Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader (Twentieth Century Classics) [Paperback]

Various (Editor), Mike Jay (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2000 | Series: Twentieth Century Classics

Revealing the diverse roles mind-altering drugs have played throughout history, this collection brings together a multiplicity of voices which explore the presence of drugs in science and religion, pleasure and madness, individualism and social control.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Times change--who would have thought that we'd ever see a nonjudgmental mainstream anthology of writings about mind-altering drugs? Editor Mike Jay delivers scores of well-selected hits of wild wisdom from Homer and his cronies to William Burroughs in Artificial Paradises. His mild-mannered but insightful introductions and links between pieces prime the reader for a series of expansive trips through other people's minds as they grapple with medical, moral, artistic, and spiritual puzzlers posed by drugs. Hopped-up coke fiend Sigmund Freud rants about his favorite little helper, while painter Henri Michaux complains that mescaline is a poor muse. The pieces are usually amusing and sometimes penetrating. Jay wisely avoids most of the propaganda we've already been oversubjected to in recent decades, instead focusing on the experience and assessment of drugs and their cultural value. Sections include Researches Chemical and Philosophical: Drugs and Science and The Algebra of Need: Drugs and Addiction, with selections from such disparate writers as Jean Cocteau and Thomas Szasz. Most of the pieces are very short--one or two pages--but highly concentrated, giving an immediate sense of the author's intent and attitudes, often inspiring a trip to the library for another dose. When it's time to turn on, tune in, and drop out, prepare yourself with the guidance of Artificial Paradises. --Rob Lightner

About the Author

Mike Jay authored Blue Tide: The Search for Soma and, with Michael Neve, edited 1900: A Fin-de-Sie`cle Reader.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); First Edition edition (June 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014118115X
• ISBN-13: 978-0141181158
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,207,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dazzling survey of drug history, science, art and culture, June 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader (Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)

I expected a handy reference tome and found something else - a breathtaking and compelling end-to-end read. Excerpts are short and threaded together in sections which raise the central questions about the relation of drugs to art, religion, science and society while illustrating them with an incredible range of perspectives from history and different cultures. I find most 'drug literature' rather boring but this anthology opens the subject out into new dimensions.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars encyclopedic entheogenic, December 2, 2003

By 

Author Brian Wallace (Mind Transmission, Inc.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader (Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)

Penguin is so adept at publishing comprehensive, but manageable, collections in forms that are portable, highly readable and easy to reference.

This collection is diverse and delves into the scientific, poetic and recreational components with elegance and authority.

A completely worthwhile work.