Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story [Paperback]

Alexander Shulgin (Author), Ann Shulgin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1991

, xxviii, 978 pages, xxviii, 804 pages, other ISBN: 0963009699

Product Details

• Paperback: 978 pages
• Publisher: Transform Pr; Reprint, & first edition edition (September 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963009605
• ISBN-13: 978-0963009609
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists
  • #60 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Chemistry > General & Reference
  • #67 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Pop Culture

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pihkal: It will change you., February 5, 2001

By 

"dregaron" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story (Paperback)

This book is divided into two halves. The first half is the story of Shulgin's life, from childhood to modern times. It is a moving and beautiful tale of one man's attempt to make sense of the world and his place in it. Intertwined in this personal experience is a budding love affair with a woman who could only be rated as amazing.

The second half consists of Shulgin's recipes and notes on the synthesis of every compound in the Phenethylamine category that he has ever made.

Overall, this book will change the way you feel about psychedelics, and the reasons that people use them. The story is at times inspiring, at times heartbreaking, and always genuine. Highly recommended as an introduction to the spirituality behind psychedelics and some of the issues involved with them.

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. A prerequisite to the world of psychedelic drugs, March 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story (Paperback)

This book is fascinating. It is not an "I like trippin' and listenin' to the Dead" book. It is a very thorough, interesting account of the work of two very intelligent and thoughtful people in the area of psychedelic drugs and their influence on/application to human life. Here's a quote that gives some idea of the orientation of the book: of marijuana (not a phenethylamine, and thus, not really addressed fully in the book), Shulgin writes, "I have chosen not to use marijuana, as I feel the light-headed intoxication and benign alteration of consciousness does not adequately compensate for an uncomfortable feeling that I am wasting time." Of psychedelics, he writes, "the potential of the psychedelic drugs to provide access to the interior universe, is, I believe, their most valuable property." This isn't a book about seeing jerry-bears and setting up clandestine labs. It's an introduction to a new way of exploring one's relationship to the rest of the universe. It is wonderful and an invaluable resource to all who are willing to try to deal with this piece of the puzzle.

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly analytical, relevant and a record of reality......, September 29, 2005

By 

Sy (On the Beach, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story (Paperback)

I purchased PIHKAL from Amazon and read it in it's entirety.

The most poignant aspect of this book reveals that as we are organic machines, our consciousness is just another chemically induced perception and therefore only one valid reality predisposed by evolution for survival.

Shulgin's Genius is honed with such objectivity, innocence, dedication and clarity that he is able to both successfuly and interestingly document the human-mind altering effects produced by the synthesised compounds entirely dedicated to the second-half of this book.

Furthermore, I have read all of the Amazon reviews regarding PIHKAL and feel that some just do not get the extreme depth of this work. Reading this incredibly open account of Human reality means that there will always be dull bits and parts that make one cringe because that's how real life is for one and all.

The potential reader needs to approach this work with an open mindset and absorb the content without pretence, preconception or professional envy affecting clarity because this book is about the other side of the coin.

Finally, to dedicate ones life to recording Human perception so openly in hardcopy is a tremendous quantum leap ahead of the absurd revisionist realities that people in our "Soap World" prefer to pretend that they live via TV and use to deal with personal issues through the application of anger, violence and greed which are wrongly accepted as legitimate relief mechanisms.

In summary, PIHKAL is an extremely important piece in the Jigsaw of the "age of reason" and awareness. Don't be threatened, it definitely deserves at least "5 Stars". Read it, do it and get to the next level...... the evolution of mind.