Reviews and Comments

The title gives you little doubt on what this book is about. If you picked it up, you already know what you are looking for and what you might expect from reading it. However, this is not exactly a manual on how to do it. It’s more of a survey of what others have done (or are doing) as a way to entice you to break from the oftentimes dogmatic pressure to keep in line with the untold stylistic rules of academic production that seem to govern your discipline.

Helen Sword does a great job in covering the many aspects of academic text production with insightful comments and very enlightening examples. Every bit of text quoted here serves exactly the function it purports to do, i.e., to back up what is being proposed, or criticized, with what is being practiced by the many academic authors in the different fields surveyed in this study of hers.

It’s also important to point out that Helen Sword doesn’t just limit this work to a theoretical critique of the many academic stylistic writing practices, good or bad, but also offers good advice on how to achieve better results with one’s own academic written production. On the second part of this book, aptly titled The Elements of Stylishness, Sword finishes all the chapters with an interesting practical section of Things to Try. Here you’ll find all sorts of good ideas on what you can do try out and achieve the same good stylistic results analyzed on the chapter that you have just read. This is immensely useful if you really need to break from all the old habits that prevent you to get the best results with your academic writing.

From all that has been said above, and given that this is a very targeted book (its readers have a clear idea of what to expect), to recommend it is a futile exercise: If you need it, you know you should read it. Your skills as a more versatile, enticing, and clear academic writer will definitely improve.

Here’s another interesting book about a fundamental topic that should interest every person out there. Why? Because we all have brains, and knowing how it works, its potencial, its many quirks and limitations, can prove useful to better understand our own potentials and become more accepting of our many perceived flaws.

If you are familiar with the topic, this book problably won’t bring you any new knowledge or radically change the way you view your world or how you understand your own mind.

But if you’re looking for a good introductory book on this subject, David Eagleman’s The Brain: The Story of You will certainly surprise you and, in a akward way, delight you, for it is well written, very engaging, and clear in its many explanations, making a hard subject matter into a very compelling narrative.

For all this, and for whatever else it provides, this book, as others by the same author, is definitely worth reading.

Knowing how weird our brains are, how complicated and complex is its functioning, and, consequently, how weird, complicated and complex we are can be baffling at first. But as you move on, the existential angst this might provoke will naturally subside.

Having finished this book, my first thought was to share they joy I had in reading it, taking the time to write another “I read a book I’ve enjoyed greatly” review and share it with the greater community of readers at large. For to have such an experience with a book of this sort is something that is indeed to praise, but also to deliver. How on earth is an academic book (don’t be fooled, for despite its simplicity, is still only an academic book) allowed to provide such an pleasing experience while presenting advice and guidance on a not particularly exciting subject matter, especially one that deals precisely with painful craft of writing for the academia? At one point or another your mind starts to ponder about the cognitive dissonance of knowing yourself studying a boring subject and finding a great pleasure in reading about it. Why is that so?

And the answer to this question lies precisely in the kind of help this book provides. For you are here faced with that obvious (but rarely understood truth) that the only way for one to write a lot is if one, obviously, takes the time write a lot! And having that thrown at you face, so bluntly, so honestly, lets finally your guard down and offers you a well needed pause in your anxiety and in your long standing worries about not being able to produce as much as you thought you needed to progress in the academic world. Now you can put to rest that self-blaming for having born the unluckiest of academic beings, since you had a lot to write in order to get your grades, grants, articles, and whatever else academia demands from you, but you couldn’t because you weren’t ‘cut for it’. Bollocks! And this is why knowing such a simple truth is so liberating!

By making you face that obvious truth, this book opens up a window of hope, one that can finally put you onto the path of overcoming your cronic procrastination that takes you away from becoming the writer you know you have to become in order to succeed academically.

And, for that reason, once you get motivated, confident that you can finally overcome your limitations by applying the right effort, the rest of the tips and advices the author offers you all fall naturally into place. This bring you great joy, for it allows you to read this book with pleasure, boosting your spirit in a way that only a good (and honest) self-help book can provide.

On my part, to add further is to add too little. The book is too simple for me to go through the details, luring you to think you’ll find in it more that you will. Take a look at it yourself: the book is so short; so simple; and yet so helpful, that you cannot allow yourself to pass this book without giving it a read. It takes so little to read it, but you get so much out of it, that I’m betting you’ll have the same kind of joyous experience I had while reading it. Go out and get your copy. Your future academic self will thank greatly the author for having made such a good choice. The rest in upon you for scheduling your writing sessions and for putting out your academic work on time.

