THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION by Aldous Huxley
Huxley's classic from 1954, which sparked the rediscovery of psychedelics by a wide and varied audience. "There is nothing the pen of Huxley touches which it does not illuminate, and as the record of a highly civilised, brilliantly articulate man under the influence of an astonishing drug, The Doors of Perception is a tour de force." — The Daily Telegraph, London. ©Mrs. Laura Huxley
THE JOYOUS COSMOLOGY by Alan W. Watts
One of the world's leading investigators of the psychology of religion evaluates the psychedelic experience both objectively and from the vantage of the author's own personal experiments. Foreword by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert. HTML edition, table of contents and complete text, copyright 1962, 1970 by Pantheon Books.
LSD, MY PROBLEM CHILD by Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD and discoverer of psilocybin, the active principle of the "magic mushroom," recounts the history of his discoveries. HTML edition, table of contents and complete text, copyright 1980 McGraw-Hill Book Company. Translated by Jonathan Ott from the German, LSD—Mein Sorgenkind, 1979
Acting on an insight into the true nature of the Mysteries of Eleusis, R. Gordon Wasson sought the collaboration of Albert Hofmann and Carl A.P. Ruck, a classical scholar specializing in Greek ethnobotany. Closely coordinating their research, the three scholar-scientists first offered documentation on the religious rites at an International Conference on Hallucinogenic Mushrooms in 1977. These astonishing findings, given here in a much expanded version, leave little doubt that the ancient secret of Eleusis has at last been unveiled. HTML edition, table of contents and chapters I. through V., copyright 1978 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
THE ECSTATIC ADVENTURE edited and introduced by Ralph Metzner
In The Ecstatic Adventure, thirty-eight people from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and beliefs describe their experiences with hallucinogenic drugs—mescaline, LSD, peyote, psilocybin. Ralph Metzner introduces each of these accounts and explains the religious, sociological, and historical background of psychedelic drugs from their origin in prerecorded history to the stormy drug scene of today. Download zipfile of the complete text in HTML.
"Conversations with a Pioneer of the Underground Psychedelic Therapy Movement" by Myron J. Stolaroff. The PROLOGUE to The Secret Chief by Stanislav Grof, M.D., is reproduced in The Psychedelic Library by permission of the publisher, The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Copyright 1997 by Myron J. Stolaroff.
THE NATURAL MIND by Andrew Weil
"The Natural Mind is one of the classics of consciousness investigation. Dr. Weil's emphasis that it is consciousness and intention that are primary in determining our response to drugs, rather than drug chemistry, is an insight we need today to determine a rational approach to drug use and abuse." —Charles T. Tart, Ph.D. Preface to the revised edition and Chapter 1 reproduced in The Psychedelic Library by permission of the author. ©1972, 1986 by Andrew Weil.
THE MARIJUANA SMOKERS by Erich Goode
"This timely and dispassionate book—based on a survey of 200 marijuana users and on thousands of man-hours spent in direct observation—portrays the marijuana phenomenon as it actually is. Dr. Goode convincingly shows how misconceptions and widespread fears over the morals and life styles of drug users have hindered an enlightened understanding of the use and effects of marijuana." Published in 1970, this book has withstood the test of time and remains one of the most important works on the subject. The complete text is available here by permission of the author.
HIGH CULTURE: MARIJUANA IN THE LIVES OF AMERICANS by William Novak
A classic text on marijuana and its effects on normal everyday Americans by a jouranlist and reviewer whose work has appeared in many well-known publications, and has been an editor and teacher of writing at Tufts University. The complete text available here by permission of the author.
ON BEING STONED by Charles T. Tart
"A Psychological Study of Marijuana Intoxication" was published in 1971 and remains a most important source of information for both professionals and the general public. With the recently escalating debate concerning government intransigence on the medical marijuana issue, On Being Stoned appears in The Psychedelic Library as a valuable antidote to misinformation and hysteria. The complete text is available here by permission of the author. ©1971 by Science and Behavior Books.
DRUG, SET, AND SETTING by Norman E. Zinberg
"This s a major work, by one of the world's leading experts on drug use and abuse. It is a book full of insights. Zinberg has provided us with a candid report on the reality of drug use in some of its most common features. By concentrating on the human dimensions of controlled use, he has etched in remarkably revealing detail the broad spectrum of use within which abuse may be better understood and more accurately defined." —Arnold S. Trebach. ©1984 Yale University
THE MYTH OF ADDICTION and DRUGSPEAK by John Booth Davies
"The Myth of Addiction is an immensely readable, provocative text which is fast becoming a classic. It is a book which anyone aspiring to present a new structure to explain drug use must take into account. As a result of the publication of The Myth of Addiciton, it is no longer possible to talk the language of addiction—disease, having to have, compulsion, loss of control, expurgation of guilt—without sensing the presence of John Davies looking on and forcing the question, 'what exactly do I think I am trying to explain?'" —Douglas Cameron, University of Leicester. Second edition, ©1997 by OPA, Harwood Academic Publishers.
