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Don Lattin

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Distilled Spirits: Getting High, Then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk Hardcover – October 18, 2012

by Don Lattin (Author)

4.4 95 ratings

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Distilled Spirits blends a religion reporter’s memoir with the compelling stories of three men―Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard, and Bill Wilson―who transformed the landscape of Western religion and spirituality in the twentieth century. Huxley, celebrated author of Brave New World, ignited a generation that chased utopian dreams and sought enlightenment through psychedelic drugs. Heard, an Anglo-Irish mystic, journeyed to California with Huxley in the 1930s to lay the foundations for the New Age and human potential movements. Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, joined forces with Huxley and Heard in the 1940s and 1950s, when Wilson began a series of little-known experiments to see if LSD could be used to help diehard drunks.

Their life stories are gracefully brought together by veteran journalist Don Lattin. Lattin recounts his own rocky personal journey from 1960s and 1970s counter-culture, through the fast-living, cocaine-fueled 1980s and 1990s, to his long struggle to get sober. By weaving an intimate account of his own recovery with the lives of the book’s three central characters, Lattin shows us the redemptive power of story telling, the strength of fellowship, and the power of living more compassionately, one day at a time.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of California Press
Publication date

October 18, 2012
Dimensions

6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0520272323
ISBN-13

978-0520272323
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A successful peek through many different lenses by a highly motivated truth seeker who is also a meticulous researcher and an excellent storyteller, able to bring to life not just the ideas of three remarkable individuals, but the individuals themselves.” -- Peter Magnani ― San Jose Mercury News Published On: 2012-10-18

“Vividly written, about an exceptionally interesting subject, and imbued with the kind of gravity and understanding only someone who’s been there and back can understand.” -- Ellen Cushing ― East Bay Express Published On: 2012-10-17

“The religion journalist weaves his own memoir into the stories of three key figures in Western religion: the author of Brave New World, an Anglo-Irish mystic, and the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.” -- Kristin Yinger ― Los Angeles Magazine Published On: 2012-10-01

“I congratulate Don for an honest exposure of his own remarkable story, wrapped in the amazing tale of these three great spirits from history.” -- Carl T. Hall ― Pacific Media Workers Guild Published On: 2012-10-10

“Lattin's intriguing assemblage of vignettes illustrates how much of the eruption of new spiritual ideas in 20th-century California can be traced to a surprisingly few key people and moments.” -- Cherie Ann Parker ― Shelf Awareness (2 Copies) Published On: 2012-10-30

“Right up until the end, this book felt like one of those fancy cocktails: different liquors occupying different layers, each with its own distinctive color. . . . The book is about wending one's way in and out of intoxicating substances in a noble but messy effort to discover some universal truth.” ― San Francisco Chronicle Published On: 2013-02-08

“The key figure in this ‘blend of memoir and biography’ is Lattin, whose narrative arc might be the strangest. He somehow balanced his religion reportage with a descent into cocaine addiction and alcoholism, and he sees this book as a crucial element in his ongoing sobriety. . . . ‘One of the things I learned from AA is that many of us drink in an effort to quench a religious thirst,’ he writes. ‘It’s how we get some temporary relief from the spiritual emptiness.’” ― Kirkus Reviews Published On: 2012-08-15

From the Inside Flap

It is difficult for me to hide my enthusiasm for this book. It is a fascinating biography/memoir with an abundance of heartcourageously honest, philosophically nuanced, and peppered with the most delightful sense of humor. Its easy to be romantic about drugs and mysticismtougher to be both morally rigorous AND honestly ecstatic about the real openings they offer. Im grateful that Lattin can hold this tension while also weaving a mesmerizing story.Jeffrey Kripal, author of Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion

This extraordinary book blends careful historical research with rich personal reflections. Lattin describes the intersecting lives and lasting influence of three men who helped transform American spirituality. Distilled Spirits offers readers a rare opportunity to gain both knowledge and wisdom.Marion S. Goldman, author of The American Soul Rush

This remarkable book deserves the widest readership it can get, for more clearly than any other book I know it shows the depth to which the human spirit can descend and still rebound. Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard were close friends and my most important mentors, and I spent one memorable afternoon with Bill Wilson. Don Lattin's astonishing book brings their life stories alive. It is carefully researched and disarmingly honest.Huston Smith, author of The Worlds Religions

"The painful journey from addiction, to relapse, to recovery has become the Pilgrim's Progress of our era. In this riveting fusion of memoir and tripartite biography, the noted religion reporter Don Lattin aligns his own pilgrimage to sobriety with the inspiration offered by three transformative twentieth-century figures who also found spiritual value as the basis for corrective action."Kevin Starr, University Professor, University of Southern California

An eye opening and mind expanding read. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is interested in consciousness, spiritual exploration, recovery and awakenings. Don is a masterful story teller and writer. He weaves together the lives of these men in way that is intriguing and wise. Read it, then start a revolution!Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx

