Neuropolitics

The "Godfather of Ecstasy," whose name is Alexander Shulgin (though his friends call him Sasha ... and his critics, much worse). Image © Brian Vastag

Ecstacy: The MDMA Story

Bruce Eisner

With large numbers of young people taking illegal drugs, it wasn't long before Parliament had passed a number of increasingly harsh laws against MDMA and against raves themselves. To avoid police harassment, raves moved from traditional nightclub venues to less predictable locations such as empty warehouses and open fields along the "Orbital," the highway encircling London.

Publisher: Ronin
Paperback: 196 pages
Illustrated

Reviews

Lie of the Truth

René Daumal

“'At the beginning there was error'—so science should measure error, not an incorrect alleged truth. To calculate the sun and the moon or the decimal value of pi only makes one look as silly as the next person. Art seeks life, but the only life is ego death. And what is perception of the outside world except the head, heart or stomach reaching for it?” MS

Publisher: Hanuman
Paperback: 44 pages

Looking Back

Lou Andreas-Salomé

“Lou Andreas-Salomé was not only immensely gifted as a writer, psychologist and observer of her twilight culture. She was the occasion and spur of genius in others. Nietzsche, Rilke and Freud and a host of important contemporaries were set alight or shadowed by her passage. Her memoirs touch the nerve of modernity. They are not at every point to be trusted. Which makes the game the more sparkling and strangely poignant.”—George Steiner

Publisher: Marlowe
Paperback: 226 pages
Illustrated

The Lost Language of Symbolism: Volume 1—An Inquiry Into the Origin of Certain Letters, Words, Names, Fairy-Tales, Folklore and Mythology

Harold Bailey

A comprehensive inquiry into the origins and meanings of the graphic/pictorial symbols which we see most often as artistic embellishments in visual art; stars, crosses, sunwheels, bells, candles, pillars, shields, swords, swastikas, fleur-de-lîs and many others, as well as the non-graphic symbols which we find throughout folklore, fairy tales and mythology, such as the shoes and mice in the Cinderella story. The author's investigation delves into the historical foundations of symbolism in secretive mystical traditions like Mythraism, the Knights Templar and Rosicrucianism, as well as in the widely known religious/spiritual traditions of numerous cultures. Symbols are usually much more ancient in origin than we imagine, says the author, most of them existing literally as far back as civilization has existed; they are handed down not merely from one generation to another, but from one culture to another, which suggests that they are, in some way, the premises upon which written and oral communication are founded. The two-volume set makes up what may be the most detailed and complete catalog of symbolism. BS

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 375 pages

The Lost Language of Symbolism: Volume 2

Harold Bailey

A comprehensive inquiry into the origins and meanings of the graphic/pictorial symbols which we see most often as artistic embellishments in visual art; stars, crosses, sunwheels, bells, candles, pillars, shields, swords, swastikas, fleur-de-lîs and many others, as well as the non-graphic symbols which we find throughout folklore, fairy tales and mythology, such as the shoes and mice in the Cinderella story. The author's investigation delves into the historical foundations of symbolism in secretive mystical traditions like Mythraism, the Knights Templar and Rosicrucianism, as well as in the widely known religious/spiritual traditions of numerous cultures. Symbols are usually much more ancient in origin than we imagine, says the author, most of them existing literally as far back as civilization has existed; they are handed down not merely from one generation to another, but from one culture to another, which suggests that they are, in some way, the premises upon which written and oral communication are founded. The two-volume set makes up what may be the most detailed and complete catalog of symbolism. BS

Publisher: Citadel
Paperback: 388 pages

Madness in America: Cultural and Medical Perceptions of Mental Illness Before 1914

Lynn Gamwell and Nancy Tomes

“Explores the historical roots of Americans' understanding of madness today. Drawing on a rich array of sources, the authors interweave the perceptions of medical practicioners, the mentally ill and their families, and journalists, poets, novelists and artists. As they trace successive ways of explaining madness and treating those judged insane, Gamwell and Tomes vividly depict the political and cultural dimensions of American attitudes toward mental illness. Integrated into the narrative are evocative illustrations—many in color—including previously unpublished artworks and pictures of medical artifacts from archives, museums and private collections across the country.”

