Books shown in my video:
Breaking Open the Head
by Daniel Pinchbeck
The author is a journalist and also a seeker of truth, revealing a deep, personal, spiritual journey in this excellently written book about psychedelics, shamanism, and consciousness in general; it's an account of exciting, first-hand experience and when you're reading it you'll be along for the ride.
Science and the Near-Death Experience
by Chris Carter
I had mentioned in a previous blog how I was already very disappointed by the silly "universal love" bullshit in the foreword, but fortunately it proved limited to the foreword only (which was written by a different author). All the rest of this book is very factual and insightful, even if less entertaining due to its factual nature. It's a collection of data plus conclusions drawn by the author, rather than a personal journey. If you're looking for entertainment this one is not for you, better try the one mentioned above then.
The Doors of Perception / Heaven and Hell
by Aldous Huxley
This one is a very famous classic dating from the 1950's, and even though old it's a classic for a reason, highly recommended for anyone with an interest in consciousness, spirituality, or psychedelics, and since it's less than 100 pages it's not exactly a demanding chore to read. I found it really fascinating; the only aspect I felt a bit alienated by is how Huxley talks lengthily about certain classic artworks without introducing them, as if assuming the reader must certainly be intimately familiar with them too - which I am definitely not; I had only vaguely heard of some, of others not at all, and I'm not sure if this is because of the distance in time (Were all people in the 50's acquainted with those works?) or because I don't have any formal education, but I'd guess the latter is not the reason. It's more likely because nowadays we have so much more choice in the forms of art we enjoy, and all the ones I enjoy have always been far outside the mainstream...
True Hallucinations
by Terence McKenna
...that's the one I'm going to read next.