As the quality of a book increases, the more difficult it becomes to me to write a deserving review. Why mention this here? Because I’m now faced precisely with this dilemma. This is a deserving book — but how do I describe my reaction to it?

Taking for granted Goodreads’ rating system of having each star to mean a different reaction on judging a book, in rating a technical manual with an intimidating title such as The Craft of Research with an enthusiastic “I really liked it” may seem a bit overblown; and I can understand that it does indeed seem strange.

But if you have ever been in that stressful and confusing situation of finding yourself a novice in academia, and with an urgent need of grasping that very hermetic craft of doing any research for a class or project, not knowing how to start, what to do, how to proceed, and leasf of all how to succeed in it, this book will sure come to you as a blessing!

From explaining what a research project is, to detailing each of its stages; from the breakdown of topics into questions and questions into problems; from the difficulty of finding sources and work with them consistently; from the making of an agument to writing it, and even revising it, all in great detail — this book covers it all.

If you, like me, go through it from cover to cover, you’ll find it provides you with a wealth of procedures and their explanations, as well as an excellent roadmap on how to deal systematically with such a complex task as doing research properly.

Assuming you went looking for this title because you’re burdened by such a research projet, stressed out by not knowing how, anxious by not having a clue how to deal with it, by the end of the book, you will feel much more at ease, more confident, and way more prepared to take up your task with competence, eager to succeed.

To sum it up: are you doing research? Don’t know how? Go get this book!

What a journey! That’s my feeling after having read this book. Published in 1984, here and there some aspects of it accuse its age and time of publication, taking for granted assumptions that were only possible in the eighties. But this is not to be taken as a flaw, for no one can truly think outside of its own time, and the authors (the whole bunch) are no exception. It’s just a quirk of the book, something that now happens to be there (when it was published it was probably not much of an issue).

As for the story itself, what a crazy trip that was! In a way it’s like LSD’s history is in itself as psychedelic as the substance itself. From Albert Hofmann’s bicycle ride home till the 60’s out of this world social upheavels, LSD seemed as if always bound to take its users to unknown and untold extremes, defying any atempt to a rational characterization of the whole ride.

In this sense, this book is an awesome journey onto that now much unknown succession of events that had so much influence on the world that we are still living today. Plus, by being written at a not too distant timeframe from those happenings, it still carries very tangible echoes of those times and expectations, and by this being much more alive than if it was researched and published today. It’s still dealing with [some] living characters, they’re still household names (Hofmann, Leary, Ginsberg, as many others), and their stories and influences are still very much alive in everyone’s imagination. It’s still beating with the beats of those now much more distant and, in a sense, more critically understood and much less revered times.

For all that, for being like a time capsule that takes you back to the heydays of some very weird and hectic (in a psychedelic sense) times, and for being so entertaining (as far as a history book goes), this is definitely worth a reading. And if you happen to wonder how people could be so naive, and oftentimes so out of touch with the real world, this book also offers you, in an implicit lesson on how our times will be perceived and understood for by the generations to come. Maybe that’s LSD’s way, as a history, of still providing its outside the box unique perspective.

The way I see these ratings, they can be understood in one of two ways: either you are rating the quality of the book in itself or you are rating how much you’ve enjoyed it. Both being possible, mine here concerns only the second way of rating. That is, I’m not here passing a judgement on this book’s quality, for I’m not knowledgeable enough to dig deeper onto Jordan Peterson’s assumptions in constructing many of his arguments. What I can do, then, is just report how much I have been touched by this book.

Using Goodreads suggestion on what each star means, my appreciation of the book is about right on the 2 stars for ‘it was ok’. Not that I disliked it; but I’m probably not the targeted audience for this book’s content. I have known Jordan Peterson’s thought and work from his classes on YouTube, and although we are here faced with an interesting presentation of much of what he has said elsewhere, for anyone like me who has attended his online classes, the core of the book does not come as a surprise nor the presentation makes it more understandable than what he has already said in his talks.

