Food of the Gods The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution

by MCKENNA, TERENCE

• ISBN13: 9780553371307
• ISBN10: 0553371304
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-01-01
• Publisher: Bantam

Summary

For the first time in trade paperback, the critically acclaimed counterculture manifesto by the wildly popular McKenna. "Deserves to be a modern classic on mind-altering drugs and hallucinogens".--The Washington Post. Photos and illustrations.

Author Biography

Terence McKenna, author and explorer, has traveled the world to work and live with shamans. He has added to their shared knowledge of rituals his own efforts to preserve the plants used in these ceremonies. Coauthor of The Invisible Landscape and Psilocybin: The Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide, Terence mesmerizes his many lecture audiences with tales of science and shamanism. He lives in Occidental, California, and is co-manager of a botanical garden in Hawaii for endangered tropical plants.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Manifesto For New Thought About Drugs	xiii
I. PARADISE	1	(94)
Shamanism: Setting the Stage	3	(11)
The Magic in Food	14	(17)
The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge	31	(12)
Plants and Primates: Postcards From the Stoned Age	43	(14)
Habit as Culture and Religion	57	(12)
The High Plains of Eden	69	(26)
II. PARADISE LOST	95	(72)
Searching for Soma: The Golden Vedic Enigma	97	(24)
Twilight in Eden: Minoan Crete and the Eleusinian Mystery	121	(17)
Alcohol and the Alchemy of Spirit	138	(12)
The Ballad of the Dreaming Weavers: Cannabis and Culture	150	(17)
III. HELL	167	(54)
Complacencies of the Peignoir: Sugar, Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate	169	(19)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Opium and Tobacco	188	(19)
Synthetics: Heroin, Cocaine, and Television	207	(14)
IV. PARADISE REGAINED?	221	(50)
A Brief History of Psychedelics	223	(23)
Anticipating the Archaic Paradise	246	(25)
Epilogue: Looking Outward and Inward to a Sea of Stars	271	(6)
Notes	277	(10)
Glossary	287	(6)
Bibliography	293	(8)
Index	301