"Don Lattin knows how to tell a ripping good story, and there are many in this book. The scene of Lattin interviewing the Pope as their plane lands in Miami is alone worth the price of admission. Add to that some fascinating stories about Aldous Huxley and Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and youve got yourself a great read. There is some irony in the fact that Don Lattin was doing drugs and drinking heavily while reporting on religion for the San Francisco Chronicle. But it all comes together in this book, which explores the connections between the spiritual search and the substances that produce altered states of consciousness. Its a trip, as they used to say, and a great read."Wes Scoop Nisker, Buddhist teacher, performer and author of Essential Crazy Wisdom

From the Back Cover

“It is difficult for me to hide my enthusiasm for this book. It is a fascinating biography/memoir with an abundance of heart―courageously honest, philosophically nuanced, and peppered with the most delightful sense of humor. It’s easy to be romantic about drugs and mysticism―tougher to be both morally rigorous AND honestly ecstatic about the real openings they offer. I’m grateful that Lattin can hold this tension while also weaving a mesmerizing story.”―Jeffrey Kripal, author of Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion

“This extraordinary book blends careful historical research with rich personal reflections. Lattin describes the intersecting lives and lasting influence of three men who helped transform American spirituality. Distilled Spirits offers readers a rare opportunity to gain both knowledge and wisdom.”―Marion S. Goldman, author of The American Soul Rush

“This remarkable book deserves the widest readership it can get, for more clearly than any other book I know it shows the depth to which the human spirit can descend and still rebound. Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard were close friends and my most important mentors, and I spent one memorable afternoon with Bill Wilson. Don Lattin's astonishing book brings their life stories alive. It is carefully researched and disarmingly honest.”―Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions

"The painful journey from addiction, to relapse, to recovery has become the Pilgrim's Progress of our era. In this riveting fusion of memoir and tripartite biography, the noted religion reporter Don Lattin aligns his own pilgrimage to sobriety with the inspiration offered by three transformative twentieth-century figures who also found spiritual value as the basis for corrective action."―Kevin Starr, University Professor, University of Southern California

“An eye opening and mind expanding read. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is interested in consciousness, spiritual exploration, recovery and awakenings. Don is a masterful story teller and writer. He weaves together the lives of these men in way that is intriguing and wise. Read it, then start a revolution!”―Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx

"Don Lattin knows how to tell a ripping good story, and there are many in this book. The scene of Lattin interviewing the Pope as their plane lands in Miami is alone worth the price of admission. Add to that some fascinating stories about Aldous Huxley and Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and you’ve got yourself a great read. There is some irony in the fact that Don Lattin was doing drugs and drinking heavily while reporting on religion for the San Francisco Chronicle. But it all comes together in this book, which explores the connections between the spiritual search and the substances that produce altered states of consciousness. It’s a trip, as they used to say, and a great read."―Wes ‘Scoop’ Nisker, Buddhist teacher, performer and author of Essential Crazy Wisdom

About the Author

Don Lattin is the author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America, Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge, Following Our Bliss: How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape our Lives Today and Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium. For more information, please visit www.donlattin.com.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition (October 18, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520272323
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520272323
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.26 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #633,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #869 in Comparative Religion (Books)
- #3,195 in Religious Leader Biographies
- #9,420 in U.S. State & Local History

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4.4 95 ratings

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Don Lattin

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DON LATTIN is an award-winning journalist and who covers alternative and mainstream spiritual and religious movements and figures in America. His work has appeared in dozens of U.S. magazines and newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, where Lattin covered the religion beat for nearly two decades.

Don is also the author of six books including "Changing Our Minds -- Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy" (2017), "Distilled Spirits -- Getting High, then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher and a Hopeless Drunk" (2012) and "The Harvard Psychedelic Club -- How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age in America" (2010).

To learn more, visit his website at www.donlattin.com .

His most recent work, CHANGING OUR MINDS, chronicles a quiet revolution underway in our understanding of how psychedelic drugs work and how they can be used to treat depression, addiction and other disease. The stories behind this cutting-edge medical research and religious exploration reveal the human side of a psychedelic renaissance.

"Changing Our Minds" is the latest installment in a trio of books about the recent history and future prospects for finding beneficial uses for drugs and plant medicines like LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and ayahuasca.

DISTILLED SPIRITS is a memoir/group biography that looks at how writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard, and Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, opened new doors in Western religious thought.

It is a prequel to THE HARVARD PSYCHEDELIC CLUB, a national bestseller that won the 2010 California Book Award, Silver Medal, for non-fiction.

Don Lattin's other books are "JESUS FREAKS - A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge" and "FOLLOWING OUR BLISS - How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape Our Lives Today." He is also the co-author of SHOPPING FOR FAITH – American Religion in the New Millennium."

