A PSYCHEDELIC PSYLLABUS
* – core curriculum
REFERENCE
Peter Stafford
Psychedelics Encyclopedia
Comprehensive, conversational.
Andrew Weil and Carol Rosen
Chocolate to Morphine
Balanced coverage of all “drugs”; written simply and clearly for
students and adults.
Jonathan Ott
*Pharmacotheon
Encyclopedic, beautifully written compendium of “entheogenic drugs,
their plant sources and history.”
CHEMISTRY
Albert Hofmann
LSD My Problem Child
Hofmann’s autobiographical account of his most famous discovery.
Richard Evans Schultes & Albert Hofmann
The Botany and Biochemistry of the Hallucinogens
Survey of the field.
Alexander and Ann Shulgin
*PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story
Encyclopedic coverage of phenethylamines, a class of psychedelic
chemicals; accounts of personal use, and extensive commentary on
the chemistry and synthesis of 179 compounds.
Jonathan Ott
Ayahuasca Analogues
History and biochemistry of South American entheogen, plus survey of legal plants which could be used as mixtures utilizing same active ingredients.
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY
R. Gordon Wasson
Soma, Divine Mushroom of Immortality
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.
The Road to Eleusis (w/ Hofmann, Carl Ruck)
Describes theory that Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece and
Rome were result of psychedelic potion.
*Persephone’s Quest (w/ Kramisch, Ott and Ruck)
Overview of role of entheogens in religion and culture.
Michael Harner
The Way of the Shaman
Harner’s synthesis of research on shamanism.
*Hallucinogens and Shamanism
Anthology on shamanic use of psychedelics.
Carlos Castaneda
The Teachings of Don Juan
A Separate Reality
Author’s purported experience using “plant teachers” with a Yaqui Indian healer. Later debunked for factual content; may still be useful for heuristic value.
F. Bruce Lamb
Wizard of the Upper Amazon
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.
Marlene Dobkin de Rios
Hallucinogens
Anthology on shamanic use of psychedelics.
Mark Plotkin
Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice
Work of American ethnobotanist to preserve indigenous knowledge of
Amazon rainforest plants; student of Harvard’s Schultes.
Carl Lumholtz
A Nation of Shamans
Reprint of turn-of-the-century ethnographic study of peyote-using
Huichol Indians.
Weston LeBarre
The Peyote Cult
Ethnographic study of peyote-using American Indians.
Omer Stewart
Peyote Religion
Ethnographic study of peyote-using American Indians.
Thomas Riedlinger, ed.
The Sacred Mushroom Seeker
Anthology of essays; festschrift for R. Gordon Wasson.
Kathleen Berrin, ed.
Art of the Huichol Indians
Art book with reproductions of Huichol visionary art.
Richard Evans Schultes
Vine of the Soul (w/ Richard Raffauf)
Illustrated volume on ayahuasca use in South America, written by
the premier ethnobotanist in America.
*Plants of the Gods (w/ Albert Hofmann)
Encyclopedia of psychoactive plants by two legendary scientists.
Peter Furst, ed.
Flesh of the Gods
Anthology on religious use of psychedelics.
Napoleon Chagnon
Yananamo, The Fierce People
Ethnographic study of Amazon tribe using ebene as ritual
psychedelic.
John Allegro
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
Controversial book attributing founding of Christianity to use of
amanita muscaria mushroom.
Mircea Eliade
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy
Study of shamanism by authority on comparative religion; concludes
psychedelics are attempt to reconstruct primary religious
experience no longer available to shamans.
Robert Graves
The White Goddess
Classical scholar’s work on pagan mythology; assigns prominent role
to psychedelics.
Joan Halifax
Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives
Anthology of narratives by shamans.
Shaman: The Wounded Healer
Illustrated book on shamanism.
PSYCHOLOGY
Charles Tart
*Altered States of Consciousness
Pioneering anthology on the subject.
States of Consciousness
Further exploration of Tart’s theories on discrete “states” of
consciousness.
Transpersonal Psychologies
Anthology of various spiritual paths; informed by editor’s work on
altered states of consciousness.
Open Mind, Discriminating Mind
Further speculations on consciousness; drugs only small part of
book.
Stanislav Grof
Realms of the Human Unconscious
Summary of Grof’s legal research on LSD in Czechoslovakia.
*Beyond the Brain
Grof’s LSD research placed in broader context of overarching theory
of consciousness.
The Adventure of Self Discovery
Development of technique of holotropic breathing to produce state
analogous to LSD influence.
The Stormy Search for Self
Further development of theories on psychological development
emerging from “spiritual emergencies”.
Christian Ratsch
Gateway to Inner Space
Anthology of essays on psychedelics in honor of Albert Hofmann.
Sophie Adamson
Through the Gateway of the Heart
Personal tales of MDMA use.
Sidney Cohen
The Beyond Within
Discussion of LSD by pioneer researcher who had reservations about
dangers of LSD use by unstable individuals.
R.E.L. Masters and Jean Houston
The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience
Discussion of psychotherapeutic possibilities of LSD and
techniques.
W.V. Caldwell
LSD Psychotherapy
Discussion of psychotherapeutic possibilities of LSD.
Abram Hoffer, Humphrey Osmond
The Hallucinogens
Leading researchers of psychedelic therapy. Osmond coined the term “psychedelic”.
John Lilly
Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer
Handbook for use of LSD as “metaprogramming” substance.
The Center of the Cyclone
Autobiographical discussion of LSD, sensory deprivation tanks, and
other techniques for exploration of consciousness.
Robert S. De Ropp
Drugs and the Mind
Early book on subject of mind-altering drugs.
The Master Game
Author’s speculations on consciousness, informed by psychedelics.