THE MEANING OF ADDICTION by Stanton Peele
The Meaning of Addiction presents an entire non-reductive, experiential model of addiction. It is the standard reference showing that addiction can never be resolved to its biochemical components, as the NIDA and NIMH are currently attempting to prove. "Stanton Peele writes so clearly and cogently that his scholarship and erudition remain continuously intriguing, adding to the readability of a volume that will become a classic contribution to the field." (Jules Masserman, Past President, American Psychiatric Association.) ©1985 by D.C. Heath and Company
RELIGIONS, VALUES, AND PEAK-EXPERIENCES by Abraham H. Maslow
"Traditionally, religion has been of the spirit; science, of the body; and there has been a wide philosophic gulf between the knowlege of the body and the knowledge of the spirit. The natural sciences and religion have generally been considered as natural and eternal opponents. Abraham H. Maslow here articulates one of his prominent theses: the "religious" experience is a rightful subject for scientific investigation and speculation and, conversely, the "scientific community" will see its work enhanced by acknowledging and studying the species-wide need for spiritual expression which, in so many forms, is at the heart of "peak-experiences" reached by healthy, fully functioning persons."
STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS by Charles T. Tart
Stanislav Grof said of this book, "A beautiful piece of work on the theory of Altered States of Consciousness that will become a classic in the field." First published in 1975, States of Consciousness appears in The Psychedelic Library by permission of the author. ©1975 by Charles T. Tart.
"A Social History of Drugs" by Brian Inglis. One of the book's recurring themes is that Prohibition has always led to an increase of drug consmption, coupled with an increase in corruption and crime. A classic of the Anti-Prohibition Literature, the author also wrote one of the best accounts of The Opium War.
THE PRIVATE SEA: LSD AND THE SEARCH FOR GOD
by William Braden, published in 1967. Albert Hofmann wrote of this book, "...a true intellectual pleasure...you certainly penetrated deeply into the roots of the LSD problem and have presented its many-sided aspects and its relationship to present intellectual trends well and with a thorough knowledge of the subject."
LSD — THE PROBLEM-SOLVING PSYCHEDELIC
by Peter Stafford and Bonnie Golightly, published in 1967. "Unless I have completely misunderstood the message, this book must be looked upon as a manifesto from one generation to another—from the young to their elders. As I see it, the younger generation is telling us that it proposes to use psychedelics because it considers them appropriate instruments for living in the hurricane's eye of accelerating change. These young people consider that it is neither possible nor desirable to prevent them from employing these substances in this way, and in fact they are challenging lawmakers, law givers and law enforcers to stop them." —Humphrey Osmond, from the preface.
HALLUZINOGENE - PSYCHISCHE GRENZZUSTÄNDE IN FORSCHUNG UND PSYCHOTHERAPIE
Hallucinogens - Psychic Borderline States in Research and Psychotherapy (in German) by Hanscarl Leuner. Published by Huber, Bern 1981, ISBN: 3-456-80933-6 © 1981 by Hanscarl Leuner. PDF File, 32MB (click link to view in browser, right-click to download to disc). The book provides an insight into the European and American research on the use of psychedelics, in particular the psycholytic and psychedelic therapy of the 1950's and 1960's. An excerpt from the book, "Considerations concerning psychedelic and psycholytic therapies" (in English) is also available as a PDF file of 5MB
"The True Story Behind NORML and the Politics of Marijuana" by Patrick Anderson. Published by The Viking Press, New York, ©1981 by Patrick Anderson.
HENRY HYDE ON DRUGS by Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean
Chapter 5 of Henry Hyde's Moral Universe: Where More than Time and Space are Warped Common Courage Press, 1999. "Henry Hyde played a significant role in creating public confusion about Contra trafficking and ultimately steering the IranContra Committees away from a serious investigation of this highly volatile subject that goes right to the heart of U.S. national security."
THE MAN WHO TURNED ON THE WORLD
by Michael Hollingshead, published by Blond & Briggs, Ltd., 1973. The autobiography of one of the legendary figures in the history of the psychedelic rediscovery, who in 1962 introduced the Harvard researchers to LSD. An unaccountably scarce book.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF ETERNAL LOVE by Stewart Tendler & David May
"Born in the psychedelic Californian counter-culture of the 1960s, the Brotherhood and its allies were going to transform the world with LSD." And so they did, but not as originallty conceived... Although this study contains no small number of inaccuracies, and is unreferenced, it nevertheless provides valuable inside views of the 1960s not available elsewhere. A rare book.
THE SEARCH FOR THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
by John Marks, published by Times Books in 1979. The extraordinary story, compiled from documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, of how the CIA conducted a series of secret programs to find ways to control human behavior. Marks' investigation reveals that the Agency was deeply involved in research with psychoactive drugs, psycho-surgery, electroshock, hypnosis and other methods on Agency operatives, students, mental patients, defectors, prisoners and prostitutes; many of these subjects were unwitting or involuntary collaborators.