Tripping: A Memoir of Timothy Leary & Co. [Paperback]

B.H. Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2006

Cultural Writing. Memoir. In the retrospective memoir TRIPPING B.H. Friedman, author of numerous novels, stories, plays and monographs, takes us behind the scenes for an intimate look at Timothy Leary's inner circle, a group of teachers, students and artists who participated in drug research and experimentation throughout much of the sixties. Based on his detailed journals as well as correspondence with Leary and others, the author paints a fascinating candid portrait of the firsthand effects of "tripping," and the ultimate price that some paid when dreams of innocence and liberation turned into nightmares. A true flashback to a turbulent time of excess and exhilaration, TRIPPING is the dramatic account of one man's journey through personal and professional upheaval and toward enlightenment. TRIPPING "extends beyond its frame into a study of the relationship between biography and fiction, subject and object, hero and anti-hero...A serious and subtle achievement"--Stanley Kunitz.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Since the fifties, B. H. Friedman has spent almost equal time in New York, Provincetown, and East Hampton. During this half-century he has published six novels, three volumes of stories, the first biographies of Jackson Pollock and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, as well as numberous art monographs. He has also written seven plays, all but two presented off-Broadway or in the Hamptons. His novel "Whispers" was recommended by William Gass for a National Book Award. Another, "The Polygamist," was a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year." His stories received the Nelson Algren Award and one from the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines. "Tripping" is as tightly constructed, carefully layered, and narratively compelling as Friedman's highly regarded fiction.

Product Details

• Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Provincetown Arts Press (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0944854486
• ISBN-13: 978-0944854488
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,157,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkably account of the life and times of Dr. Timothy Leary, June 11, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tripping: A Memoir of Timothy Leary & Co. (Paperback)

Tripping: A Memoir by B. H. Friedman is a remarkably account of the life and times of Dr. Timothy Leary, including his accomplishments and influence with an active coterie of students, teachers, and artists during the freewheeling decade of the 1960's. Vividly offering an exclusive perspective of the world in sixties, Tripping details Leary's progressive discoveries and passion for LSD, cannabis, mushrooms, and other psychologically altering substances as part of his controversial views with respect to the liberation of life, love, beauty, society, and the "journey of peace". A "must read" for anyone with an interest in Timothy Leary's life and thought, Tripping is very strongly recommended as a one-of-a-kind memoir which documents of his life story.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tripping to Success, July 3, 2006

By 

Robert Forte "Let's Save Democracy" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tripping: A Memoir of Timothy Leary & Co. (Paperback)

B.H. Friedman applies a master's literary touch to the multifaceted mystery of personal and social transformation aided by the psychedelic mushroom, showing yet again, it is the artists who lead the way. Here is an honest and intimate memoir of a fateful meeting between that irascible and unrepentant, brilliant and erratic, patriotic revolutionary trickster, Timothy Leary, with a cross section of the New York "high" society. Take that any way you like. Friedman, through Leary's provocation, turned on, tuned into his true self, dropped out of the booming New York real estate market, and became a full time writer, a decision that cost him an estimated 10-20 million dollars, give or take a few--and he is ever grateful. Leary comes across as Leary was: a paradox, mercurial, manipulative, ego centric, inconsistent, sane and insane, a mass of contradictions, like life itself. Friedman's thoughtful, experienced, and rich, textured prose is just right for the difficult task of portraying Leary and the (r)evolution he was an advocate for, without stifling it because of a few blunders. This is a wonderful and soulful memoir that I hope inspires more.