Hell

Unknown Author

Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley is a philosophical exploration of our minds. In essence, it asks what is extraordinary; What makes us wonder? It's part exploration of the psychedelic experience (with mescaline and LSD), part exploration of what those experiences might mean.

High Priest

Timothy Leary

High Priest by Timothy Leary is an account from the dawn of the psychedelic era, documenting 16 LSD trips experienced.

How to Change Your Body

Saga Briggs

How to Change Your Body by Saga Briggs explores the profound yet overlooked link between bodily awareness, social connection, and mental well-being. Briggs guides readers through rigorous research and moving personal stories to argue that symptoms of common afflictions like depression, anxiety, and addiction may originate from a disconnection between mind and body exacerbated by alienation. Techniques like psychedelic-assisted therapy, synchronous movement, and energy work can help restore presence and reconnect us to ourselves and others. For those facing mental health challenges or simply seeking a deeper sense of embodiment and community, this book insightfully examines interoception as an eighth sense fundamental to human flourishing.

How to Change Your Mind

Unknown Author

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan is the book that put psychedelics back into the mind of the general public.

Island

Aldous Huxley

Island by Aldous Huxley is the final novel by this great author and psychedelic connoisseur. The book provides a counterpoint to Brave New World and describes a sort of paradise on earth. Without giving too much away, there is a certain psychedelic undertone to this book that makes it very much worth reading to better understand the psychedelic culture.

King Acid

Peter ten Hoopen

King Acid by Peter ten Hoopen is a captivating narrative of a young writer in 1960s Amsterdam who, through his interest in mystic poets.

Kosmos – A Theory of Psychedelic Experience

Peter Webster

Kosmos - A Theory of Psychedelic Experience by Peter Webster puts forth a theory that the the amplification of salience (that things stand out/be noticed) is the most important neurocognitive effect of psychedelics.

LSD - The Wonder Child - Review & Summary

Unknown Author

LSD - The Wonder Child by Thomas Hatsis presents a masterful history of the blossoming psychedelic research in the 1950s

LSD Psychotherapy

Unknown Author

LSD Psychotherapy: The Healing Potential of Psychedelic Medicine by Stanislav Grof recounts the psychotherapeutic work and research that was done in the 1960s with LSD. It recounts the experiences, explains it through Grof's framework, and shows how back then (and possibly in the future) LSD can be a tool for healing.

LSD – The Highway to Mental Health

Milan Hausner

LSD - The Highway to Mental Health by Milan Hausner describes the work at his clinic near Prague, where he supervised over 3,000 LSD therapeutic sessions from 1954 to 1980. As Grof says on a back cover blurb, “He has amassed information that is invaluable for the theory and practice of psychotherapy." Go to the source with this book and get to know what we already learned in the first era of psychedelics research.

LSD – The Problem Solving Psychedelic

Peter Stafford and Bonnie Golightly

LSD - The Problem Solving Psychedelic by Peter Stafford and Bonnie Golightly highlights what was known in 1967 with relation to LSD. It offers information on creative problem solving, mental health disorders and LSD, and how to use LSD.

LSD: My Problem Child

Unknown Author

LSD: My Problem Child by Albert Hofmann recounts the discovery, first trip, and dissemination of LSD from the perspective of its discoverer. The book describes the chemical history, the subsequent trouble with it leaving the lab, and Hofmann's perspective on the effects LSD elicits. It describes his personal experience (bicycle day), experiences of others, and how he reflects on his most curious discovery.

Listening to Ecstasy

Charles Wininger

Listening to Ecstacy by Charles Wininger is part-memoir, part-harm-reduction guide that recounts the personal use and experience on MDMA of the author, from youthful experimentation to his senior years.

Magic Medicine

Cody Johnson

Magic Medicine by Cody Johnson is a great exploration of 23 (categories of) psychedelic plants and substances. It takes an observational perspective in which it's open to theories and traditions, but sticks to the science and actual description of the drugs' effects. Both for people who are new to psychedelics and the more experienced, the book offers new insights to all.

