Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism - Hardcover

Pinchbeck, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0767907426 ISBN 13: 9780767907422

Publisher: Broadway Books, 2002

Synopsis

A study of contemporary shamanism and the spiritual possibilities of psychedelic plants draws on the works of top thinkers and current studies while sharing the author's research of tribal, ritual, and shaman use of psychedelic compounds.

About this title

Review:

"Grippingly dramatic, powerfully moving, this is a classic of the literature of ecstasy."
--Booklist (starred review)

"In his reporting, [Pinchbeck] manages to walk a difficult tonal tightrope, balancing his skepticism with a desire to be transformed. He thoughtfully serveys the literature about psychedelic drugs, but the most exhilirating and illuminating sections are the descriptions of drug taking...Pinchbeck's earnest, engaged and winning matter carry the book."
--Publishers Weekly

"I much admire Breaking Open the Head for being the account of an authentic quest for enlightenment in jungles, up rivers, in deserts, and hardest of all to access, the human mind and heart via one of the oldest thoroughfares on earth, mind-expanding drugs. This is a serious and illuminating journey."
--Paul Theroux

From the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher:

This is a brave book. Brave because it accepts, as matters of fact, realities that cannot co-exist peacefully with the standard American Myth. That the discussion of these issues avoids both New Age glitter-speak and standard psychedelic hoo-ha makes it all the more provocative. It is also brave for its unflinching willingness to bare the less expanded parts of the author’s psyche. And it is brave, as it is always brave, to attempt to speak clearly of that which can’t be spoken.

About this edition

• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0767907426
• ISBN 13: 9780767907422
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 322