140 Books About Psychedelics
I gathered this list with the intent of collecting all books that I cound find about psychedelics. This list is not exhaustive because:
- I sticked mostly to relatively known books and easily available on Amazon.
- I very occasionally excluded some, often because I could tell in advance they are pure crap, but I avoided doing this best I can.
- Books on Ayahuasca and Mushrooms are limited.
Nevertheless, it’s still quite large, and likely includes all the major books about the topic. If you’d like to help expand this list, feel free to contact me.
There is quite a lot of books here, so I decided to divide it into 3 sections:
- Tier 1: Books that I know are very good
- Tier 2: Books that I know or have confidence that are decent
- Tier 3: Books that I’m unsure if they’re good (doesn’t mean they aren’t)
Couple important notes:
This categorization is obviously and inevitably biased. You can ignore it if you’d like.
Just because I think a book is good, doesn’t mean I agree with it.
Tier 1
- LSD: My problem child by Albert Hoffman
A fascinating read into its roots and history by Albert Hoffman himself (who originally discovered LSD, and fought to support its medical and spiritual use until his death in 2008, aged 102). A key figure in history, forever changing psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, and our very culture.
- The Pharmacology of LSD: A Critical Review
Very technical and expensive, but gives you the science of everything you need to know about the substance.
- The Doors of Perception: And Heaven and Hell
Classic and historical book by Aldous Huxley describing his mescaline experience.
- Dropping Acid: A beginner’s guide to the responsible use of LSD for self-discovery
A very practical and rational guide to LSD, good introductory book.
- The Manual of Psychedelic Support
Comprehensive guide to setting up and running compassionate care services for people having difficult drug experiences.
- Psychedelia: An Ancient Culture, A Modern Way Of Life by Patrick Lundborg
Very in-depth book about psychedelic culture.
- Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal by Tom Shroder
Fantastic book on the history of the recent psychedelic renaissance plus the healing potential of LSD and MDMA.
- The Psychedelic Renaissance by Ben Sessa
Great overview of the potential of countless drugs such as LSD, MDMA, DMT, psilocybin, ayahuasca, peyote, ibogaine, and more for therapeutic purposes. Also gives some history and context around the controversies psychedelics and its nature.
- Confrontation with the Unconscious by Scott Hill
Connecting the psychedelic experience to Jungian psychology. Surprisingly the only one ever doing so in any comprehensive manner.
- LSD Psychotherapy — The Healing Potential Potential of Psychedelic Medicine by Stanislav Grof
Very comprehensive book about the theories and experience of Stanislav Grof in using LSD for psychotherapy.
- DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Rick Strassman
Probably the most famous book on psychedelics. Rick Strassman gives an account of people’s experiences on DMT from his research in the 90s.
- Noumenautics: Metaphysics — Meta-Ethics — Psychedelics by Peter Sjostedt-H
Contains a lot of philosophy and psychedelics are only a part of the book, but it’s quite good nevertheless. Connects the psychedelic experience with panpsychism (consciousness as an universal and primordial feature of matter).
- Varieties of Psychedelic Experience: The Classic Guide to the Effects of LSD on the Human Psyche by Robert Masters and Jean Houston
The comprehensive description on the psychedelic experience and a general overview on the topic.
- Food Of The Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs and Human Evolution by Terence McKenna
The adventures and theories of Terence McKenna. A classic book and key figure in psychedelic culture.
Tier 2
Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom
Albion Dreaming: A popular history of LSD in Britain
The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness
Acid Drops — Adventures in Psychedelia
Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience
High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture
LSD: Doorway to the Numinous: The Groundbreaking Psychedelic Research into Realms of the Human Unconscious
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, by Jeremy Narby
Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers
Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences
Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research since the Decade of the Brain
The Divine Spark: Psychedelics, Consciousness And The Birth Of Civilization
Psychedelic Medicine: The Healing Powers of LSD, MDMA, Psilocybin, and Ayahuasca
The Varieties of Psychedelic Experience: The Classic Guide to the Effects of LSD on the Human Psyche
Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy
To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic
Psychedelic Drug Treatments
Secret Drugs of Buddhism
Therapy with Substance: Psycholytic psychotherapy in the twenty first century
Hofmann’s Elixir: LSD and the New Eleusis
Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics
The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America
Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness: Conversations with Albert Hofmann, Stanislav Grof, Rick Strassman, Jeremy Narby, Simon Posford, and Others
True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil’s Paradise
The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead
Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research
Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD, the CIA, the Sixties and Beyond
A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life
Moksha: Aldous Huxley’s Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience
Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
Psychedelics Encyclopedia
Psychedelic Psychiatry: LSD from Clinic to Campus