Manifesting Minds

Unknown Author

Manifesting Minds is an anthology of articles from the MAPS Bulletin, edited by Rick Doblin and Brad Burge. It contains the highlights of articles written until 2014, grouped per subject. The book does a great job of offering different perspectives, but for specific information one can best search on their website itself.

Manual for Psychedelic Guides

Mark Haden

The second edition of the Manual for Psychedelic Guides by Mark Haden, the former Executive Director of MAPS Canada.

Mescaline

Unknown Author

Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic by Mike Jay gives you a full history of Mescaline. It takes you on a journey through the jungles of South America, over the plains of North America, to labs around the world. It not only documents who has been involved with the early use of it, but also how it's been taken up (and later left behind) in popular culture. A deep-dive into mescaline.

MindApps

Thomas Roberts

MindApps by Thomas Roberts explores creating & installing mental technologies, or mindapps, which can expand one's cognitive abilities.

Modes of Sentience

Peter Sj

Modes of Sentience by Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a collection of philosophical essays exploring the connections between philosophy and psychedelic experiences.

Mycelium Running

Paul Stamets

Mycelium Running by Peter Jackson, Jane Doe, and Fire Erowid makes the case for using mycology (mushrooms) to save the planet. Although not directly focussed on psychedelics, the book shows the many (other) capabilities that mushrooms have. Both partly speculative and based on sound science, this book highlights how mycelium can help our environment.

Mystic Chemist

Dieter Hagenbach and Lucius Werthm

Mystic Chemist by Dieter Hagenbach and Lucius Werthmüller, who knew Albert Hofmann, show how Hofmann's childhood fascination with nature influenced his work as a scientist, which led to his discovery of LSD in 1943 and its effects which he experienced when experimenting on himself, most famously on his legendary bicycle ride home.

Neuropsychedelia

Unknown Author

Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research Since the Decade of the Brain by Nicolas Langlitz is a fascinating study ...

Noumenautics

Peter Sj

Noumenautics: metaphysics - meta-ethics - psychedelics by Peter Sjösted-H is a collection of essays that delves into the foundation of the western theory of mind, metaphysics, and ethics and explores the historic relationship between western philosophy and psychoactive drug use. The first part contains a philosophical analysis of the psychedelic states produced by psilocybin mushrooms and LSD, while the latter section of the book presents a close analysis of neo-nihilism, with particular regard to Nietzsche and the reciprocity between his drug-use and philosophy.

Opening the Portals of Heaven

Unknown Author

Opening the Portals of Heaven: Brazilian Ayahuasca Music by Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Gustavo Pacheco examines the use of music in the religious contexts of the UDV church and the Santo Daime, which highlights the designation of ayahuasca as an immaterial cultural heritage of the Brazilian nation. The book explores the key role that music plays in the everyday life of these religions, in the production of religious meanings, and in the construction of the bodies and the subjectivity of adepts.

Orange Sunshine

Nicholas Schou

Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World by Nicholas Schou explores the history surrounding the formation of the biggest group of LSD dealers in the United States. The brotherhood of Eternal Love was founded at the beginning of the 60s on a shared belief in LSD’s transformative effects and ended up producing ad distributing 'Orange Sunshine', the most popular brand of LSD in history.

Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience

Unknown Author

In Otherworlds, scientist and psychonaut David Luke weaves personal experience and scientific research in this comprehensive exploration.

Philosophy of Psychedelics

Unknown Author

Philosophy of Psychedelics is a book by Chris Letheby that engages with the scientific literature on psychedelics and its therapeutic potential.

PiHKaL

Unknown Author

PiHKaL: A Chemical Love Story by Alexander & Ann Shulgin is a (next to TiHKaL) great tome that captures the work being done by these two pioneers in the psychedelics field.

Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide

Unknown Author

Psilocybin Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide by Terence and Dennis McKenna, writing under pseudonyms at that time (O. T. Oss & O. N. Oeric) provides an overview of the knowledge at that time on how to grow psychedelic mushrooms. Next to this practical knowledge, the book also offers insights into their psychedelic theories.

