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The Doors Of Perception
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
Long before Tom Wolfs The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test or Hunter S. Thompsons Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Aldous Huxley wrote about his mind-bending experiences taking mescaline in his essay The Doors of Perception. Written largely from the first-person perspective, The Doors of Perception blends Eastern mysticism with scientific experimentation in equal parts, and what results is one of the most influential meditations on the effects of hallucinatory drugs on the human psyche ever written in the Western canon. Huxleys Doors of Perception ushered in a whole new generation of counter-culture icons such as Jackson Pollock, John Cage, and Timothy Leary, and inspired Jim Morrison and the naming of his band, The Doors. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.
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Bookwomble
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I picked these up today, the Huxley for the cover by Max Ernst, as it has an "old money" price, and because for a drug book to be published in 1967, the Summer of Love, seemed apposite. I've got it in a more recent edition, so this was a bibliophilic purchase!
The Unholy City I haven't read before, but enjoyed Finney's Circus of Dr Lao and The Wizard Out of Manchuria, so happy to give this a spin. Also, cover love again, as it's a Peter A. Jones?

LeahBergen Very cool covers! 1y
Aimeesue Aww, lizardy friend looks like she needs a snack! 1y
bibliothecarivs Three pounds six shillings? 1y
Bookwomble @Aimeesue She Hungers! 😄 1y
Bookwomble @bibliothecarivs Goodness! That would practically buy you a car in 1967! "Three-and-six" is three shillings and six pence ? Although my childhood was in the time of the "old money", and I clearly remember the old coinage, I grew up in the decimalised era, so I can't readily convert one too the other without thinking it through. You might find this page interesting http://projectbritain.com/moneyold.htm 1y
29 likes5 comments
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TheNeverendingTBR
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Mehso-so

A classic from the Psychedelic Era.

Huxley goes into detail about his fascinating experiences with the mind expanding substance, mescalin.

This is basically the whole premise of this essay, him describing the results of mescalin ingestion on himself.

A thought-provoking and interesting read.

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SpiderGoddess
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Pickpick

A classic, for sure, but this is my first time reading it. Loved it!

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Legendofcool
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Read this a long time ago when I was going through my jim Morrison phase. Had to listen to it again to even remember some of the important details.

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Godpants
The Doors of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Mehso-so

Did I need to listen to this? Probably not! It was fine but after having read another drug tome I think this doesn‘t really give enough.

9 likes1 stack add
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Godpants
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Hopefully will finish this short one in one sitting.

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mcknighteous
Pickpick

This is a dense one, but does the best job of describing the indescribable I think I've ever read. Far from being full of hippie nonsense, Huxley's essay approaches psychedelics from a deeply objective standpoint, even while accepting the "holiness", "spiritual oneness", whatever you'd like to call it, of his experience. Could do without the pooh-poohing of modern art, though. You're better than that, Huxley.

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mcknighteous
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Hmm.

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mcknighteous
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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But the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same...

4 likes1 stack add
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PagesOfKate
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I think reading is one of the best ways you can #Freeyourmind
I've really enjoyed completing these #Fiercefeb prompts. Thanks so much for organising @batsy @Cinfhen

batsy This sounds great. I only seem to know about Brave New World which I will be reading for the first time this year 😳 Thank you so much for playing this month, I've really enjoyed adding your cool choices to the TBR 💙 6y
Cinfhen Yes, I‘m echoing @batsy you gave us some really wonderful books I was not aware of!!! Loved getting to know you more through your posts 😀Hope you‘ll join @Lizpixie for #MarchintoOz 🇦🇺 6y
65 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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MLRio
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley

... the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.

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MLRio
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley

That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor, and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul.

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MLRio
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley

We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain... From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.

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MLRio
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Spending two hours and a hundred bucks at the Strand has become a biannual tradition 📚 #nyc

emilyhaldi The best ❤️ 6y
28 likes1 comment
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SubwayBookReview
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Ingrid: "It's an essay about the author's experience eating a cactus called peyote which contains mescaline. I've tried mescaline before. It takes you to a different dimension. I was in the middle of the desert when I ate it and it made me feel very far away from the reality we live in. I puked, but I was ok. A cactus that you should eat is called nopal. It's healthy, cheap, and it tastes great."

58 likes4 stack adds
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Oblomov26
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Oblomov26
The Doors Of Perception | Aldous Huxley
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Pickpick

In the 50‘s Aldous Huxley took Mescaline and then sought to record the experience. This is he book that resulted, an interesting detailing of how the drug heightens perception, while removing material desires raising the participant to a mystical state, and an impassioned plea for the use of hallucinogenic drugs to open out understanding of the artist, the mystic and the world as a whole. A strange and alluring book

Rachel.Rencher This sounds great! 7y
saresmoore Strange and alluring, indeed! 7y
JanuarieTimewalker13 I think The Doors were named after this book. Pretty sure Jim read this one! 7y
51 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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V-Onion
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My books arrived @Born.A.Reader!!

Born.A.Reader I don't know how I missed you tagging me on this lol 7y
V-Onion You liked it on Facebook. That counts! Lol 7y
5 likes2 comments
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whyilovethemoon
Pickpick

Amazing book. Gave so much insight about the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. The second essay (Heaven and Hell) and the appendices were a little more obscure but still interesting. Though there are many spots within the book that may be hard to read through, I say, force through it because at the end it is worth it. The essays allow the reader to analyze life and the concepts of "living" within a "imprisoned society"

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callunakeep
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Pickpick

I have read some of his fiction and loved it, I also have a strong interest in the way certain plants and chemicals affect the brain. This was a fascinating little read!!

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TieDyeDude
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Bailedbailed

Meh. Some of the insight was interesting, but once it started going into comparing mescaline to religion and booze, I got bored. Didn't bother reading the second half, "Heaven and Hell".

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GraceHopeSullivan
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Opening an old book is walking back through time and right into the mind of someone else. And what a trip this particular mind was on.

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StephBengtson
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He sleeps, I read. Partner in crime. 🐶💕📚👸🏼 #24in48 #readathon

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Dre_Boyke
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Finally getting a chance to read through these essays written by one of my favorite authors, Aldous Huxley! 😬

Ukulelebob I enjoyed it 8y
21 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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e333444555

"The undernourished person tends to be afflicted by anxiety, depression, hypochondria and feelings of anxiety" p. 150

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e333444555
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I'm determined to finish The Doors of Perception 😁✨

Ukulelebob The book does justice to mescaline. 8y
e333444555 Did you mean does or doesn't? @Ukulelebob 8y
Ukulelebob @e333444555 I meant it does like he definitely does especially the part where he is talking about artwork and describing the ripples in the painting. It had me cracking up. 8y
2 likes3 comments
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Ukulelebob
Pickpick

Concise writing that accurately depicts certain sensory perception that are nearly impossible to describe to others. I think you already know if your going to like this book.