Customer Reviews

Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant Of Ancient South America

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This is to date the most comprehensive piece of work in existence covering the Anadenanthera species of trees from the perspective of their huge influence on indigenous culture in South America. This covers the botany of Anadenanthera, archeological evidence for the past use of Anadenanthera preparations with many photos of artifacts found, current Anadenanthera usage and related rituals among many existing tribes; it also covers the many chemicals found in Anadenanthera, and finally the pharmacology of bufotenine (the main active constituent of Anadenanthera beans). There is a wealth of information gathered from many different sources.

This is purely a reference book. It is very precise and to the point. While this work is very comprehensive it does lack a few things. In chapter 5, "The Pharmacology of Bufotenine", it sites many animal and human studies, covering toxicity, effects on various neurotransmitter sites in the brain, as well as other detail, but offers little information to the reader concerning dosage, various routes of administration, and doesn't convey to the reader what a bufotenine experience is actual like first hand. These are perhaps the most important elements of the subject and they are lacking. Also, most of these studies are based on acidic salt forms of bufotenine that were never used by indigenous cultures. Different forms of bufotenine have very different effects on human beings. For example, bufotenine oxalate, bufotenine hydrochloride, etc., are acidic salts of bufotenine, and they produce stronger unpleasant side effects than free base bufotenine. Because of the addition of lime, most Anadenanthera bean preparations do not contain acidic salts of bufotenine.

The information from Jonathan Ott found in The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, September 2001, Pharmanopo-Psychonautics covering dosage and various routes of administration would help fill some of the knowledge gaps of this book.

Various different Anadenanthera bean preparations for making Yopo, Vilca, etc., are given from a cultural perspective and spread all over the book. It is difficult to find them without reading the entire book. Perhaps a small chapter on preparations alone would be warranted. It would be helpful to the reader if the steps used for these preparations were outlined and each step explained in detail. For example, the wide spread use of lime as an admixture to the bean preparations is mentioned, but no where is the scientific reason for it given. It's known, for example, that the addition of lime causes an important chemical reaction to take place, both reducing the side effects and making the bean preparations more psychoactive, but this is not mentioned in detail anywhere in the book.

First hand, detailed descriptions of the actual effects one experiences from Anadenanthera bean preparations such as Yopo and Vilca are completely absent. It is in fact the human experience of the effects of Anadenanthera bean preparations that have dramatically shaped many South American cultures. Because the reader is left with a void concerning the actual effects one experiences from Anadenanthera bean preparations, the reader cannot fully appreciate the impact Anadenanthera has had on these cultures. The reader is left with an outsider's point of view. For this book to be a 5 star book there must be an entire chapter solely devoted to the effects of Anadenanthera bean preparations on human consciousness. Because this is sorely lacking, and is in fact the heart of the history surrounding Anadenanthera, I have to give this book 4 stars instead of 5.

An Amazing book filled with both technical and cultural information. Written by the world's leading expert on Anadenanthera. No serious Psychedelic Library should be with out this volume.