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4.4 out of 5

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What!?

Thought provoking

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2023

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A great insight into the history of the spiritual growth of some famous and not so famous authors who had substantial influence on the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous in the three decades following the founding.

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John C. Kolojeski

Personal Redemption Under the Influence of Intellectual and Spiritual Heavyweights

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is an excellent write by an author using an unusual format. While actually featuring his own recovery from seemingly hopeless drug and alcohol abuse, he utilizes the actual lives and spiritual treks of the famous personages of Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard and the founder of AA Bill Wilson as personal influences. Heard and Huxley were long time friends who migrated together from England to the US as an adventure turned spiritual quest. There among others they ultimately encountered Bill Wilson, who was on a continuous search for spiritual satisfaction. In fact, Bill Wilson's "spiritual awakening" of the 1930's had long since waned, and he found himself receptive to the possibility that LSD might be able to help rekindle this long lost sensation. Together they used the drug under medical supervision at first, and later in small groups. I enjoyed the intellectual and spiritual journies of Huxley, Heard and Wilson that are well researched and described by the author. In the end, I fully appreciated the author's personal quest as well.

4 people found this helpful

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Cometkazie

A good read.

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2022

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This is a good read, particularly for those in recovery. Even tho he spelled Ebby Thacher's name wrong, he is on point about AA. I didn't learn anything new about Wilson's use of LSD, but I learned a lot about Huxley and Heard.

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Clark Beek

History and Philosophy that Reads like a Novel

Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2012

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Something amazing happened in the US in the last century, and Don Lattin seems to be the only author who has researched it and written about it well. These three characters laid the groundwork that Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey, the New Age movement, and the Summer of Love built upon, and Lattin tells us how. I think of it all happening in the sixties, but Lattin carries the movement back to my grandparent's generation. I liked Harvard Psychedelic Club, his prior book, too, but Distilled Spirits is more personal, and goes into Lattin's own experiences and problems with drugs and alcohol. His career at the SF Chronicle is a story in itself.

3 people found this helpful

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Robert M. Baird

Respectful but unvarnished view of AA founder Bill Wilson

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2013

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Don Latitin, a former religion columnist for the Sf Chron has done a joint biography of English seeker Gerald Heard, Aldous Huxley, and AA co-founder Bill Wilson. Latin discusses his own drug and alcohol abuse and recovery, so there is no attempt at the biographer's objectivity. Mr. Lattin has done considerable research and this is respectful but blunt in assessing the remarkable thinking and effort which produced a successful social movement. The three remarkable men experimented with LSD. Wilson believed it might be a form of treatment for alcoholism and alleviate depression. He was restless in his personal life and no saint. He died of COPD and puffed on cigarettes when not using an oxygen tank. Latin does a good job of capturing the spiritual developments of our recent history and provides some lucid summary. An interesting and important book

2 people found this helpful

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HC

So glad to have found this book

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2017

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Whenever I read something that helps explain previously unknown forces which have influenced my life, I am very grateful. By sharing so much on a personal level, Mr. Lattin makes these fascinating interwoven lives more easily accessible and personally relevant. It's a great approach, and brings to light common struggles and experiences in a way that is meaningful, supportive, and inspiring.

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chazdee2010

Disappointing in some aspects

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2013

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When I got this look I was very excited and told several people I knew that I had found something for which I had been searching a long time. What I was expecting was a lot more information on the LSD use of founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson. What I got was mostly a book about Gerald Heard which tries to show his role in the gradual change from Christian religious orthodoxy as the predominant religious orientation in America to a more eclectic, Eastern oriented, cafeteria style version of spirituality. The author tries to show the influence Gerald Heard had on both Aldus Huxley and Bill Wilson and then subsequently the effect that their contributions had on the general culture, especially starting in the 60s. This theory, I think, has a lot going for it and is probably true, but the main thing I was looking for in this book was more detailed information about Bill Wilson's experience with LSD. I didn't get much more information than I already have. I read Don Lattin's book, The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America and found out many details regarding the LSD "research" that was being done by the subjects. This did not happen with the current effort. It is hard for me to tell or know whether the lack of information in this book is due to some type of cover up (the author appears to be an excellent researcher but admits a loyalty to Alcoholics Anonymous) or failure to realize the importance of that particular information to many readers who will be interested in this book. Too bad.

15 people found this helpful

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Tommie T

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Excellent delivery protocols. Just starting reading it and gives a fascinating alternative view of some legendary figures.

Camila Tribess

auto conhecimento, história e literatura

Reviewed in Brazil on November 24, 2014

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Ótimo livro, que une biografias interessantes de pessoas distintas e que se encontram em momentos diversos da vida. Fala sobre viagens alucinógenas, luta contra o alcoolismo, religiosidade e ao mesmo tempo transita por diversas áreas da literatura. Recomendado.

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