Recommended Ethno Reads

[Ace]

High guys and gals,

Just thought I might start a thread about good ethno books that people may want to look further into and to discuss peoples home libraries. If you'd like to add your list, please rate it with a 5 star rating as below. In my current collection I have:

• Psilocybe Mushrooms of the World - Paul Stamets *****
  
• Kaktusy Lophophora edition - cant quite remember **
  
• Peyote: the Divine Cactus - Edward F. Anderson ****
  
• Cannabis cultivation: A Complete Growers Guide - Mel Thomas *****
  
• The Cannabis Cookbook - S. T. Oner **
  
• The Big Book of Buds - Ed Rosenthal ****
  

I think I'll just make an easy scoring chart too :

* - Completely shite - not recommended

** - Not too bad but not worth bragging about

*** - Pretty good, but not fantastic

**** - Very in depth - exactly as you'd have expected it to be

***** - Above and beyond what you had expected - highly recommended

EDIT: Thought I might just re-do this first lot after a bit of further reading (above ratings are now out of date, but kept for reference):

Psilocybe Mushrooms of the World - Paul Stamets *****

Easily the best book I've seen on the subject. If you dont have it, get it.

Kaktusy Lophophora edition - cant quite remember ****

Quite good, but not for the ameteur cactiholic. Was a little advanced when I was new to the genus, but now is quite valuable and I would recommend it to others interested in Lophies.

Peyote: the Divine Cactus - Edward F. Anderson ****

Not bad, but it had an 'out of date' feeling throughout. Plenty of good info nonetheless, but would be good to see it all thoroughly updated.

Cannabis cultivation: A Complete Growers Guide - Mel Thomas *****

Easily the best read I've come across for these things. Everything covered in a very easy to read way, plenty of info that sticks to the walls of your memory with ease.

The Cannabis Cookbook - S. T. Oner **

Not overly exciting - you could just add a gram or two to any recipe found in a standard cookbook... Recipes sound tasty, but all in imperial measurements (not great for us metric folk).

The Big Book of Buds - Ed Rosenthal ****

Fantastic read, really quite pornographic with the pics (all plant speaking of course) and is just drool worthy as you sit there wishing these things were legal... Hoping to add the other two volumes to my collection some day in the future. Good read, if only for a tease.

Edited September 7, 2007 by Ace

[gerbil]

This is just my opinion, and relates to my fascinations, other people might find them vastly different.

Medicinal Plants of the World - Ben-Erik van Wyk & Michael Wink **** (Reference of Plant Medicines)

Mycelium Running - Paul Stamets ***** (Mycology, ecology, growing)

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms - Paul Stamets ***** (Mycology, Ecology, Growing)

Mushrooms Demystified - David Arora **** (Fungi Reference/information, very large)

Wizard of the Upper Amazon - F. Bruce Lamb **** (Plant Medicine/Shamanism/Indians)

Rio Tigre and Beyond - F. Bruce Lamb (Manuel Cordova Rios) **** (ditto)

Ayahuasca the visionary and healing powers of the vine of the soul - Joan Parisi Wilcox **** (Ayahuasca and other medicinal plants, group of western folk partaking in healing)

One River - Wade Davis ***** (Amazon/Plant medicines/Shamanism/Rubber Boom)

Eating the Flowers of Paradise - Kevin Rushby **** (Catha edulis/Social/Yemen area)

The Healing Forest - Schultes and Raffauf ***** (Amazon Plant medicine reference)

The Lost Amazon - Wade Daivs ***** (Photographic/Amazon/Indians/Plant medicine)

Vegetalismo shamanism among the mestizo population of the peruvian amazon - Luis Eduardo Luna ***** (Ayahuasca/Plant teachers/Mestizo practice)

Ayahuasca Vision - Pablo Amaringo and Luis Eduardo Luna ***** (Paintings and detailed analysis of Ayahuasca visions)

Tihkal - Shulgin and Shulgin ***** (Chemistry/Pharmacology/Story)

Pihkal - " " " ***** (Chemistry/Pharmacology/Story)

The Yage Letters - Burroughs and Ginsberg *** (Yage/ayahuasca/South America/Drug Addiction/Letters to each other/even contains Schultes in disguise hehe)

Transfigurations - Alex Grey ***** (Visionary Art/Art/Spirituality/Psychedelic Spirituality)

True Hallucinations - Terrence McKenna ***** (Amazon Visionary Plant / Uni Students Traveling / Pushing the limits / Psychosis?? / McKenna Rants / Mushrooms and caapi)

Food of the Gods - Terrence McKenna ***** (Evolution of human consciouness / Plant medicines through history / Mckenna Rants)

Just to name a few

Edited January 11, 2007 by gerbil

[Ace]

Damn and I thought my collection was good wow - I'll be looking into a few of those titles! Thanks Gerbster

[Korky]

thats some quality reading gerbil

the below rating is from the view point of a beginner.