Publisher: Cornell University
Hardback: 192 pages
Illustrated

Magic Mushrooms Around the World: A Scientific Journey Across Cultures and Time

Jochen Gartz, Ph. D.

“Dr. Jochen Gartz is a chemist and mycologist at the University of Leipzig, where he founded the Department of Fungal Biotransformation in the area of biotechnology. In January 1994, he became the first mycologist to discover a psychoactive mushroom species native to South Africa, a species named Psilocybe natalensis, after Natal Province, where the mushrooms were found.
Introducing a rich variety of psychoactive mushrooms from around the globe—including some rare and little-known species—the author describes dozens of species and covers a broad range of mushroom-related topics, from distribution maps to comparisons of cultural attitudes to laboratory analyses of active ingredients… explores the psychoactive mycoflora on five continents and reconstructs a continuity of psychoactive mushroom use throughout history, from as early as 10,000 years ago to the present day.”

Publisher: Luna Info
Paperback: 130 pages
Illustrated

Making the Prozac Decision: A Guide to Antidepressants

Carol Turkington

What is depression? “'Before I took Prozac, every day was difficult,' says Joan. 'I didn't enjoy anything; everything was futile. There seemed to be no hope. After being on Prozac for about a month, I suddenly felt that half my life had already gone by. I'd better get in gear! I used to compare myself with everyone,' she continues. 'Now I don't care. I'm more confident with other people, and I don't freak out in groups. I wish,' she sighs, 'I had the past 20 years back.'” Covers other selective seratoninreuptake inhibitors (Paxil, Zoloft), cyclic antidepressants, MAO inhibitors, lithium and other modern additives used to alter the brain's chemical soup. GR

Publisher: Contemporary
Hardback: 224 pages

The Man With a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound

A.R. Luria

The Soviet neuropsychologist who was the inspiration to Oliver Sacks explores the implications of physical damage to the brain: “A soldier named Zasetsky, wounded in the head at the battle of Smolensk in 1943, suddenly found himself in a frightening world: he could recall his childhood but not his recent past; half his field of vision had been destroyed; he had great difficulty speaking, reading and writing.”

Publisher: Harvard University
Paperback: 168 pages

Manic Depressive Insanity and Paranoia

Emil Kraepelin

First published in 1921, early psychiatric text from the man who invented the diagnosis of schizophrenia or dementia praecox. Includes case studies, photos of patients and specimens of “manic scribbling.” Kraepelin frequently waxes poetic: “Everywhere danger threatens the patient. The girls read his letters; strange people are in the house; a suspicious motor-car drives past. People mock him, are going to thrash him, to chase him from his post in a shameful way, incarcerate him, bring him to justice, expose him publicly, deport him, take his orders from him, throw him into the fire, drown him. The people are already standing outside. The bill of indictment is already written; the scaffold is being put up; he must wander about naked and miserable, is quite forsaken, is shut out of human society, is lost body and soul.”

Publisher: Ayer
Hardback: 127 pages
Illustrated

Marijuana Botany: The Propagation and Breeding of Distinctive Cannabis

Robert Connell Clarke

An advanced study of the propagation and breeding of distinctive types of cannabis. The characteristics of several strains are discussed (indica-Kush, Mexican, Indian, African and Colombian to name a few). Accompanied by drawings of plants showing subtle differences of each strain. Includes the life cycle of cannabis from seed to flowering adult plant; propagation methods such as cloning and grafting and others, breeding and crossing one type of plant with another to get desired characteristics such as high resin content; maturation and harvesting; genetics; determining the sex of plant—everything anyone interested in marijuana botany must know! DW

Publisher: Ronin
Paperback: 198 pages
Illustrated