True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradis (Paperback)

~ Terence Mckenna (Author) "For thousands of years the visions imparted by hallucinogenic mushrooms have been sought and revered as a true religious mystery..." (more)
Key Phrases: translinguistic matter, mushroom experience, knoll house, Amazon Basin, Puerto Leguizamo, The Invisible Landscape (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1971 ethnobotanist McKenna ( The Archaic Revival ), his brother Dennis and three friends boated to a town in Amazonian Colombia, seeking a hallucinogenic plant that enables the Witoto tribe to talk to elf-like "little men." In psychedelicized ravings interspersed with diary excerpts, McKenna records their experiences after ingesting mind-altering mushrooms and other psychoactive plants. A flying saucer slowly flew over McKenna's head; he calls it a "holographic mirage" of a future technology. Dennis had a revelation about a "psychofluid" that pervades the universe. McKenna flashes forward to Hawaii in 1975 where mantis-like creatures from hyperspace attack his lover, and flashes back to his tantric lovemaking in Tibet and to Indonesia where unrepentant Nazi scientists tried to recruit him in 1970. He posits the existence of a particle of time, the chronon , which conditions matter. A bizarre book.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Unlike McKenna's last book, the preposterous Food of the Gods ( LJ 2/15/92), this work is more an adventure story than an anthropological treatise. It is the chronicle of the author's 1971 trip to the Amazon jungle in search of secret tribal hallucinogens. While his band of hippie adventurers never do find the fabled hallucinogen "oo-koo-he," they do manage to ingest an incredible amount of native psilocybin mushrooms, which trigger mystical and psychic experiences. It is hard to accept McKenna's conclusion that something unexplainable really did happen in the Amazon. Instead, his book reads like an account of an especially chaotic drug experience. Pseudoscientific ramblings concerning the nature of time serve only to move this book farther out toward the fringes. McKenna's story will be of interest to certain subcultures, but the appeal will not extend to most general readers. An optional purchase for public libraries.
- Eric Hinsdale, Trinity Univ. Lib., San Antonio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 22, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062506528
• ISBN-13: 978-0062506528
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #97,532 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining, March 26, 2003

By	Ross James Browne (Atlanta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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 Terrance 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. It is also a cautionary tale detailing the dangers involved when somebody eats too many shrooms; the reader should take note that Dennis Mckenna, Terrance's brother, didn't quite come back from this trip!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest misterys come in stranges ways, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Funny and Provocative, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

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.