Customer Reviews

Flashbacks

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This work is my favorite autobiography. Leary really starts at the very beginning (exceptionally humorously) with his conception in his mother's womb and takes you through his early years as a student, his time at Harvard as an esteemed academic and then up through his "retirement" years as a stand up comedian/raconteur and lecturer.

Each chapter is nicely designed with a mini bio of someone who had impressed Leary and then continues with Leary's take on the various events in his life. There is much self-disclosure here in the form of admitting mistakes, something you certainly do not find a lot of in many autobiographies of conservatives!

Leary's writing is lively, intelligent and hopeful - a friendly warning to all drug warriors that it is possible to live a productive, intellectually fruitful life while participating in moderate psychedelic "research" and consumption.

The thing I like best about this work is that it is a hallmark of the true libertarian spirit. Leary smiled quite often during his life despite the fact that the power and control freaks tried to keep him down every day. Leary was a proud humanist and his spirit shall live on in many of us.

This book is great fun so i gave it five stars,however, it seems to take liberties with the truth somewhat.he attempts to paint himself as a mad, self-less saint out to save mankind single handedly but occasionaly the true, self serving clours of Leary shine through faintly and it seems to me the C.I.A had more than a little to do with his 'success'. When alls said and done (we all have an opinion on Leary +or-) this was an amazing man with a basically positive,healthy philosophy and the world is a more colourful,exciting place because of him. An exciting read whatever the truth!!! In this case the motto becomes Question Leary and Think For Yourself!!!

From the man whom Richard Nixon labeled "the most dangerous man in America" comes his autobiography, summarizing his extensive life experiences. He talks about his LSD experiments at Harvard, his imprisonment and subsequent escape, and many other suprising events. He met and "turned on" people from Marilyn Monroe to Alan Ginsberg, and while his name dropping can get irritating at times, it nevertheless brings you in and makes you realize that some degree of admiration is warranted. A definate must for free thinkers, this book will warp your mind in all the best ways.

... or anyone who wants to revisit the good ole daze...

I met Tim quite a bit later in life, when he was in his 60's, and man was he a bright, charismatic guy! You could just tell from watching him and listening to him that he was on a whole other level.

He was a veritable smorgasbord of wisdom, experience, humanity, love, insight, wonder, beauty, light, fun, excitement, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum...

He was very sharp into his transitional years (transitioning from old age to what we call death, what Tim would call a new beginning), way sharper than most younger people ever will be... The guy was a genius, highly intelligent, brilliant, an Einstein of consciousness.

He'd seen things; no, not hallucinations, but deep reality, deep consciousness, high consciousness, the way things work on an atomic level, the way things work on a macrocosmic level...

And he could tell you things... As he said one time "I'm a cheerleader for consciousness!" And he was. He taught a lot of people about freedom, about questioning reality, questioning authority, questioning your illusions, questioning everything.

Meanwhile, he lived quite a life. And this book is about that life, in his own words.

I found the book to be an absolute page-turner, fun, funny, interesting, amazing...

If you are looking for a really well-written and interesting autobiography, about one of the sixties' greatest men, I highly recommend you read this book. If you do, you'll see that Tim was about a lot more than just "turn on, tune in, drop out".

Timothy Leary's name gets dropped with more frequency than the LSD he seems to be inextricably associated with. Ignore such name-dropping. Go to the source. Read what the man was trying to accomplish, in his own words.

Drug War proponents who saw Leary as an anti-Christ of sorts, and stoners who invoke his name and the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out" as reason to do nothing with their lives but drugs, BOTH missed the point. Go to the source. Get the facts. And have fun doing it -- Leary's an enjoyable storyteller.

A really good book, lot's of funny stories about Leary and Liddy squaring off, a very intelligent man, comparable to John C. Lilly's Center of the Cyclone. Many Beatles references and 60's chantra's-Turn on tune in, drop out! The one where he escapes from CMC is funny, what an acrobat. The book is better than the audio cassettes. Book has his baby-boomer/whiz kids chart. Supposedly, any kid born after 1965, is a computer nut in the future, could be, but more like internet kids. Tells about his experiences at Harvard, and how stuffy they were in the early 60's. Tells about his [drug] experience with Marilyn Monroe, and he says"If I knew how sick she was then, my God I would of never given her the [stuff]." She in turn gave him some Randy/Mandy's, some Barb that gives feeling of Euphoria when mixed with booze. She was more wacked out than him. He talks about how happy he is, and how happy the world was in the 60's. Good book and I'm going to read it again, when I can afford it!-A good buy, for a book!-Love Marilyn(Garry)

This book is a fascinating read of 60/70's psychedelic drug culture. This book ment a lot to me, because i experimented with LSD 1989->1995, and i can relate to exactly the vision of what Tim was striving to achieve. Even if you have never experienced drugs, don't worry, just read this book and use your imagination. BR.

This book reveals the truth about the "War on Drugs" while also telling the unbelievable story of a consciousness crusader.

Leary wants to be remembered as a brilliant psychologist, philosopher, and agent of social change, not just as the "High Priest of LSD" who urged everyone to "Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out". He wants to be remembered for his contributions to and theories of human evolution, altered states of consciousness, and what he calls "re-imprinting" (which *might* be interpreted as a less-harsh way of saying 'positive psychedelic brainwashing'). In any case, Leary gives convincing justification for why he should be remembered as more than just a pop culture icon (and, he's not dead yet! ) But, I found it interesting to read "Acid Dreams" by Lee & Shlain because it provided another side of the Leary story. For example, Acid Dreams paints a very different picture of the encounter between Leary and the Black Panthers in Algiers than Leary's book does (Leary's side of the story is that his escape from the Panthers "demonstrated how to escape slavery in less than 300 years", which I thought was a gross comparison). In addition, Leary's book tends to omitt details like how Richard Alpert jumped out of the second story window of the Millbrook Estate because he was convinced he could fly while stoned on acid. But even so Leary's book is fascinating and revealing and I would certainly recommend it.

Highly recommended as a document of the times and the story of a remarkable life. Truly inspiring.