The Natural Mind: An Investigation of Drugs and the Higher Consciousness (Paperback)

~ Andrew T. Weil M.D. (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an incredibly sane approach to the 'drug problem.' Somehow [Weil's] deep understanding of the dynamics and principles of consciousness [gives him] a very new and refreshing point of view." -- Alan Watts

Product Description

Weil's first bestseller, the classic work on the principles of consciousness, offers a new model for solving the drug problem by acknowledging our intimate yearnings and offering an alternative.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Rev edition (July 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395911567
• ISBN-13: 978-0395911563
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #503,631 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Revised "The Natural Mind" Is An Unexpected Pleasure, January 23, 1999

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It is one of life's unexpected pleasures to discover Doctor Weil's original trail-blazing book on consciousness now revised and re-released. This book is a genuine countercultural classic. Along with millions of others, I have watched with interest as Doctor Weil's writing career has progressed from his concern with drug use and consciousness into his current writings educating the American public as to the values of wholistic alternative medical practices. Yet, most of his new fans are unfamiliar with this earlier work. Remedy that one fast, friend! With the publication of this book in the 1970s Weil established himself as a singular and original thinker not bound by the traditional and nearly exclusively rational allopathic medical viewpoints promulgated in western medical education. In spite of his eminent credentials as a Harvard-educated physician, Weil debunks conventional wisdom as to drug use and the so-called drug problem. As Weil states in the book, contemporary society doesn't have a drug problem so much as it has a consciousness problem, one exacerbated by the increasing use of rational thought as the exclusively legitimate path to knowing and understanding ourselves as well as the world around us. Instead, Weil counsels the reader as to how the act of recognizing the role of one's attitude and personal intellectual/ mental approach to experience can positively or negatively affect the nature of one's perceptions, experiences, and consciousness. His viewpoints and insights regarding the relative properties and values of inductive versus deductive reasoning is worth the price of the book alone. Wow! I haven't had this much fun anticipating anything since my lady friend came back from her sabbatical in London. Now we won't have to haunt the old used books stores in search of old copies of Doctor Weil's work. Enjoy!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind expanding, October 7, 1999

By A Customer

An excellent book about the inner workings of the mind.This book is a must read for those who have read Dr. Weil'srecent books about health and self care.The natural mind lays the ground work for these latter books, and is as relevant now as when it was first written in the early seventies.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful--lucidly analyzes reason and consciousness, November 12, 1998

By A Customer

This work explores the nature of consciousness. It isn't a book about "the drug problem" but a book about how to understand our minds and the innate drive to alter consciousness that motivates many to use psychoactive substances.

The most impressive quality about Dr. Weil's writing is his objectivity--he takes apart the notion of bias and shows the reader how to look at the world with new eyes. One of best books I have ever read.