So, by rating the book as [only] ‘ok’, I’m just giving an account of my previous exposure to Jordan Peterson’s material. As already stated, I’m in no position to offer any meaningful critique of the grounds and reasons upon which he mounts his case. And though I didn’t ‘like it’, I still learned from it. That to say that this is still a worthwhile work that tries to offer a well-structured map on how to move away from the chaos of our present times.

It has become common today to dismiss this kind of books, especially from those who tend to have a poor perception of a genre they call self-help literature. It is often said that books promising to help you achieve success in your field are offering nothing more than delusions. If, on top of that, you consider how conventional wisdom has it that in order for one to produce good writing one has to be born with a special gift, you would think that there’s no way to take this particular book seriously. After all, I’ve always believed that myself, being raised to look at crafts not as something within reach of anyone who would learn the right techniques, but more as a rare happening where one would be blessed by his or her good fortune. So why would the contents of this book be of any relevance anyway?

However, after reading it, I thinkI and others like me were mistaken because we overlooked how a well organized method like the one offered in this book, where we are provided with plenty of explanations on the whys and hows of academic writing, can do wonders to our meek abilities in such craft. In fact, by practicing diligently on the many exercises provided throughout the book, not only we come to better understand what college writing demands from us, but also overcome many of the fears we all in some way or another have in having to come up with any cogent piece of writing on the various topics we are subjected to throughout college. To put it succinctly, and contrary to what I previously thought I agree that the authors’ proposal is not as far fetched as I once thought it were, because my experience with this method, as I am now putting it to practice, clearly confirms it.

Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion [of mine] that this method is a game-changer if you’re a struggling college student having little to no idea on how to become proficient in the kind of writing universities demand from you. Skeptics, of course, may want to question whether this enthusiasm of mine has any grounds of evidence to support it. While it is true that my own anecdata is not of sufficient to provide the broad generalization I’m here making, it does not follow that my general assertion in completely groundless. Take, for example, the many positive reviews others have shared on this site (you can check them out at here: www.goodreads.com/book/show/31706999?rating=5). According to goodread’s user Dreama, “I assign this book to all of my college freshman ENG Composition students. The hype is real.” Shannon, another user of this site, also agrees when she writes, “Most helpful book on persuasive writing techniques I have ever read.” I wholeheartedly endorse what these users are saying and what Shannon calls “persuasive writing techniques”. My conclusion, then, is that, I’m not alone in thinking this is a great book, well deserving its positive reviews.

Another important thing to consider is that, although this book’s title may seem of concern to only a small group of readers, namely those attending college, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about writing as a general craft that is not only useful, but necessary for anyone who needs to communicate effectively and compellingly. In other words, this is not a book just for college undergraduates, but also a great guide for the general public as well. In this sense, this book matters because it deals with an essential craft that is even more needed today when much of the ever growing body of information sharing is done by writing. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the laying out of a solid foundation on which to make writing as tool more effective and productive to society as a whole.

So, as I hope you have by now understood, this exercise of mine leads credence to my assumption that this is in fact a much valuable book both for anxiety ridden college students who can’t make head or tails of how to write a text, but also those of the general public that want to become more clear and persuasive on their writings. Except for this paragraph, the main structure of this review was borrowed from the many templates this book offers as a guide to help you make your point across. To demonstrate this, I have indicated every template I used by putting it in italics, and adding the rest as content on a whim, knowing that I couldn’t fail much if I followed Gerald Graff’s and Cathy Birkenstein’s most valuable suggestions. This, then, I hope, serves as a good proof of this book’s efficacy. Should you read it? If writing is to be an important part of your life, most definitely!

Tough cookie. This, clearly, is not for everyone. How to make sense of work based on a weird premise, well encapsulated in its title, of bridging such diverse themes as the use of psychedelics, the complex phenomenon of language and their possible link with the evolution of consciousness? Each of these is enough to occupy not just one book, but whole libraries on their complexities. At a first glance it almost seems a sure recipe for a disastrous outcome. But that is not the case.

The author, Diana Reed Slattery, has a most peculiar path. She’s a [talented] fiction writer, an educator, an artist of sorts (for she experiments with art and technology), a psychonaut and, of course, a xenolinguist. With such diverse interests, Reed’s book is a mixture of all that, in an exercise to provide some coherence to her long psychonautic exploration of her experiences with altered states of consciousness and the communication with an unknown other (thus the xeno of her language studies).

