Culture - What LSD books have you read?

[knnk]

There's probably been other threads like this..but I suppose people might have read something since.


Anyhow, what books have you read about LSD(or other similar psychedelics that would overlap, like mescalin)?

Personally Iv read the following:

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley- This was one of the first books I read on psychedelics.

Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley- This focuses more on art. Also very interesting.

LSD: My Problem Child by Albert Hofmann- Obviously the creator/discoverer of acid. Good book.

LSD Psychotherepy by Stanislav Grof- This is easily the most interesting book Iv read on acid. My understanding of it certainly changed through it. The book is almost all about "bad" trips, which happen to be very good for people with psychological problems, as long as they're properly integrated. It's interactions with various mental states is quite interesting; for example many people with OCD are not effected by the drug at all, even at doses such as 10,000ug.

That last one seems to go unnoticed by most people.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good suggestions

[rockforlight]

Good Post

LSD my problem child

Stanislus G?

ive read some very interesting quotes from that person
shows an unbelievable spectrum. And the only lesson that we can draw from it is that we are not discussing a substance -- that we are discussing intrinsic, inherent properties of the human mind that are somehow activated by this catalyzing effect of the substance. So that the controversy related to simply reflects the controversy in regards to who we are, in regards to our own mind

[Joe Duffy]

SWIM is not sure but SWIM thinks that smiley might break one of the forum rules!

[abraham]

I read my problem child probablly 25 years ago now. Loved that book.
Good suggestions.

[knnk]

Yeah that book was great.

[thealmassi1]

What LSD books are the best and worth reading?

[Jatelka]

"Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD, the CIA, the Sixties and Beyond" by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Schlain

Wonderful book, well worth reading, all sorts of interesting stuff on MK ULTRA, hippies, culture etc etc

"Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream" by Jay Stevens also seems to be realtively well regarded, although the flamingo never really rated it

[pyroarchy]

Acid Dreams, Storming Heaven, Problem Child, Uncle Festers practical LSD manufacture, LSD by Otto Snow (really includes alot of research about various reactions and making various substances for reactions), and Psychedelic Chemistry by Michael Valentine Smith. I really liked the last two though they are more towards the chemistry side of LSD. I'd buy em all anyway, really good reading even if one is hardly interested in LSD at all.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good suggestions- esp. the otto snow book.

[nuffsaid420]

Question:
Does SWIM think after reading books on said subject that his perceptions will be forever altered? Once SWIM reads material he starts constructing a perception based upon the books that have been read. This will now change the outcome. Good or bad? That is all in the way the observer perceives his reality and that is built up around what SWIM had injested(books, experiences, ect.)

Sorry, a little off topic, but SWIM is researching and has been concerned about the material he reads might effect his mental state.


Back on topic. Not really a book persay, but MAPS( Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) puts out a quarterly "booklet" with all kinds of updated info about the world of Psychedelics.

[Expat98]

FYI, the following books about LSD are all available online at Erowid:

Acid Dreams, by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain
Published by Grove Press, 1985 (Library Entry)

The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, by Stewart Tendler and David May
Published by Panther Books, 1984 (Library Entry)

Handbook for the Therapeutic Use of LSD-25, by D.B. Blewett & N Chwelos
Published by Panther Books, 1984 (pdf)

LSD : My Problem Child, by Albert Hofmann
Published by Tarcher, 1979 (Library Entry)
(Offsite Copies: English, Japanese, Chinese)

LSD: The Problem-Solving Psychedelic, by P.G. Stafford and B.H. Golightly
Published by Award Books, 1967 (Library Entry)

The Private Sea : LSD and the Search for God, by William Braden
Published by Quadrangle Books, 1967 (Library Entry)

Storming Heaven, by Jay Stevens
Published by the Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987 (Library Entry)

http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/#lsd

[lonesomeheroes]

Some good books that haven't been mentioned yet:

Leary, T. 1983. Flashbacks: A Personal and Cultural History of an Era

Leary: The Psychedelic Experience

Watts, Alan: The Joyous Cosmology

[metaljuana]

I have been looking for a book on LSD, its effects, history, etc. I am looking for the best book possible, so I was wondering what you guys have to say. Please name your favorite book on LSD and why it is your favorite.

[Jatelka]

Threads merged

[Songcycle67]

I gotta second Acid Dreams (probably the most comprehensive), Huxley's works, and My Problem Child as well as toss a new one out there:

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. It's not by any means a book from the scientific perspective, but it gives an amazing look at the lives of some of the first people outside of the psychiatric field who were taking acid and their views on the experience and how it should be carried out. Definitely one of my all time favorite books period. Even if you're not interested in LSD, it's a damned fine read, and quite the American cult classic at this point. It covers the entire spectrum of issues that were being dealt with by early travelers (most of whom were artists, musicians, writers, and all-out freaks) and also gives an astonishing inside look at the beginnings of the great San Francisco acid wave (1964-1966). One of the most well-written accounts of that time period that I've yet encountered--definitely puts you there for a few hundred pages, and the descriptions of "the experience" are dead-on.

[fraaga]

Constance Newland - My Self and I
Book about a woman overcoming her frigidness with LSD treatment, its not my favourite but since it hasnt been mentioned...