Customer Reviews

The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens

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This book is a very extensive source of information about plant hallucinogens. It gives historical backgrounds on the plants used as hallucinogens. It also gives very extensive informaton about the molecules that are responsible for their hallucinogenic activity. It covers the molecular structures and their abundance in the plant sources. There is also information about how the plants are used as ethnobotanicals. I would suggest obtaining this book to anyone interested in ethnobotanicals.

Weighing in at just over 400 pages, this seminal work by Drs. Schultes and Hofmann is the definitive guide to hallucinogenic plant compounds. Detailed information is included about plant classification, chemical properties, and historical background concerning use. Although written in an academic tone, a book like this can't help but be interesting. Nevertheless, due to its overwhelming amount of information (and the expense and difficulty required to actually obtain a copy), it's probably best left to the most obsessed and/or diligent of psychonauts. For a less technical and more layman-friendly read, try Schultes/Hofmann's other book, Plants of the Gods.

This book is an excellent source of information on the chemistry behind ethnobotanicals. It covers a vast amount of material and the lenghty reference section is worth the trouble of locating this book.

This is a great book, a useful source to find the basics to get a broad idea about the field. This book was written by two scientists who were celebrities each in their own right, Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hoffman; which is an unusual thing to say about a scientist, but nevertheless true. My copy was printed in 1980. We could use an updated version of this book but so far as I know, that does not exist. Any way it goes, this book is a classic and it is extremely interesting.