Introduction to Pharmacology, Third Edition (Paperback)

First I must say that this is not a complete review. I did not read the entire book, so I apologize if this listing is a bit misleading. I read the first hundred pages in their entirety but due to my lack of chemical, biological and anatomical knowledge, many of the words were lost on me, so I decided to skim the rest and look for topics of interest.

One of the most striking things I noticed was in the introduction of the book. They actually make reference to McKenna's theory of man achieving consciousness via the ingestion of psychedelic substances! They sadly do not credit him with the theory and they also say that it is a theory with few supporters.

The history and story of pharmacology and how some of the breakthroughs were made was intriguing. I enjoyed it very much as well as the chapter on drug abuse.

There is quite a bit on drug law that was nice and a bit on the potential therapeutic use of psychedelics and the need for more research (which law hinders). Hoffman was mentioned as a pharmacologist who used self-experimentation as a research method. Shulgin was not listed and I think he should've been, but I suppose his drugs have not much been adapted as medicines yet.

Anyways, this is a poor and partial review, but I did enjoy the bits that were not laden with scientific terms. It seemed well-written and easy enough to understand had I better scientific foundations or a prof to lead me through this book, but as I tackled it on my own, I didn't learn too much spare history. From what I read though, it seems like a great text book for those who wish to learn about pharmacology.