Customer Reviews

True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is an adventurer's tale; a gripping account of the harrowing experiences of a group of hippie thrill-seekers. This book is a real page-turner. It reads like a good novel, and there is never a dull moment. It is simply a blow-by-blow account of the author's drug-induced experiences in the Amazon jungle, a cross between an episode of National Geographic Explorer and an article out of High Times. Some Terence Mckenna enthusiasts might be somewhat dissapointed, however, because _True Hallucinations_ is not a potent philosophical work like his other books. It is not an attempt to root out the meaning of existence or discover the origins of the universe, but is instead just an entertaining romp through the jungle. Also an update: Dennis McKenna is alive and well and has been actively researching ethnopharmacology for 40 years. His writings have been published in scientific journals and his latest ideas are available on youtube and other internet sites and blogs. This is to correct and retract my earlier assertion that he somehow experienced bad side effects as a result of his research.

This book was a spiritual eye-opener. I now look at society, mushrooms, and the world from a completely different perspective. I read the book aloud to my wife, and Terence McKenna's prose filled the room with as much weight as the little voices in your head. A remarkable read from a remarkable man. We actually passed this book on to a friend who was interested, and are moving on to another of McKenna's books as well as a spoken-word/music CD. Highly recommended to anyone with an open mind and the ability to question ones own reality (just remember that you create your own reality).

Even if Mckenna didn't have the remarkable theories (whether you believe them or not) to go along with his adventures, this would remain a great read. Mckenna has an exemplary control of the language and his wit is untouchable. Of the three books by him I have read, this remains my favorite, and I think it is the one most suited for the non-specialist. One of my favorite books.

I have experienced similar things like McKenna, but i am just in the begining of my personal experience. Read this book is like wake and understand that the experience whit the mushroom is deeper than any religion because it explores your own subconscience and your own spirit. McKenna is being the voice to the people who don't fall in the material hoax that this century have. Is good to see a book that can involve you in a new world full whit lots of posibilities, and is good to see a man who can dig without fear.

Hands down--Terence McKenna is the best storyteller that I've ever encountered, and True Hallucinations is one of my very favorite books of all-time. Terence's masterfully-crafted language simply holds me spellbound. A lot of people aren't aware that the book True Hallucinations is actually based upon a nine CD audio set of Terence telling the tale of his extraordinary adventures in the Amazon. As incredible as this book is, it simply pales by comparison next to the original "talking book." Terence was a master of language, and hearing him tell this story in his own voice is an incomparable experience. The True Hallucinations Talking Book was published by Sound Photosynthesis in Mill Valley, California.

I found this book very interesting as I myself have been known to explore and can relate to the author's feelings and emotions. The book is easy to read as the author's story is very intriguing. The only problem is that some of his theories are WAY out there. Under the same influences I've had people express similar "out there" theories and all you can say is "what! ". Otherwise a book worth owning. Perhaps the most interesting conclusion is when he pieces together coincidences that point to a specific day of the end of time....he tells it much better than I could

This is another great book from the McKenna's. I wouldn't listen to the people giving this book bad reviews based on things like McKenna's death from brain cancer. Brain cancer is more likely to be caused by food additives like aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, and MSG. The U.S.'s oppressive government has been trying a long time to find legitimate reason to say psychedelics are bad for and the best things that they can come up with are rumors they start that LSD makes your brain bleed on your spine and if you do it seven times your legally insane. Both are completely ridiculous.

They also make the argument that you can go to a Dead show and see all the burnouts and that's all caused by psychedelics. At dead shows however they are burnouts they are not taking mushrooms and ayhuasca in religious shamanic ways. They spending days at a time strung out on psychedelics, uppers, downers, screamers, and laughers. More like Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing. Not nearly the type of use McKenna tries to promote.

As for the book, I'd say read it. It will help you understand why running around with a swollen ego and worried about your material possessions is not a good way to live your life.

This book about the experiences that inspired the book "The Invisible Landscape" is funny as hell and very well written. I'd recomend it to anyone who has read any other books by the author or is planning to.

Truth is stranger than fiction in Mr. Mckenna's personalaccount of a quest for knowledge deep in the heart of thePeruvian rainforest. Encountering such strangness as indigenous shamens to hyperdimensional beings, this book may very well cause you to ponder investigating "Just what is reality, anyway?" In the annals of psychedelic liturature, this book is a classic.

Terrence Mckenna's book immerses the reader completely in a strange and weird psychedelic journey. The strange mix of scientific logical empiricism and neo-pagan romanticism in Mckenna's prose is hypnotic, a strange mix of Lovecraft and Castanheda, without the cosmic horror or the anthropology of ancient magical wisdom. It is an inspiring text, some parts turning into some kind of joycean poetic stream of consciousness, and in other parts describing strange scientific (or psychedelic-scientific) procedures. The book reports the psychedelic explorations of Mackenna, his trips to the Colombian forest in search of sacred mushrooms and the development of some core ideas of his theories (such as the Time Wave Zero, Omega Point, etc). True or not, this book is packed with inspiring ideas and I highly recommend to approach it from a literary point of view. There is a radio audio-book of True Hallucinations recorded by Mackenna himself, enhanced with sound effects and soundtracks, try to get it if you can, is really a trip!