*** - core curriculum
Comprehensive, conversational.
Balanced coverage of all "drugs"; written simply and clearly for students and adults.
Encyclopedic, beautifully written compendium of "entheogenic drugs, their plant sources and history."
Hofmann's autobiographical account of his most famous discovery.
Survey of the field.
Encyclopedic coverage of phenethylamines, a class of psychedelic chemicals; accounts of personal use, and extensive commentary on the chemistry and synthesis of 179 compounds.
History and biochemistry of South American entheogen, plus survey of legal plants which could be used as mixtures utilizing same active ingredients.
Wasson sparked the psychedelic revolution with his discovery of living mushroom cults in Mexico and elsewhere. His books trace the influence of entheogens on many cultures.
Describes theory that Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece and Rome were result of psychedelic potion.
Overview of role of entheogens in religion and culture.
Harner's synthesis of research on shamanism.
Anthology on shamanic use of psychedelics.
Author's purported experience using "plant teachers" with a Yaqui Indian healer. Later debunked for factual content; may still be useful for heuristic value.
The story of Manuel Cordova-Rios, and the use of Ayahuasca among South American Indians. It has been grouped by some with Castaneda as a book that may have heuristic value, but is fictional or greatly embellished.
Anthology on shamanic use of psychedelics.
Work of American ethnobotanist to preserve indigenous knowledge of Amazon rainforest plants; student of Harvard's Schultes.
Reprint of turn-of-the-century ethnographic study of peyote-using Huichol Indians.
Ethnographic study of peyote-using American Indians.
Ethnographic study of peyote-using American Indians.
Anthology of essays; festschrift for R. Gordon Wasson.
Art book with reproductions of Huichol visionary art.
Illustrated volume on ayahuasca use in South America, written by the premier ethnobotanist in America.
Encyclopedia of psychoactive plants by two legendary scientists.
Anthology on religious use of psychedelics.
Ethnographic study of Amazon tribe using ebene as ritual psychedelic.
Controversial book attributing founding of Christianity to use of amanita muscaria mushroom.
Study of shamanism by authority on comparative religion; concludes psychedelics are attempt to reconstruct primary religious experience no longer available to shamans.
Classical scholar's work on pagan mythology; assigns prominent role to psychedelics.
Anthology of narratives by shamans.
Illustrated book on shamanism.
Pioneering anthology on the subject.
Further exploration of Tart's theories on discrete "states" of consciousness.
Anthology of various spiritual paths; informed by editor's work on altered states of consciousness.
Further speculations on consciousness; drugs only small part of book.
Summary of Grof's legal research on LSD in Czechoslovakia.
Grof's LSD research placed in broader context of overarching theory of consciousness.
Development of technique of holotropic breathing to produce state analogous to LSD influence.
Further development of theories on psychological development emerging from "spiritual emergencies".
Anthology of essays on psychedelics in honor of Albert Hofmann.
Personal tales of MDMA use.
Discussion of LSD by pioneer researcher who had reservations about dangers of LSD use by unstable individuals.
Discussion of psychotherapeutic possibilities of LSD and techniques.
Discussion of psychotherapeutic possibilities of LSD.
Leading researchers of psychedelic therapy. Osmond coined the term "psychedelic".
Handbook for use of LSD as "metaprogramming" substance.
Autobiographical discussion of LSD, sensory deprivation tanks, and other techniques for exploration of consciousness.
Early book on subject of mind-altering drugs.
Author's speculations on consciousness, informed by psychedelics.
Anthology on use of LSD for treating alcoholism and other problems.
Collection of papers about various attempts to use LSD in mental health settings.
Anthology on visionary experience, psychedelics-induced and otherwise.
Account of early therapeutic use of MDMA.
Classic statement of case for positive use of psychedelics given proper preparations.
Balanced summary about use of LSD in the 1990's.
Balanced survey of the field by the Consumers Reports folks.
History of growth and ultimate criminalization of MDMA use in the 1980's.
Argument that urge to alter one's consciousness is an innate human drive.
Summary argument for reasoned approach to psychedelics.
Anthology of essays by Huxley, Leary, etc.
Early anthology of first-person accounts of drug use.
Treats criminalization of drug use as "ritual persecution".
The following 3 books were part of a zeitgeist of tabloid-type scare stories about dangers of LSD. Interesting for historical purposes.
Celebrity bashes LSD use following daughter's suicide.
Attempt to cash in on LSD scare with account of ergot poisoning in France in 1950's.
Author was Episcopal Bishop of California; after his son committed suicide during period of LSD use, tried to establish psychic contact.
History of the War on Drugs in America; particular attention to its intensification in the mid-1980's.
Anthology of varied voices calling for reconsideration of current government drug policy.
Draws the outlines of a culture borne of the synthesis of psychedelics and computer technology.
A guidebook for psychedelic trips based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Anthology from the short-lived journal of the same name.
Leary's own story in the form of a series of psychedelic trips.
Collection of Leary writings from the 1960's.
Autobiography.
Story of the Merry Pranksters' bus trip, by one of the Pranksters.
A history of the spread of psychedelia, with special attention to Federal government's secret efforts to use LSD as Cold War weapon.
Social history of the psychedelic movement.
Traces outbreaks of ergot poisoning throughout history; related to Great Awakening in U.S. in 18th C., French Revolution, etc.
Guide for psychedelic trips.
Philosophical reflections on psychedelic experience.
The story of Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters, and the early psychedelic movement in the 1960's.
The classic tale of drug-induced madness in the heart of America.
Kesey's first novel, informed by psychedelics.
Kesey's second novel, informed by psychedelics.
Collection of writings from the 1960's, some specifically about psychedelics.
Collection of writings from the 1970's and 1980's.
Illustrated story of the Merry Pranksters' bus trip.
Letters of Beat Generation psychedelic pioneers.
Reflections of psychedelic pioneer who moved "beyond acid".
Philosophical reflections by man who first synthesized LSD.
Reflections on "cosmic consciousness" as manifested by luminaries from Walt Whitman to the Buddha.
Seminal book relating author's experiences with mescaline.
Further reflections on visionary experiences.
Collection of essays, speeches on subject of drugs.
Novel setting forth utopia based on principles including use of "Moksha medicine".
Study of the role of psychedelics in human evolution.
Collection of writings on visionary experience.
Story of experiments with psychedelics in the Amazon.
Later re-telling of story in The Invisible Landscape.
Novel of conspiracy in the 1960's; gives central importance to psychedelics.
Autobiographical reflections on drugs, the occult and much more.
Traces role of sex and drugs in human history.
Physicist's encounter with psychedelic mushrooms and the occult in the late 1950's. Author later became compatriot of psychic Uri Geller.