Psychedelic Medicine

Thomas Roberts and Michael Winkelman

Psychedelic Medicine: New Evidence for Hallucinogenic Substances as Treatment by Thomas Roberts and Michael Winkelman.

Psychedelic Medicine - Book Review

Unknown Author

Psychedelic Medicine by Richard Miller describes the history of research into psychedelics, interviews with luminaries like ...

Psychedelic Psychotherapy

R. Coleman

Psychedelic Psychotherapy: A User Friendly Guide to Psychedelic Drug-Assisted Psychotherapy by R. Coleman is a resource for practitioners and lay-users needing guidelines for psychedelic psychotherapy. The book contains guides and information to help individuals with their healing process and for those helping others with their healing.

Psychedelic Therapy in Practice

Mika Turkia compiles fourteen ethnographi

Psychedelic Therapy in Practice by Mika Turkia compiles fourteen ethnographic case studies exploring the use of psychedelics in treating various mental health conditions, primarily those stemming from trauma. The book details both supervised and unsupervised therapeutic approaches, highlighting the potential benefits and risks involved, and advocating for a more nuanced understanding of psychedelic therapies beyond ... Read more

Psychedelics A to Z

Unknown Author

Psychedelics A to Z offers an expansive and visually engaging exploration of its multifaceted subject.

Remembrances of LSD Therapy Past

Betty Eisner

Remembrances of LSD therapy past by Betty Grover Eisner is a memoir that draws on her experiences as a psychotherapist who had fostered the first written attempt to integrate the notion of the 'set and setting' within the framework of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. In 1957, she had worked with the psychiatrist Sidney Cohen to investigate the techniques for creating the optimal conditions for integrative psychedelic experiences, and continued to investigate how the set and setting shape the outcome of psychedelic experiences. Her interests were also informed by personal contact with Humphrey Osmond and Aldous Huxley amongst others and entailed a principled approach for the selection of LSD patients for therapy, the preparation process, as well as the use of music, photographs, mirrors, and post-session activities in the hospital’s art clinic. Her book conveys the importance of creating better conditions to enable subjects to receive the full benefits of LSD psychotherapy.

Sacred Knowledge

Unknown Author

Sacred Knowledge by Bill Richards recounts his many years of (academic) research into psychedelics. The book goes beyond psychology and touches upon philosophy, anthropology, theology, and our (all too human) pursuit of happiness.

Storming Heaven

Jay Stevens

Storming Heaven: LSD and The American Dream by Jay Stevens recounts the history of LSD and the counterculture of the 1960s. The book highlights the role that LSD played in many pivotal moments in (counter) cultural history.

Supernatural

Graham Hancock

Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by Graham Hancock explores the dramatic shift in human history that led to the development of art, religion, symbolism, and innovative thinking. Hancock's journey takes him from prehistoric painted caves to the Amazon rainforest, where he investigates the possible influence of hallucinogens and other dimensions on the evolution of the human mind and its connection to ancient teachers and a more purposeful understanding of human development.

Test book

Peter

Thanatos to Eros

Myron J. Stolaroff

Thanatos to Eros by Myron J. Stolaroff details Stolaroff's experience as a psychedelic researcher. It also provides guidelines.

The Antipodes of the Mind

Benny Shanon

The Antipodes of the Mind by Benny Shanon investigates ayahuasca from various perspectives. It uses the author's experiences and interviews with other experts to looks at the psychological effects, insights the brew can bring, and philosophical implications that follow.

The Archaic Revival

Unknown Author

The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History by Terence McKenna is a collection of articles, essays and interviews which contain a web of understanding he has gleaned from his psychedelic explorations. It was described by McKenna as “my explorer’s notepad, my journey of travel through time and ideological space". He argues for the return of the psychedelic experience into human society via shamanism and the incorporation of shamanic techniques within a scientific paradigm that aims to transform society, starting with the individual dissolution of the ego.