Peter Stafford and Holly Golightly, eds.
*LSD, the Problem Solving Psychedelic
Anthology on use of LSD for treating alcoholism and other problems.
No editor listed.
The Uses of LSD in Psychotherapy and Alcoholism, 1961.
Collection of papers about various attempts to use LSD in mental
health settings.
John White, ed.
The Highest State of Consciousness
Anthology on visionary experience, psychedelics-induced and
otherwise.
Claudio Naranjo
The Healing Journey
Account of early therapeutic use of MDMA.
Norman Zinberg
*Drug, Set and Setting
Classic statement of case for positive use of psychedelics given
proper preparations.
SOCIOLOGY
Leigh Henderson, William J. Glass
LSD: Still With Us After All These Years
Balanced summary about use of LSD in the 1990’s.
Consumers’ Union
Licit and Illicit Drugs
Balanced survey of the field by the Consumers Reports folks.
Bruce Eisner
The MDMA Story
History of growth and ultimate criminalization of MDMA use in the
1980’s.
Andrew Weil
The Natural Mind
Argument that urge to alter one’s consciousness is an innate human
drive.
Lester Grinspoon and James Bakalar
Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered
Summary argument for reasoned approach to psychedelics.
David Solomon, ed.
LSD: The Consciousness-Expanding Drug
Anthology of essays by Huxley, Leary, etc.
David Ebin, ed.
The Drug Experience
Early anthology of first-person accounts of drug use.
Thomas Szasz
Ceremonial Chemistry
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.
Art Linkletter
Drugs at My Doorstep
Celebrity bashes LSD use following daughter’s suicide.
John Fuller
The Day of St. Anthony’s Fire
Attempt to cash in on LSD scare with account of ergot poisoning in
France in 1950’s.
James A. Pike
The Other Side, (w/Diane Kennedy)
Author was Episcopal Bishop of California; after his son committed
suicide during period of LSD use, tried to establish psychic
contact.
Arnold Trebach
*The Great Drug War
History of the War on Drugs in America; particular attention to its
intensification in the mid-1980’s.
New Frontiers of Drug Policy (w/ Zeese, Shulman, Wall)
Anthology of varied voices calling for reconsideration of current
government drug policy.
Drug Prohibition and the Conscience of Nations (w/Zeese)
Anthology of varied voices calling for reconsideration of current
government drug policy.
Douglas Rushkoff
Cyberia
Draws the outlines of a culture borne of the synthesis of
psychedelics and computer technology.
Timothy Leary
The Psychedelic Experience (w/ Metzner and Alpert)
A guidebook for psychedelic trips based on the Tibetan Book of the
Dead.
The Psychedelic Reader (w/ Andrew Weil)
Anthology from the short-lived journal of the same name.
High Priest
Leary’s own story in the form of a series of psychedelic trips.
Politics of Ecstasy
Collection of Leary writings from the 1960’s.
Flashbacks
Autobiography.
Ken Babbs, Paul Perry
On the Bus
Story of the Merry Pranksters’ bus trip, by one of the Pranksters.
Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain
Acid Dreams
A history of the spread of psychedelia, with special attention to
Federal government’s secret efforts to use LSD as Cold War weapon.
Jay Stevens
*Storming Heaven
Social history of the psychedelic movement.
Mary Matossian
Poisons of the Past
Traces outbreaks of ergot poisoning throughout history; related to
Great Awakening in U.S. in 18th C., French Revolution, etc.
PHILOSOPHY
Thaddeus Golas
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment
Guide for psychedelic trips.
Alan Watts
The Joyous Cosmology
Philosophical reflections on psychedelic experience.
Tom Wolfe
*Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
The story of Ken Kesey, the Merry Pranksters, and the early
psychedelic movement in the 1960’s.
Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The classic tale of drug-induced madness in the heart of America.
Ken Kesey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Kesey’s first novel, informed by psychedelics.
Sometimes A Great Notion
Kesey’s second novel, informed by psychedelics.
Kesey’s Garage Sale
Collection of writings from the 1960’s, some specifically about
psychedelics.
The Demon Box
Collection of writings from the 1970’s and 1980’s.
The Furthur Inquiry
Illustrated story of the Merry Pranksters’ bus trip.
William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg
The Yage Letters
Letters of Beat Generation psychedelic pioneers.
Baba Ram Dass
Be Here Now
Reflections of psychedelic pioneer who moved “beyond acid”.
Albert Hofmann
Insight, Outlook
Philosophical reflections by man who first synthesized LSD.
Richard Bucke
Cosmic Consciousness
Reflections on “cosmic consciousness” as manifested by luminaries
from Walt Whitman to the Buddha.
Aldous Huxley
*The Doors of Perception
Seminal book relating author’s experiences with mescaline.
Heaven and Hell
Further reflections on visionary experiences.
Moksha (ed. by Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer)
Collection of essays, speeches on subject of drugs.
Island
Novel setting forth utopia based on principles including use of
“Moksha medicine”.
Terence McKenna
Food of the Gods
Study of the role of psychedelics in human evolution.
The Archaic Revival
Collection of writings on visionary experience.
The Invisible Landscape (w/ Dennis McKenna)
Story of experiments with psychedelics in the Amazon.
True Hallucinations
Later re-telling of story in The Invisible Landscape.
Robert Anton Wilson
Illuminatus! (with Robert Shea)
Novel of conspiracy in the 1960’s; gives central importance to psychedelics.
Cosmic Trigger
Autobiographical reflections on drugs, the occult and much more.
Sex and Drugs
Traces role of sex and drugs in human history.
Andrija Puharich
The Sacred Mushroom
Physicist’s encounter with psychedelic mushrooms and the occult in
the late 1950’s. Author later became compatriot of psychic Uri
Geller.