Ten trips

Mitchell, Andy

£22.00

Once demonised and still largely illegal, psychedelic drugs are now officially a ‘breakthrough therapy’, used to treat depression, trauma and addiction and to enhance well-being. But as neuropsychologist Andy Mitchell shows in this deeply serious yet wildly entertaining investigation, this approach misses what is so strange and valuable about them: the psychedelic experience itself. In ‘Ten Trips’ he takes ten different compounds, some famous, others obscure, journeying from a neuroimaging lab in London to the Colombian Amazon via Silicon Valley and his friend’s basement kitchen. His encounters with scientists and gangsters, venture capitalists and con-men, psychonauts and shamans provide a panoramic view of psychedelics today: their capacity for healing but also trauma, for transcendence and corruption, profundity and hilarity.

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Publish Date: 21/09/2023

Description

Neuropsychologist Andy Mitchell punctures the hype around psychedelic drugs while providing the fullest picture yet of their limitlessly fascinating possibilities.

‘Original and thrilling … achieving profound insights’ Mike Jay, author of Psychonauts

‘An incisive, deeply personal and beautifully written account of the power, the uses and the modern misuses of psychedelics. Highly recommended’ Anil Seth, author of Being You

Psychedelics have made a comeback but remain a mystery. They are now a ‘breakthrough therapy’ for mental illness but in truth we have only a vague idea how they work and there is a limit to what the science can reveal. To have any hope of understanding them, we must broaden our view – dramatically – of what they actually are.

In this daring, perception-shifting odyssey, clinical neuropsychologist Andy Mitchell takes ten different drugs in ten different settings, journeying from a London neuroimaging lab to the Colombian Amazon via Silicon Valley and his friend’s basement kitchen. His encounters with scientists and gangsters, venture capitalists and con men, psychonauts and shamans, as well as with the drugs themselves, reveal the reality of psychedelics in all their strangeness, hilarity, darkness and wonder.

‘A hair-raising hurtle of a ride’ Henry Shukman, author of One Blade of Grass

‘Utterly compelling … like having an out of body experience’ Mark Miodownik, author of Stuff Matters

‘The psychedelic world has been waiting for this book’ Professor Erika Dyck

Additional information

Weight 560 g
Dimensions 238 × 124 × 40 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

288

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

615.7883 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K