The Beginner’s Guide to Ego Death

AJ Murillo

The Beginner's Guide to Ego Death by AJ Murillo maps your journey through psychedelics & consciousness, from theory to transformative ego dissolution.

The Beyond Within

Sidney Cohen

The Beyond Within: The LSD Story by Sidney Cohen is one of the oldest books (1972) that details the use and effects of LSD. It explains the effects that one can expect from LSD, and how you can use it as a tool to explore inner depths.

The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss

Unknown Author

The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna by Dennis McKenna entails a biographical account of the McKennas.

The Doors of Perception

Unknown Author

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley is a vivid first-person description of the psychedelic experience. It details a trip on mescaline (peyote, similar to LSD). His superior skill in writing makes the experience come to life. Huxley wonders about many aspects of life, describes his visual experience, and his interactions with a guide and his wife. A good, and short, introduction to the psychedelic experience.

The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness

J. Allan Hobson

In The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness by J. Allan Hobson the questions of how our brain chemistry is balanced.

The Ethnopharmacology of Ayahuasca

Rafael Guimar

The Ethnopharmacology of Ayahuasca by Rafael Guimarães dos Santos attempts to show the rich diversity that exists around ayahuasca, that involves the interplay between the anthropological, cultural, and social aspects surrounding the pharmacological properties of its bio-active compounds. It explores how ayahuasca is used by indigenous and mestizo populations, and within the context of the Brazilian ayahuasca religions. Moreover, it reviews the pharmacological and neuropsychiatric aspects of this Amazonian brew and discusses the potential for the therapeutic effects of its alkaloids.

The Healing Journey

Claudio Naranjo

The Healing Journey: Pioneering Approaches to Psychedelic Therapy by Claudio Naranjo takes a closer look at a the potential of a class of psychedelics defined as emotion- or fantasy-enhancers. The substances studied are MDA, MMDA, harmaline (ayahuasca), and ibogaine.

The Immortality Key

Unknown Author

The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name by Brian Muraresku is a thrilling read that explores the use of psychedelics in ancient Christianity. It provides evidence for psychedelics in ancient wine, beer, and culture. Although still hotly debated, this book adds to evidence that psychedelics were (for some) part of life and religion in ancient times.

The Invisible Landscape

Unknown Author

The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching by Terence McKenna, Dennis J. McKenna offered the first published narrative of their famous 'La Chorrera Experiment' where the brothers had a paranormal and revelatory encounter occasioned by a heroic dose of the psilocybin-containing mushroom — Stropharia cubensis. They held that an “invisible landscape” lay beyond the individual mind, to which shamans, schizophrenics, and psychonauts all had access. Casting themselves as researchers, the brothers aimed to shed light on this mystical landscape and offer their self-reported explorations for the interest of empirical investigators, while offering speculative theories about subatomic particles within our DNA determining the nature of consciousness and a doomsday prophecy loosely based on the hexagrams of the I-Ching.

The Ketamine Papers

Phil Wolfson

The Ketamine Papers by Phil Wolfson and Glenn Hartelius contains a wide-ranging discussion of the use of ketamine in therapy.

The Manual for Psychedelic Support

Annie Oak

The Manual for Psychedelic Support is an extensive guide for establishing and operating compassionate care services.

The Microdosing Guidebook

Carlton Spotswood

The Microdosing Guidebook by Carlton Spotswood provides readers with a complete guide to microdosing - including a workbook.

The Most Dangerous Man in America

Bill Minutaglio

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD by Bill Minutaglio and Seven Davis chronicles the escape from prison and subsequent manhunt of Timothy Leary. The book features new first-hand accounts, riveting stories, and a trip around four continents.

