Albert Hofmann

Jonathan Ott

Taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life" Steve Jobs Albert Hofmann, who died in 2008 aged 102, synthesised lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1938. Although his work produced other important drugs, including methergine, used to treat postpartum haemorrhaging, it was LSD that shaped his career. After his discovery of LSD's properties, Hofmann spent years researching sacred plants. With colleagues he participated in psychedelic rituals withshamans in southern Mexico. He succeeded in synthesizing the active compounds in the Psilocybe mexicana mushroom, which he named psilocybin and psilocin. During the 60s, Hofmann struck up friendships with personalities as Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsburg, and Aldous Huxley. He continued to work at Sandoz until 1971 when he retired as Director of Research for the Department of Natural Products. In retirement Hofmann served as a member of the Nobel Prize Committee. As well as being nominated as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century (by Time magazine), he was also a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences. Shortly before his death, Hoffman 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."

My Problem Child

Albert Hofmann (Foreward)

Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History

Pharmacotheon

Pangæan Entheogens

Ayahuasca Analogues

Baron Ernst von Bibra

This pioneering study of psychoactive plants and their role in society, initially published in 1855, is one of the first books to examine the cultivation, preparation, and consumption of the world’s major stimulants and inebriants. It presents a fascinating panorama of the world-wide use of psychoactive plants in the nineteenth century.

A Classic Text on the Use of Mind-Altering Plants

Plant Intoxicants

Stella Kramrisch

Robert Gordon Wasson

This fascinating book discusses the role played by psychoactive mushrooms in the religious rituals of ancient Greece, Eurasia, and Mesoamerica. R. Gordon Wasson, an internationally known ethnomycologist who was one of the first to investigate how these mushrooms were venerated and employed by different native peoples, here joins with three other scholars to discuss the evidence for his discoveries about these fungi, which he has called entheogens, or "god generated within."

Entheogens and the Origins of Religion

Persephone's Quest

Jonathan Ott

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