The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys
Tier 3
The God Molecule: 50meo-Dmt and the Spiritual Path to Divine Light
The Toad of Dawn: 5-Meo-Dmt and the Rise of Cosmic Consciousness
Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research
Psychedelia Britannica: Psychactive Drugs in Britain
The Private Sea: L.S.D. and the search for God
The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook: The Essential Guide to Ayahuasca Journeying
Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of Dmt
Psychedelic Marine: A Transformational Journey from Afghanistan to the Amazon
LSD and the Divine Scientist: The Final Thoughts and Reflections of Albert Hofmann
The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the i Ching
Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers
Altered States of Consciousness
Everything I Know I Learned on Acid by Coco Pekelis
LSD: The Problem-Solving Psychedelic
Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream
Understanding MDMA Psychedelic Therapy: An Easy-to-Read Guide to the Controversies, History, and Future of MDMA / Ecstasy Therapy
Drugs — Without the Hot Air: Minimising the Harms of Legal and Illegal Drugs
Ecstasy: The Complete Guide: A Comprehensive Look at the Risks and Benefits of MDMA
Drugs and the Mind
Ecstasy: The MDMA Story
The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia
Getting Higher: The Manual of Psychedelic Ceremony
Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine
The Psychedelic Policy Quagmire: Health, Law, Freedom, and Society
Religion of Ayahuasca: The teachings of the Church of Santo Daime
The Secret Chief Revealed
Drawing it Out: Befriending the Unconscious
Spiritual Growth With Entheogens: Psychoactive Sacramentals — from the Good Friday Experiment to the Direct Experience of the Divine
Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures
The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, Ufos, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess
Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad: 5-MeO-DMT and the Bufo Alvarius Toad
LSD the Consciousness Expanding Drug
Mystic Chemist: The Life of Albert Hofmann and His Discovery of LSD
Ayahuasca: Soul Medicine of the Amazon Jungle: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide
LSD, Marihuana, Yoga, and Hypnosis
Ayahuasca: Hallucinogens, Consciousness and the Spirit of Nature
Hallucinogens and Shamanism
Persephone’s Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion
The Sacred Mushroom Seeker: Tributes to R.Gordon Wasson by Terence Mckenna, Joan Halifax, Peter Furst, Albert Hofmann, Richard Evans Schultes and Others
Ayahuasca in My Blood: 25 Years of Medicine Dreaming: Volume 1
The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East
Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope to Depression. Addiction, Ptsd, and Anxiety
Dreaming Wide Awake: Lucid Dreaming, Shamanic Healing, and Psychedelics
Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul
The Psilocybin Solution: The Role of Sacred Mushrooms in the Quest for Meaning
The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo
Love And Spirit Medicine
Plant Spirit Medicine: A Journey Into the Healing Wisdom of Plants
Entheogens and the Future of Religion
A Shaman’s Tale: Path to Spirit Consciousness
The Witches’ Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic
Shamanism and Spirituality in Therapeutic Practice: An Introduction
Manifesting Minds: A Review of Psychedelics in Science, Medicine, Sex, and Spirituality
Shamanism: Awaken and Develop the Shamanic Force Within
Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America
The Accidental Shaman: Journeys with Plant Teachers and Other Spirit Allies
Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness
Psychedelic Future of the Mind: How Entheogens Are Enhancing Cognition, Boosting Intelligence, and Raising Values
Breaking Open the Head
Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change
Mind-Altering Drugs: The Science of Subjective Experience
The Human Encounter With Death
Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman
The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine
Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development
The Psychedelic Anthology: Volume I
Psychedelic Information Theory: Shamanism in the Age of Reason: Volume 1
Articulations: On The Utilisation and Meanings of Psychedelics
Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens
The Holy Mushroom: Evidence of Mushrooms in Judeo-Christianity: A critical re-evaluation of the schism between John M. Allegro and R. Gordon Wasson in The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
Beyond Psychotherapy: The Laughing God behind the Masks
The Fractal Key: Shamanic Journeys, Spiritual Entheogens and Psychedelic Healing
Psychedelic Hero’s Journey of a Traveling Nobody
Psychedelic
The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity
Darwin’s Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and the Evolution of the Noosphere
The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss
Psychedelic Horizons
The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience
Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story
Tihkal: The Continuation
Mushrooms and Mankind: The Impact of Mushrooms on Human Consciousness and Religion
Visionary Ayahuasca: A Manual for Therapeutic and Spiritual Journeys
The New Science of Psychedelics: At the Nexus of Culture, Consciousness, and Spirituality
Iboga: The Visionary Root of African Shamanism
LSD, Spirituality and the Creative Process: Based on the Groundbreaking Research of Oscar Janiger M.D.
Through the Gateway of the Heart, Second Edition
The Entheological Paradigm: Essays on the DMT and 5-MeO-DMT Experience, and the Meaning of it All
DMT Dialogues: Encounters with the Spirit Molecule
DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible
DMT & My Occult Mind: Investigation of Occult Realities using the Spirit Molecule