The Nature of Drugs – Volume 1

Unknown Author

Alexander Shulgin takes you on a tour of the different psychedelics | Learn how they work | Laugh along the way

The Nature of Drugs – Volume 2

Unknown Author

The Nature of Drugs - Volume 2 - by Alexander 'Sasha' Shulgin gives you a deep dive into the excellent lecture series that Sasha gave in the late '80s. The lectures provide an overview of how the body works and how drugs (including psychedelics) influence it. Throughout the book, you are greeted with a positive attitude, an alchemic way of teaching, a joking demeanour of Sasha and poignant criticism of drug laws that would still apply today.

The Pharmacology of LSD

Annelie Hintzen

The Pharmacology of LSD: A Critical Review by Annelie Hintzen & Torsten Passie is a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide. It covers both the psychological and pharmacological effects and uses data from over 3000 studies. After reading the book, you will better understand LSD and its impact on the human body and mind.

The Psychedelic Experience

Unknown Author

The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) merges the psychedelic experience with the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It's an interesting book that tried to merge Western use of psychedelics (which originate mostly from South America) with Eastern philosophy. The book can best be seen as a product of the time (the 1960s), not as a complete guide on how to approach the psychedelic experience.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide

Unknown Author

The Psychedelics Explorer's Guide by James Fadiman outlines his experience with psychedelics and gives you a guideline on how to safely and effectively use them. It reviews old and new (up to 2011) research. The book can be a bit spiritual (read: less grounded in good research) sometimes and could have used some more editing.

The Psychedelic Journey of Marlene de Rios

Marlene Dobkin de Rios

The Psychedelic Journey of Marlene Dobkin de Rios: 45 Years with Shamans, Ayahuasqueros, and Ethnobotanists by Marlene Dobkin de Rios presents the accumulated experience of de Rios’s 45 years of pioneering field studies in the area of hallucinogens, which she undertook in collaboration with more than a dozen traditional Mestizo folk curanderos, shamans, and fellow ethnobotanists in Peru and the Amazon. It reveals how ayahuasca successfully treats psychological and emotional disorders, examines adolescent drug use from a cross-cultural perspective, and discusses the deleterious effects of drug tourism in the Amazon.

The Psychedelic Renaissance

Unknown Author

The Psychedelic Renaissance by Ben Sessa offers an enthusiastic, level-headed, and much-underappreciated overview of psychedelics and their potential. The book offers a good overview of what we know about psychedelics (research), what policies and counter-culture there has been, and what the current renaissance is poised to bring to the table.

The Road to Eleusis

Robert Gordon Wasson

Robert Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, & Carl Ruck explore the history of psychedelic substances with a focus on ancient Greece

The Rose Of Paracelsus

William Pickard

The Rose Of Paracelsus by William Pickard is a fictional book that follows a Harvard graduate student as they explore a entheogen system.

The Secret Chief Revealed

Myron Stolaroff

The Secret Chief Revealed by Myron Stolaroff was published as an account of ongoing underground psychedelic therapy. Under the threat of prosecution the name of the therapist was kept a secret, now years after his death, it is revealed that Leo Zeff is the secret chief.

The Shulgin Index

Alexander Shulgin

The Shulgin Index, Volume One: Psychedelic Phenethylamines and Related Compounds by Alexander Shulgin, Tania Manning & Paul Daley provides a detailed overview pertaining to the physical properties, synthesis, and analytical chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacological properties, and legal status of 126 psychedelic phenethylamines and related compounds. It also covers lesser-known structural homologs and analogs, with 1300 compounds in total.

The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca

Unknown Author

The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca edited by Bia Labate and Clancy Cavnar comprises a volume of scientific explorations into the potential range of therapeutic effects of ayahuasca, across a range of putative mechanisms, neurobiological as well as psychological, that facilitate states of psychological and physical healing. They examine the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca in the context of both clinical and ritual use, in light of treatment models for psychiatric conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, refractory mood, and anxiety disorders.

The Way of the Psychonaut

Unknown Author

The Way of the Psychonaut by Stanislav Grof is his definitive book on psychedelics, psychology, and Holotropic Breathwork. The book presents case studies, Grof's theories, and a strong argument why psychedelics can be an effective tool for therapy.

