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So so mind-blowing. Like Chasing the Scream but for psychedelics. About time I had a good history lesson on psychedelics in America. His ability to put ineffable feelings into language is pretty impressive. Definitely plan on rereading sometime in the near future.

#Wardens2023 #RushAThon #Scarathlon #MagicalMonsters #BookSpinBingo #OutstandingOctober

Very interesting & informative. A re-read is possible❤️‍🔥

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#Wardens2023 #RushAThon #Scarathlon #MagicalMonsters #BookSpinBingo

Next up to #FeedMyBrain 🎧📖 #ImpulseRead

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Are psychedelics the dangerous drugs they‘ve been made out to be? Are they, like cannabis, on the verge of being made legal for medicinal purposes? Can they be used to treat a host of mental and nervous disorders? Michael Pollan delves into the history and future of psychedelics, exploring these and many other topics. A lot of interesting information here; a good primer for anyone with a casual interest.

Pollan does a fine job narrating.

"The short summary is, babies and children are basically tripping all the time."

"A platitude is precisely what is left of a truth after it has been drained of all emotion."

"It's often said that political scandal is what happens when someone in power inadvertently speaks the truth."

#nonfiction #politics #truth #history #medicine #science

"Full-on-moral panic", one of the main historical inspirations to me living as skeptical & open-minded as I do.

This seems to be a common theme amongst most debates.....

"The loudest and most authoritative voices in the debate over psychedelics during the 1960s were precisely the people who knew least about them."

#nonfiction #science #medicine #history

No wonder today's tech is so cool!

#nonfiction #tech #science #medicine

What are the odds?? #Netflix is releasing a documentary about the very book I'm studying!
#nonfiction #science #medicine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8LRb4jfZ9g

Isn't this the case of most everything?

"The fact that such an ambitious research program continued at Spring Grove well into the 1970s suggests the story of the suppression of psychedelic research is a little more complicated than the conventional narrative would indicate."

#nonfiction #medicine #mentalhealth #science

Forbid a premature closing of our accounts with reality.

#nonfiction #science #mentalhealth

Effects of a controlled administration of a synthetic version of psilocybin.

#nonfiction #science #mentalhealtg

Started reading this #nonfiction work about the mind.

#science #mentalhealth

Finished 3 books this week for #nfn21
Dream More was a short book in which Dolly expounds on her thoughts of the pillars of her Imagination Library foundation.
The Time of My Life is a memoir.
The tagged is about the effect of psychedelic drugs on the mind and ultimately how a user views life. The author is an immersive journalist who did take a few psychedelic journies and discussing history of the drugs, studies, etc. @rsteve388 @coffees

Spaced out a bunch listening to this one, but still heard lots of interesting things.

So so mind-blowing. Like Chasing the Scream but for psychedelics. About time I had a good history lesson on psychedelics in America. His ability to put ineffable feelings into language is pretty impressive. Definitely plan on rereading sometime in the near future.

This book is about mental breakthroughs—if in a very unorthodox way! It‘s about the science of, and the author‘s experiences with, psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and LSD. They have a lot of promise for treating mental illness.

Deck: Shadowscapes Tarot

#tarottakeover

The price of the sense of an individual identity is a sense of separation from others and nature.

I‘ve been slowly listening to this one for months and it‘s excellent. Really makes me want to experiment with microdosing and expanding my horizons.

I recommend this book to almost everyone I talk to now. “...people suffering from a whole range of disorders characterized by excessively rigid patterns of thought - including addiction, obsessions, and eating disorders as well as depression - stand to benefit from ‘the ability of psychedelics to disrupt stereotyped patterns of thought and behavior...‘”

“Did he now believe consciousness exists outside the brain? He‘s not certain. ‘But to go from being very sure the opposite is true‘ - that consciousness is the product of our gray matter - ‘to be unsure is an immense shift....And for someone with my orientation‘ - agnostic, enamored of science - ‘that changes everything.‘”

“...psychedelics ‘would be for psychiatry what the microscope is for biology or the telescope is for astronomy‘.” I‘ve been following the progression of psychedelic therapy for some time now and love this quote. Pollan does a great job introducing the idea to people who are unfamiliar or unsure about the benefits of these powerful substances for those suffering from PTSD, depression, anxiety, and so much more.

The end of a year and beginning of another. Wishing all of my Litsy friends a happy and joyous New Year filled with love, light, adventure, and understanding.

For me this was a bit of a slog- worthwhile slog, but slog nonetheless. If I wasn‘t a believer before (which I was)- this book makes a great case for hallucinogens in treating mental illness and in the “betterment of well people”.

1. An important read for anyone who struggles from chronic depression.
2. The reading chair in my living room.
3. Yup.
4. BABY YODA!
@4thhouseontheleft

I‘ve been wanting to read this for months, and an audiobook version just came available.

