Where does experience meet evidence?
Critical book reviews on psychedelic history, research, culture, and interpretation.
Julian Vayne’s manual ranges from preparation and group ceremonies to integration after a psychedelic experience. Floris sees an accessible collection of approaches while noting its roots in esoteric and spiritual practice.
Andrew Gallimore moves from psychedelic neuroscience to a theory about DMT and a higher-dimensional reality. Floris values the explanatory first part but questions the later claims about alien intelligence and a cosmic game.
Albert Hofmann recounts LSD’s discovery, his first experience, early research, and its spread beyond the laboratory. Floris follows that history with attention to Hofmann’s concerns about risks and the conditions surrounding its use.
Aaron Paul Orsini describes his personal experiences of autism and LSD, including social understanding and self-acceptance. Floris presents the account as a case study and an invitation to further research, rather than established clinical evidence.
Ben Sessa imagines psychiatrists launching a psychedelic research project. Floris enjoys the premise but thinks the novel’s optimistic picture of psychedelic-assisted therapy goes further than the evidence it presents.
Rick Doblin and Brad Burge collect MAPS Bulletin writing across science, therapy, art, and spirituality. Floris values the variety of perspectives while noting that readers can also find the material in the Bulletin itself.
Rick Strassman recounts organising human DMT research and the experiences reported by participants. Floris values this history of psychedelic research but questions the leap from vivid experiences to claims about another reality.
A collection surveying MDMA’s history, effects, risks, research, and proposed therapeutic uses. Floris values its harm-reduction perspective and case for renewed medical research while noting that it reflects knowledge available around 2001.
Sessa surveys psychedelic history, research, culture, and policy while arguing for careful scientific and therapeutic engagement. Floris appreciates the overview’s balance and its hope that research and practice can responsibly reconnect.
McKenna interprets human history through psychedelic use and proposes a role for psilocybin in evolution. Floris recommends the book as a window into those ideas while questioning its confident claims and romantic picture of the past.
The Shulgins combine biography with accounts of psychedelic chemistry, therapy, and drug policy. Floris reads the book as an argument for accessible information and shared experience, alongside therapeutic questions that still need research.
Johnson surveys 23 psychedelic substances through their effects, histories, cultural uses, and possible medical applications. Floris values the measured tone and breadth, with attention to the distinct perspectives offered by different substances.
Leary, Metzner, and Alpert adapt the Tibetan Book of the Dead into a guide to psychedelic states and preparation. Floris reads it in its historical context and questions some of its psychological and cosmic claims.
Nutt compares the harms different drugs cause to users and society, arguing for evidence-based policy. Floris finds the comparisons illuminating, particularly their challenge to familiar assumptions about legal and illegal substances.
Jay traces mescaline through Indigenous ritual, science, and popular culture. Floris highlights how cultural settings shaped its use and reception, recommending the book for its detailed historical perspective.
Huxley reflects on visionary experience, art, light, and the mind, including blissful and frightening states. Floris finds it less engaging than The Doors of Perception and questions unsupported speculation about illness and psychedelic experience.
Huxley recounts a mescaline experience and reflects on perception, consciousness, contemplation, and action. Floris finds the short book engaging while noting that some of its explanations belong to an earlier scientific context.