Therapy with Substance

Friederike Meckel Fischer

Therapy with Substance: Psycholytic Psychotherapy in the Twenty-First Century by Friederike Meckel Fischer provides insights into therapeutic processes that aim to draw out deeply-rooted mental problems onto the surface, by administering patients low dose psychedelics across multiple sessions, while facilitating therapeutic interactions that are conducive to this process. Friederike Fischer explains her understanding of the healing processes and provides tools for conducting psycholythic therapy, drawing on her experiences as an underground therapist. These entail suggestions on how to use different substances, how to teach patients to access their unconscious more intentionally, and how to initiate or deepen these processes during psycholythic therapy.

This is Your Mind on Plants

Michael Pollan

This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan challenges conventional thinking about drugs and delves into the human attraction to psychoactive plants and the surrounding taboos. Through examining opium, caffeine, and mescaline, Pollan explores the cultural, historical, and scientific aspects of these substances, shedding new light on the complex relationship between humans, plants, and the mind-altering experiences they provide.

Through the Gateway of the Heart

Sophia Adamson

Through the Gateway of the Heart: Accounts of Experiences with MDMA and Other Empathogenic Substances by Sophia Adamson, Ralph Metzner, and Padma Catell explores the ways in which MDMA facilitates transformative experiences when administered within a supportive therapeutic setting. Originally published in 1985 before MDMA became illegal, it entails a short story collection of first-hand MDMA experiences, as well as detailed guidelines for the set and setting in the appendix. The book demonstrates the potential of MDMA for generating insight, facilitating empathic communication, and supporting spiritual practice.

TiHKaL

Unknown Author

TIHKAL by Alexander & Ann Shulgin is another (after PIHKAL) great biography and chemistry exploration by this amazing couple. You're taken across the world, from small French villages to Brazilian villas. It's humorous, opinionated, open-hearted, and overall a great read. The book details both personal experiences and chemical manuals for making 55 psychedelic (tryptamine) compounds.

To Fathom Hell Or Soar Angelic

Ben Sessa

To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic is a fictional book about starting a psychedelics research project/revolution, written by Ben Sessa. Is there hope in psychedelic medicine? Can we dream bigger than just numbing patients (and doctors)?

Trauma and Ecstasy

Alex Abraham

Trauma and Ecstasy by Alex Abraham is a powerful memoir that reveals how psychedelic therapy helped heal both childhood trauma and chronic physical pain.

Triumph Over Trauma

Randell Hansen

Triumph Over Trauma by Randell Hansen is a collection of 23 inspirational and powerful stories from individuals across various walks of life.

True Hallucinations

Unknown Author

True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise by Terence McKenna is a classical journey of the psychonaut, an intentional exploration of one's conceptual understanding through a psychedelic drug that conduces radical shift in perspective through direct first-person insights into the nature of reality and one's place within it. The most famous journey took place in the Colombian Amazon with his brother Dennis McKenna, which they referred to as the 'La Chorrera Experiment' that entailed a heroic dose of the psilocybin-containing mushroom — Stropharia cubensis — enhanced by MAO inhibitory effects of Banisteriopsis caapi. After re-analyzing this experience, after its first publication in 'The Invisible Landscape', McKenna implies that the nature of his investigation has greater philosophical implications, beyond the existentialism of one's personal experience, that entail meaning and structure of the Self within the world at large.

Xenolinguistics

Diana Slattery

Xenolinguistics: Psychedelics, Language, and the Evolution of Consciousness by Diana Slattery explores the intersection of psychedelics and linguistics. It summarizes an eleven-year investigation that spans from psychedelic experience to anthropological discoveries. Linguistic artifacts from psychedelic experiences are tabulated and this includes the experiences of Terence and Dennis McKenna.

Zig Zag Zen

Allen Badiner and Alex Grey

Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics edited by Allen Badiner and Alex Grey explores the commonalities between psychedelics and Buddhism.