*****

This book was all over the place - part history of psychedelic research, part botany, part memoir, part neuroscience - it‘s tough to review succinctly. Some parts worked better than others. It could‘ve been shorter, really; it felt repetitive in places, but it was all interesting and I‘m glad I read it. #NFNovember

I've been a fan of Michael Pollan for a long time. This is a must read!

Moved up Pollan‘s book after seeing Fantastic Fungi last night. Film delves into the medical and psychological benefits of psychoactive mushrooms. And fun fact: in the American Civil War nursed would wrap wounds with moldy bread to get the penicillin benefits. The development of high grade penicillin helped the Allies win WWII. #NFNov @Clwojick @rsteve388

Excellent book on the benefits of psychedelic assisted therapy. The author does a superb job explaining the history of psychedelics for the treatment of mental health disorders, addiction, dying, etc. He shares his personal experiences with different guided psychedelic experiences. Throughout he highlights the benefits of such treatment. My 🤞 for continued support for this method of treatment.

I want to find a therapist who specializes in psychedelic treatments... but I‘m going to have to wait for the FDA to reclassify the drugs. Pollen gives a full history of the study of psychedelics and his own experiences with them. The key seems to be the ego dissolution that most people experience during a “trip”. He also covers current research findings and future projects that sound incredibly promising. 4.5/5

Next up in research reading: some new(ish) nonfiction exploring the complicated past and unpredictable future of psychedelics 🍄

I knew next to nothing about psychedelics before this book so this was a fascinating read about how scientists have been studying LSD and mushrooms over the years for treatments for addiction and depression and in hospice!

An examination of psychedelic drugs, both their history and their future. Despite promising early research, poor scientific practices and misuse of the drugs ended any serious study of them for many years. Now they are back and being studied in palliative care and as treatment for addiction and depression. This subject seems a bit of a departure for Pollan, but his engaging writing and immersive research are still on show.

Now I want to get onto a psychedelic drug test program. Pollan investigates the role that psychedelics have play in human history and the many beneficial affects which are being confirmed in current drug testing programs, including breaking addiction and improving depression anxiety. Effects thought to result from the temporary dissolution of the self and perceived connection with a larger reality which provides perspective on individual concerns.

Being more aware of the reading experience, the atmosphere around me and how I feel when I‘m reading. Thinking more about how the text connects with art and images. But also three of the books I‘m currently reading are with Litsy groups (with really fun conversations). Three at once! So, yeah, it‘s impacting my reading choices quite a bit too.

... And I get to share pet pictures. 😁

An interesting trip (ha!) through the world of psychedelics, going back to their history as a class of drugs studied at universities for their therapeutic potential, to their downfall and rebranding as a menace to society, to today where they‘re slowly creeping back into the halls of psychotherapy. It was a topic I didn‘t know much about, but I thought this was really well-researched and written. Fascinating and I learned a lot!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars I wanted to give up multiple times on this book, but I finished it. The second part was much better and my favorite parts were when he was describing his trips on different psychedelics. While I'm not wanting to try any of these substances, I do think they can be very beneficial for people suffering from addiction, depression, and other mental illnesses.

The subtitle sums up the contents: “What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.” Fascinating stuff. Made me want to try LSD, which the author did as part of his journalistic investigation into the topic. (I‘m so suggestible. I must be careful about what I read!) Anyway, the #audiobook, narrated by the author, led me down many internet rabbit holes.

Convinced that trepanation would help facilitate higher states of consciousness, Fielding went looking for someone to perform the operation on her. When it became clear no professional would oblige, she trepanned herself in 1970, boring a small hole in the middle of her forehead with an electric drill. (She documented the procedure in a short but horrifying film called Heartbeat in the Brain.)👇

RD Laing once said that there are three things human beings are afraid of: death, other people, and their own minds.

Starting this for my local book club meeting next week!

Anyone else hate when the library puts the sticker right over the title? 🙄

“Mysticism is the antidote to fundamentalism,” (Pollan is quoting Rick Doblin, a pro-psychedelics campaigner.)

(Photo: Buddha seated on a snake deity, 12th century Cambodia)

This audiobook is leading me down fascinating Internet rabbit holes.
https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world?ut...

Just starting this one. Im really excited to read it. I've heard great things! Have any of you read this one?

The most surprising thing I learned from this was that Timothy Leary was once taken seriously as a scientist, lol.

This book reminds me that there are two kinds of people: those who have and have not taken psychedelic drugs. Being the latter, it was hard to relate.

It was very interesting and I find myself angry that they aren‘t being used therapeutically. It would be nice to see if it could help some of my issues and I‘d LIKE to understand.

Current audiobook.

#24b42019