Customer Reviews

Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This anthology of true life psychadelic experiences, from LSD and Ecstacy to peyote and ayahuasca, is an entertaining, enlightening trip into the world of mind altering drugs, which probably is too honest and unbiased for the liking of authorities who wish to erase drugs from society. Its candid and honest perspective is a refreshing change from the constant message that drugs are bad and must be obliterated. In Tripping, both euphoric and terrifying experiences are related, as well the use of entheogens, drugs used for spiritual purposes. Tripping neither encourages or discourages drug use, it simply lays the facts out straight. Although every trip differs, there are themes that turn up frequently, such as a higher understanding of self and life, of enlightenment, and sometimes of complete disorientation and panic. I'd highly reccomend Tripping to anyone interested in hallucinogenics and tripping.

The censors of consciousness are not going to like this book, which is reason enough to read it. For those who have taken a psychedelic journey or two it's a confirmation and vivid reminder of the experience. I was startled to see descriptions of unusual events and/or visions that I could have written myself, they were so similar to my own. For those who haven't ingested a psychedelic the book is must reading; it offers insights into the experience that are revealing, inspiring, and sometimes frightening. These drugs change lives, often for the better, especially if the set and setting are paid the proper attention. These stories testify to this fact. We would all be amazed and delighted if everyone who had ever benefited from psychedelics went public with it. Differing forms of these substances have been used for as long as there have been human beings, sometimes playing a vital role. One need only realize/recognize/remember that the religious systems of India and Greece, to name just two, were dependent on the use of psychedelic plants, to understand their potential value. Read this book: it will open your eyes. And to all users of psychedelics, past and present, I issue a challenge: Don't let others tell you what you can and can't do with your own mind and consciousness. Stand up for your rights, which are being whittled away daily by those running the Drug War--and make no mistake, it is a war. Half the prison population is comprised of drug POWs. Speak up. Defend yourself. Come out, come out, wherever--and whomever--you are.

This book contains an amazing interview with Terence McKenna, which took place toward the end of his life, that is worth the price of the book.

Tripping is the best story-telling approach to the psychedelic encounter that I have read or experienced. I have always felt that all story-telling festivals need a psychedelic tent, because these extreme experiences are some of the best stories human beings can tell. Through the psychedelic medium human beings still tell stories of meeting gods and demons, travelling to new fantastic worlds, and taking mythic and perilous journeys.

Even though these stories are about the experiences of a number of travellers, Hayes has expertly rewritten their accounts through a single narrative voice. This gives the book continuity it otherwise might have lacked.

Bruce Eisner's story about taking too much LSD at Burning Man is hilarious. Very well done.

"Tripping" by Charles Hayes is a unique collection of personal narratives about the LSD experience. A joy to read, it provides a much-needed corrective to the anti-drug hysteria which demonizes substances and their users. This work replaces psychedelic explorations where they belong, in the minds and hearts of normal human beings. The stories are as unique as each person is; a wide range of reactions is included, some funny, some sad, spiritual, frightening, and exciting. Besides being fascinating, this book is also useful to libraries as a reference source, since the stories are accompanied by well-researched scholarly material. I loved this book!

Whether you have tripped or not, this is a must read. For those who have, it will make you almost nostalgic, and almost incredulous that you ever altered your conciousness to this extent. For those who never ingested hallucinogenics, this is a window into the extraordinary world tripping can offer, under the right circumstances. The narratives are sometimes funny, sometimes scary, and sometimes really sad. The excellent research into the pharmacology, and the cultural, and historical roles hallucinogenics have played throughout civilisation, make this book more than just a trip down memory lane for the average acid head. It is surprising that more authors have not tackled this fascinating topic.

This is an important book. For too many years rational discussion of hallucinogens has been driven underground by uncritical anti-drug hysteria. Hayes provides a collection of primary documents, reports from the field so to speak, that convey the experience of tripping in all its guises--good, bad, ugly, horrible, transformative, hilarious, ineffable. The individuality of the experiences is, in fact, one of the more revealing aspects of this collection. It belies the monolithic, inevitably terrible experience one would expect from main stream "reporting." This book is an important resource for anyone wishing to initiate intelligent discussion about hallucinogens and their place in our society and culture.

Excellent source of information! Anyone who is considering exploring the depths of the mind will benefit from these trip reports and well written material. Begins with an informative history of tripping and describes the basic features of what one might expect in a trip. This is done in an easy to understand style for people of all walks of life, very much like the trip reporters themselves. These extraordinary reports are a thorough and complete recollection of events that took place before, during and after the trips, giving the reader a good idea for the set and setting of each situation. This helps people to learn more about how and why we respond in different ways and with this knowledge we can possibly prevent disasters from taking place through responsible use. Being that the reports came from the actual people and not a clinic, it gives us the chance to look at them through the eyes of the experiencers and not just observers. The interview with Terence Mckenna is enlightening and insightful. Also some really cool psychedelic art in various locations in the book to enjoy between reports.

Tripping, the book, is a collection of brief but compact, and often intense explorations of the meaning of Being. Here is the classic mid-journey text that has outgrown the initial amazement of psychedelic enlargement but still retains the open endedness that much remains to be learned. Tripping, the experience, is presented without gloss as the unpredictable state of consciousness that may be kissed by the angels, interrogated by the demons, or simply incredibly weird. Some experimenters record life changing moments of psychic integration and movement to a higher plane, as a lifelong clarification, others describe the possibility of sinking into the *schlomuss*, or state of spiritual desperation. A worthy and honest book such as this one should make us concerned to know which circumstances are most likely to promote change of great value, and which may lead in another direction. The author himself, to his great credit, begins the narrratives with a questioning note much like this. As Tripping will be a heavily referred to text in the upcoming Mind States II conference, readers should also consider The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq , a moderately difficult but highly important work that might have been titled UnTripping. I read Hayes and Houellebecq side by side, a couple of narratives from Tripping, then a chapter of Elementary Particles. The combined experience is not easy to absorb intellectually, but once all has settled, the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. If I had to make one recommendation , it would be to read these books together and treat them as a single masterpiece that no sigle mind could have imagined.

All I can say is WOW...... I've been waiting for a book this chock-full-o-psychedelia for a VERY long time. Kudos to Charles Hayes for putting together this volume of stories written by people of all ages, all over the world.

While reading the wide range of pieces in this anthology--skimming through some, lingering with others--I was most struck by the wide range of differences between contributors; where and when they were from, and what they were into. Sitting here in my house in Woodstock (the actual town, not the icon), I felt less isolated than usual while reading, contemplating what seemed a parallel world occupying the same time and space, but another dimension.

For some, the psychedelic experience was hallucinogenic (for me, like "Jack", I "never had the ultimate experience of seeing things that weren't there and not knowing the difference"--though I did once hear ghostly voices talking to me through walls). And/or it was mythic, with ancient gods and goddesses; spiritual, religious; creative. And/or eye-opening, with what had formerly been abstract now so REAL, in the moment: an existential awakening. And then there were those in this collection who focused on LSD, and psychedelics, as a catalyst that in retrospect changed their lives.

Having been through my own psychedelic era (as a bandanna-wearing hippie), I suspect that many of the contributors, rewriting these pieces, might have a more nuanced reaction now; or years from now. One more grounded, if admittedly more prosaic. (I admit, however, that my absorption in the subject, which led to my own book, affected my critique of this one.) But four stars is still pretty good, if we have to measure things, and more to the point: I'm glad this book was published, because it's good to know there are so many who sought and seek (or reside within) what I think of as spiritual reality, even as I spend my post-psychedelic life defining and redefining what that means.
I Think, Therefore Who Am I?