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Albert Hofmann, who died in 2008 aged 102, first synthesized
lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938, but the results of animal
tests were so unremarkable that the chemical was abandoned. Driven
by intuition, he synthesized it again in 1943, and serendipitously
noticed its profound effects on himself. Although his work produced
other important drugs, including methergine, hydergine and
dihydroergotamine, it was LSD that shaped his career. After his
discovery of LSD's properties, Hofmann spent years researching
sacred plants. He succeeded in isolating and synthesizing the
active compounds in the Psilocybe mexicana mushroom, which he named
psilocybin and psilocin. During the 60s, Hofmann struck up
friendships with personalities such as Aldous Huxley, Gordon
Wasson, and Timothy Leary. He continued to work at Sandoz until
1971 when he retired as Director of Research for the Department of
Natural Products. He subsequently served as a member of the Nobel
Prize Committee, and was nominated by Time magazine as one of the
most influential figures of the 20th century. In 2007, Albert
Hofmann asked Amanda Feilding if she could publish his Problem
Child, and shortly before his death he approved a new and updated
translation of his autobiography (first published by McGraw Hill in
1979). It appears here for the first time in print.
This book explains the underlying physics of synchrotron radiation
and derives its main properties. It is divided into four parts. The
first covers the general case of the electromagnetic fields created
by an accelerated relativistic charge. The second part concentrates
on the radiation emitted by a charge moving on a circular
trajectory. The third looks at undulator radiation, covering plane
weak undulators, strong undulators and other more general
undulators. The final part deals with applications and investigates
the optics of synchrotron radiation dominated by diffraction due to
the small opening angle. It also includes a description of electron
storage rings as radiation sources and the effect of the emitted
radiation on the electron beam. This book provides a valuable
reference for scientists and engineers in the field of
accelerators, and all users of synchrotron radiation.
Synchrotron radiation is an important research tool for many areas of particle physics. This book explains the underlying physics which determines radiation properties, presenting these properties in easily applicable equations and figures. It describes the general radiation and its interaction with electrons and is a valuable reference for scientists in the field.
World-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist Christian
Ratsch provides the latest scientific updates to this classic work
on psychoactive flora by two eminent researchers.
- Numerous new and rare color photographs complement the
completely revised and updated text.
- Explores the uses of hallucinogenic plants in shamanic rituals
throughout the world.
- Cross-referenced by plant, illness, preparation, season of
collection, and chemical constituents.
- First edition sold 33,000 copies.
Three scientific titans join forces to completely revise the
classic text on the ritual uses of psychoactive plants. They
provide a fascinating testimony of these "plants of the gods,"
tracing their uses throughout the world and their significance in
shaping culture and history. In the traditions of every culture,
plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and
transformative properties. The most powerful of those plants, which
are known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of
consciousness, have always been regarded as sacred. The authors
detail the uses of hallucinogens in sacred shamanic rites while
providing lucid explanations of the biochemistry of these plants
and the cultural prayers, songs, and dances associated with them.
The text is lavishly illustrated with 400 rare photographs of
plants, people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of
the world's sacred psychoactive flora.
Best known as the first person to synthesize, ingest, and discover
the psychedelic effects of LSD, Albert Hofmann was more than just a
chemist. A pioneer in the field of visionary plant research, he was
one of the first people to suggest the use of entheogens for
psychological healing and spiritual growth. His insights into the
consciousness-expanding effects of psychedelics as well as human
nature, the psyche, and the nature of reality earned him a
reputation as a mystical scientist and visionary philosopher. This
book--Hofmann’s last work before his death in 2008 at the age of
102--offers the acclaimed scientist’s personal experiences and
thoughts on chemistry, the natural sciences, mind-altering drugs,
the soul, and the search for happiness and meaning in life. Hofmann
explains different methods of pharmaceutical research based on
traditional plant medicine and discusses psilocybin, the active
compound in psychedelic mushrooms that he discovered. He examines
the psychological role of psychoactives, their therapeutic
potential, and their use in easing the life-to-death transition.
Sharing a different side of the father of LSD, one known only to
his friends and close colleagues, this book also includes the
poetry of this mystical prophet of psychedelic science.
