Product Description

A thoroughly revised edition of the much-sought-after early work by Terence and Dennis McKenna that looks at shamanism, altered states of consciousness, and the organic unity of the King Wen sequence of the I Ching.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26853 in Books
• Published on: 1994-04-22
• Released on: 1994-04-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Terrence McKenna has spent twenty-five years exploring "the ethnopharmacology of spiritual transformation" and is a specialist in the ethnomedicine of the Amazon basin. He is coauthor, with his brother Dennis, of The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching, and the author of Food of the Gods.

Customer Reviews

Thinking Critically on the Psychedelic Edge
I would like to first point out that i reviewed this book on the basis that i have read the rest of Mckenna's work, and this is by far the most technical. One reason for its technicality is the fact that this book introduced the brothers' Terence and Dennis Mckenna's life long work, especially Terence's. So this work could be considered the magnum opus of their entrepreneurial psychedelic style.

The book starts off with an examination of the Shamanic enterprise of spirituality. It hits the myths, the legends, and the reality, but is also brief and readable. Then veering off the path the book takes a turn in intellectual attire and the brothers elucidate on Whiteheads orginismal thought and holographic theory of mind. It takes some decent philosophical and scientific understanding to grasp the concepts they are telling us, and like some other reviewers, even I had to chomp through this one.

In chapter 5 they discuss in great depth the molecular effects of psychedelic compounds and how electron spin resonance effects neuronal DNA and RNA. It is cool because they show in a diagram how 5HT (Serotonin)is insanely close in structure to Psilocybin, DMT, and other tryptamine based entheogens. After that the brothers lecture on the scientific, psychological, and philosophical aspects of their retreat and shamanic journey with the Amazonian natives. (See "The Archaic Revival" for more on this)

And the book closes down with Terence's life work - the development of Timewave Zero. Timewave Zero is a computer program constructed off of the King Wen sequence within the I Ching. He decodes the hexagram pattern within the King Wen to come up with a novelty theory of time. The theory basically suggests that at certain epochs in time novelty ingresses spontaneously suggesting that time is working itself out through history. But Terence is adamant it is not a theory of time in its entirety, but a working model.

The book is almost overly zealous and is probably only readable for a minority of individuals. But the brothers are so impassioned by their findings that they literally loose control, which shows the true nature of the human imagination on the edge of its cosmic seat.

A must read for the psychedelic adventurer and psychonaut.

Fascinating, But Take Your Time
This book is a must read for anyone interested in the workings of the mind and also the effects of hallucinogens on the brain. It is definetely difficult to read in places, especially when discussing chemicals and their various effects on the brain.

Still despite the technical and scientific language, this book is still utterly mystifying and will fully entertain anyone interested in the subject matter.

Nice!
The beggining of this book is too technical and sometimes hard to understand for people who doesnt know much about neuroscience,etnobiology and chemistry.However,the rest of the book is very interesting,specially the part about the relation between the Tao The Ching and time.