Psilocybin Mushroom handbook. easy indoor/outdoor cultivation - LG Nichols & Kerry Ogame *****

Psilocybin mushrooms of the world - P.Stamets ****

A filed companion to Australian fungi - Bruce Fuhrer **

A field guide to fungi of Australia - A.M. Young **

DMT the spirit molecule - Rick strassman ***

Acacia's of south east australia - Terry Tame ***

Acacias of australia - Marion Simmons ***

A field guide to australian wattles - FJC Rogers **

Wattle CD Rom - CSIRO ****

Off topic but next book excited about (and in the mail)

Archaic Revival - T Mckenna

Edited January 10, 2007 by endogenous

[hebrew]

ok from the top of my head

tobacco shamanism of south america (will look the exact title up when i got a chance to go and look in the other room) by J Wilbert ***** (tobacco use in south america)

the gift of life - Bonnie Glass Coffin ***** (about female curanderas who use san pedro)

as gerbil mentioned Vegetalismo shamanism among the mestizo population of the peruvian amazon - Luis Eduardo Luna ***** (about plant teachersa and ayahausca)

sorcery and shamanism - douglas sharon **** (about san pedro curanderos)

eduardo the healer - D Sharon **** (about the san pedro curandero)

Huachumero - Donald Skillman ***** (abotu a san pedro curandero and his mesa)

Edited January 10, 2007 by hebrew

[Ace]

very nice lists folks - perhaps it'd be a good idea to maybe list what the book is generally about - perticularly if it's not really all that clear in the title. Maybe just a simple subtitle for each - eg. Mycology, General Shamanism, Cacti, Ayahuasca etc

[Hagakure]

i just read dangerous garden by david stuart.

very intersting look at history of plants and humans etc.

healing plants, killing plants, visionary plants. all very interesting.

[Μορφέας]

Guys got links to this as e-books!?

[wandjina]

Not all ethnobotany, strictly speaking, but....

was leant these 4 recently:

Weiskopf, Jimmy. 'Yaje - The New purgatory. Encounters With Ayahuasca.' *****

Shanon, Benny. 'The antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience.' ****

Metzner, Ralph (Ed) 'Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature.' ***

Dobkin de Rios, Marlene. 'Amazon healer.' ***

Excellent, no...fucking brilliant!!!!...historical, sociological and political perspective on drug laws and reform:

Manderson, Desmond. 'From Mr Sin to Mr Big: A History of Australian Drug Laws.' *****

Badiner, A.H & Grey, Alex. 'Zig, Zag, Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics.' ****

Grob, C.S. 'Hallucinogens: A Reader.' ***

Grof, Stanislav. 'LSD Psychotherapy.' ****

Thompson, C.J.S. 'The Mystic Mandrake.' ***

Pollan, Michael. 'The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-eye view of the world.' ****

Narby, Jeremy. 'The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the origins of Knowledge.' ***

Musgrave, Toby & Will. 'An Empire of Plants: people and plants that changed the world.' *** (gorgeous illustrations).

Zuckerman, Larry. 'The Potato.' *** (Everything you could ever want to know, and more).

Costermans, Leon. 'Native Trees and Shrubs of south-Eastern australia.' ****

Edited January 10, 2007 by wandjina

[folias]

Weiskopf, Jimmy. 'Yaje - The New purgatory. Encounters With Ayahuasca.'

I have read half this...then lost it ;-(

Probably the most interesting and useful accounts of ayahuasca and life in a amazon from what is mostly an unreported area, the use among the colombian taitas (often in an urban setting)

I met Jimmy in Peru and he is definately a character to say the least...

http://www.amazon.com/Yaje-New-Purgatory-J...TF8&s=books

Julian.

[prier]

I can think of way too many books so I'm just going to go through some things I've read recently, *edit*not really on the subject of ethnobotany but interesting anyway.*

Smoke and Mirrors by Dan Baum, is a great book about the history of the american drug war.

A Dozen Dopey Yarns by J.J. McRoach, funny stuff to do with Australian pot culture.

Cannabis and Cancer: Arthur's Story by Pauline Reilley, a good account of medicinal cannabis use in Australia.

Edited January 12, 2007 by prier

[Hagakure]

not ethno but just found a whole lot of John C. Lilly books on demonoid

http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/597058/7009296/

[Anodyne]

The Chemistry of Mind-Altering Drugs. History, Pharmacology, and Cultural Context, by Daniel M. Perrine.

Exactly what the title says - not really ethnobotany, but it's the best intro to psychoactive drugs that I've ever read, even has basic organic chem concepts explained in an appendix.

[Ace]

Got a couple new ones to add to my original list:

Plants of the Gods - Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann, and Christian Rätsch *****

I'd think every psychoactive plant is covered in depth in this book, though a couple spelling mistakes (may be out of date or badly translated), such as psilocybine and psilocine, otherwise fantastic. Only got it yesterday and flipped through admiring the huge amount of illustrations and colour photos, not yet had time to read text yet, but looks great from what I've seen so far.