The authors (a mycologist, chemist, and classics scholar, each
respected in his field) make an informed and plausible case that
the famed Mysteries conducted at Eleusis in Greece for a period of
nearly two millennia in antiquity entailed psychoactive substances
in a ritual context. In so doing, they find valuable lessons for
the modern world in the solution of an ancient mystery. Although
controversial when first published, the book's hypothesis has got
much more serious attention in recent years, as scholars have
increasingly come to realize the prime importance of entheogenic
substances in religious rituals worldwide.All three authors have
written significant books and papers relating to entheogens, and
this book presents an authoritative exposition of their
discoveries. This will be the first popularly accessible edition of
a work that has acquired a cult reputation in the three decades
since its first publication, and will attract an audience of
open-minded students of earth-based spiritual practices as well as
those familiar with the authors in related contexts. Its underlying
theme of the universality of experiential religion, and its
suppression by forces of exploitation and repression, should give
it a receptive audience among many who are interested in earth
religions and the reconciliation of the human and natural worlds.
REFERENCE / ETHNOBOTANYIn the traditions of every culture, plants
have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and
transformative properties. The most powerful plants--those known to
transport the human mind into other dimensions of
consciousness--have traditionally been regarded as sacred. When
taken in a culturally sanctioned context, such plants can produce
important insights into the nature of reality. In The Encyclopedia
of Psychoactive Plants Christian Ratsch details the botany,
history, distribution, cultivation, and preparation and dosage of
more than 400 psychoactive plants. He discusses their ritual and
medicinal usage, cultural artifacts made from these plants, and
works of art that either represent or have been inspired by them.
The author begins with full monographs on 168 of the most
well-known psychoactives--such as Cannabis, Datura, and
Papaver--then presents minor monographs on 135 lesser known plants.
He also explores plants used by indigenous people that have not yet
been identified by modern botanists as well as plants and
psychoactive substances known only from mythological contexts and
literature, such as ephemeron, kykeon, and soma. He offers a
thorough discussion (including 20 full monographs) of psychoactive
fungi, referred to in ancient times as the "food of the gods" and
used by shamans in many cultures for entry to the spirit world. He
also covers psychoactive plant products from around the
world--smoking blends, alcoholic beverages, snuffs, incense, and
ointments. The author concludes with an analysis of the chemical
constituents responsible for plants' psychoactive powers. He is
careful to say, though, that the effects of isolated
chemicalsubstances are not identical to the psychoactive effects
produced by whole plants. Each plant contains a synergistic blend
of active constituents--from the shamanic point of view, the
plant's spirit. The text is lavishly illustrated with 670
black-and-white illustrations and 800 color photographs--many of
which come from the author's extensive fieldwork conducted around
the world. They show the people, ceremonies, and art related to the
ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactives. CHRISTIAN RATSCH,
PH.D., is a world- renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist
who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants for spiritual as
well as medicinal purposes. He studied Mesoamerican languages and
cultures and anthropology at the University of Hamburg and spent,
altogether, three years of fieldwork among the Lacandone Indians in
Chiapas, Mexico, being the only European fluent in their language.
He then received a fellowship from the German academic service for
foreign research, the Deutsche Akademische Auslandsdienst (DAAD),
to realize his doctoral thesis on healing spells and incantations
of the Lacandone-Maya at the University of Hamburg, Germany. In
addition to his work in Mexico, his numerous fieldworks have
included research in Thailand, Bali, the Seychelles, as well as a
long-term study (18 years) on shamanism in Nepal combined with
expeditions to Korea and the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon. He also
was a scientific -anthro-pological advisor for expeditions
organized by German magazines such as GEO and Spektrum der
Wissenschaften (Spectrum of Sciences). Before becoming a full-time
author and internationally renowned lecturer, Ratsch worked as
professor of anthropology at theUniversity of Bremen and served as
consultant advisor for many German museums. Because of his
extensive collection of shells, fossils, artifacts, and
entheopharmacological items, he has had numerous museum expositions
on these topics. He is the author of numerous articles and more
than 40 books, including Plants of Love, Gateway to Inner Space,
Marijuana Medicine, and The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical
Plants. He is also coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and
Tantra in the Himalayas, and Witchcraft Medicine and is editor of
the Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness. A
former member of the board of advisors of the European College for
the Study of Consciousness (ECSC) and former president of the
Association of Ethnomedicine, he lives in Hamburg, Germany.
Dr. Albert Hofmann, one of this century's greatest minds, offers a
lifetime of insights, observations, and discussions. He leads us on
an exploration of reality perception, where our newly discovered
insights are drawn into intellectual meditation. Reality is
approached as a combination of subjective and objective truths,
which must be unified for ultimate awareness. This amazing book
will expand your mind and lift you to a level where the material
and spiritual aspects of your life exist in harmony.
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