Sacred mushroom of visions: Teonanacatl - Ralph Metzner *****

Fantastic read covering the history of psilocybin mushrooms (amanita isnt covered, at least not that I've read as yet). Another recent arrival to my bookshelf, so still havent had time to get stuck into it (aside from a couple chapters). Overall looks and reads very well so far.

Cannabis, a history - Martin Booth *****

Chockers with information, detailing so much it is hard to get your head around (in a good way!). Writing style isnt my favourite, can be a little annoying to read (pedantic, but his sentencing is always somewhat backward - probably just an older style of writing [though it is a fairly recent book - 1990's, if my memory serves me right], just not very flowing). Not very many pics either - mostly just a fat wad of factual text. That is great, but tends to feel like homework rather than something you enjoy reading (still, you plod along just for the continual interesting facts that pop up along the way).

[rahli]

I picked up a little ethno book from a second hand book shop in New Zealand.

I think it is uncommon.

One of my favourite books.

The book of poisons, Gustav Schenk

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1956.

Edited September 7, 2007 by rahli

[Doopie sp.]

Great lists. Im writing down a few titles for my next Amazon order

Psilocybe Mushrooms of the World - Paul Stamets *****

Easily the best book I've seen on the subject. If you dont have it, get it.

I agree this is a great book Ace. Lots of fantastic colour pics and useful info for identification

Psilocybe Mushrooms of the World by Paul Stamets ****

This book contains imagery and information about psilocybe mushrooms from all over the world.

Marijuana Growers Handbook - Indoor/Greenhouse edition by Ed Rosenthal ***

Lots of useful info for indoor propagation and methods for growing when you have limited space. Plenty of other books like it though.

The Wayward Mind - An Intimate History of the Unconscious by Guy Claxton ****

This book isnt about ethnobotany. It talks about the different stories human societies have come up with to explain what goes on inside our head (consciousness and the unconscious). It starts with ancient egypt and works its way through to current day neuroscience. Very readable. Would be of interest to anyone who likes to learn about the inner workings of the mind.

Cheers

Edited September 27, 2007 by Lukas sp.

[occidentalis]

No mention of Dale Pendell?

I heartily recommend any one (preferably all three) of his Pharmako series. They are

Pharmako/Poeia

Pharmako/Dynamis

Pharmako/Gnosis

Buy them from amazon now, even if it means not eating this week. You will love them.

x

c

[XipeTotec]

just thought I would mention an old book (60's) titled, "the varieties of psychdelic experience", by r.e.l. masters and jean houston. contains... i think, over 200 trip reports, mostly dealing with LSD, but also, some from other substances of interest. With a commentary accompanying most. It does however refer to homosexuality as a dysfunction, but, its a good read all the same.

[mu!]

thats right, it only refers to it. i believe it was an old-school psychotherapist making that judgement. havent read it in a while, so details are sketchy.

[XipeTotec]

thats right, it only refers to it. i believe it was an old-school psychotherapist making that judgement. havent read it in a while, so details are sketchy.

im not sure what you r trying to emphasise here?

[Monk]

creach is right, all the Pharmako books are f'n fantastic. Also, no mention of Ratsch's Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. It's a very good book in terms of number of species covered, but lacks some depth of info on many plants. This is forgiveable and to be expected from such a big subject. I second the notion that Mycelium Running is one of the best books ever!

[Fenris]

I read an interesting book with a general DMT drug motif running through it. Techno Pagan Octopus Messiah, its a travel book where the guy gets inspired to follow some old dreams and DMT inspired visions.

The guy who lent it to me got everyone who read it to put their name and year they read it on the inside of the front cover. I noticed that Rev was one of the first guys on the list.

Pretty random.

[t st tantra]

just thought I would mention an old book (60's) titled, "the varieties of psychdelic experience", by r.e.l. masters and jean houston. contains... i think, over 200 trip reports, mostly dealing with LSD, but also, some from other substances of interest. With a commentary accompanying most. It does however refer to homosexuality as a dysfunction, but, its a good read all the same.

this is on erowid as an e-book.

i have jean houston's autobiography too but havnt read it yet.

wish there was more talk along the lines of lillys 'programming and metaprogramming in the human biocomputer'.these concepts have not been explored enough imo.

wow,$75 and up for 2nd hand copies of earlier editions on amazon,i wont be lending mine out!

'stalking the wild pendulum-on the mechanics of consciousness' by i bentov[sp?] is a thought stimulatimg read by a non expert,making it quite readable.

t s t .

Edited September 28, 2007 by t st tantra

[MORG]

I heartily recommend any one (preferably all three) of his Pharmako series. They are

Pharmako/Poeia

Pharmako/Dynamis

Pharmako/Gnosis

Buy them from amazon now, even if it means not eating this week. You will love them.

Well, I've taken that advice and bought the first one.

Excellent. Really excellent. Now I want the others.

[occidentalis]

Well, I've taken that advice and bought the first one.

Excellent. Really excellent. Now I want the others.

Haha

Glad I was able to turn someone on to the goodness of Pendell.

The other two are even better, go on, you know you want them