The first part of the book focus on that which comes to the fore when one thinks of studying psychedelics: how to approach this subject, if studying it in order to comprehend it fully demands that one experiences its effects? This is a methodological problem, and Reed starts to tackle it right away from the outset. In order to accomplish this, she tries to justify a psychonautics approach as a meaningful method to explore, structure, and make sense of the oftentimes nonsensical resulting experience. What's then her approach?

Reed starts by analyzing possible protocols and techniques that may validate what’s perceived under such unorthodox circumstances. In spite of this, being no stranger to the strange, she’s well aware of the many difficulties she faces. But given the inherent weirdness of such experiences, there isn't much she can do. She has to rely on whatever methods are available, for consciousness' alteration is in itself hard to study: highly frowned upon as a morally reprehensible subject, which leads to much social reproach and even legal persecution.

After explaining how life changing were some of her own experiences, and her bizarre encounter with that often mentioned transdimensional other that appears under some altered states, Reed introduces us to her conception of a visual language she called Glide. This language, through its discovery, opened her to the possibility of bridging the gap of having such profound, quasi-mystical, experiences and the unavoidable limitations of normal language to capture and reproduce the content of what was thus witnessed under such extremely bizarre conditions.

Once she establishes the method and the tools she used in her psychedelic research, she proceeds to explore that recurring theme of The Other, that unknown voice that time and again speaks back to those brave enough to go deeper onto the psychedelic experience. With this we end the first part of the book.

Then, on the second part, Maps and Models, the discussion becomes more technical, more philosophical. Reed delves onto the ontological dilemma: the question of knowing what is real. How real reality is, especially when faced with such huge shifts in your perception under altered states of consciousness? From the ontological she tackles the subsequent epistemological dichotomy: how to be scientific when your object of study requires a shift from the standard subjective point of view? How to tie together the seemingly opposing views of looking at a brain from the outside (objectivity) and the topsy-turvy worldview experienced by the subject under the influence? From this Reed goes on to summarize different theories and models of consciousness, and how to approach this field of study.

Reed then goes on to explore the experience of extended perception (in its many multimodal varieties) and how this experience results in a radical shift on how time, space, and even dimensionality are conceived. For what Reed really wants to do is to bridge between these undeniable recurring experiences of shifts in perception and how psychedelics alter one’s linguistic capabilities across a larger spectrum of our senses.

And for this Reed leads the discussion to and through the problem of language, one of the main themes of her work. She then goes on to explore several neurophenomenological perspectives on language, summarizing the views of different thinkers, trying to shine some light on the somewhat fringy theoretical models provided by those authors.

Finally, on the third and last part of the book, Reed finally gets to tackle the central theme of the book: xenolinguistics. She here examines the differences between natural and unnatural (sic) languages, delving deeper onto the not sufficiently studied subject of the effects of psychedelics on language: the shifts that do occur on the listening-speaking and reading-writing capabilities, which then leads to non-ordinary modes of understanding and expression.

In order to provide some data grounds to demonstrate these shifts, she provides some examples taken from what she calls “The Guild of Xenolinguists”: a collection of fringy characters exploring non-ordinary languages and modes of expression.

From here on the discussion focus on the third subtheme of this book: that of “the evolution of language”. Reed here visits different authors and their theories on this subject, but on a roundabout way. For she chooses not the mainstream theorists, but those who have speculated a strong link between the use of mind-altering substances and the historically hard to explain phenomenon of language development and dissemination. The weird is at home here.

This leads to a discussion the topic of constructed languages, with Reed visiting the work of yet other fellow xenolinguists, thus providing more data points on how this phenomenon manifests and takes shape.

She then dives on the idea that language is everywhere, that life is built upon language (DNA), exploring the views of anthropologists linking recent scientific discoveries (the double-helix code of life) and the mythological views and representations that seem to echo the same findings. This is also complemented with the thoughts and explorations of akin-minded xenolinguists, who also take life to intelligent and that nature expresses itself through language.

The book concludes with a call for the furthering of language exploration under altered states of consciousness, for this, she hopes, will open the door for a potential different ways to structure reality, possibly offering us a different path to help us build a more healthy and sustainable future.

Having summarized the book, it’s now time to wrap this up. Since the subject matter here studied is so out the ordinary, exploring such complicated themes, so vast on their scope, I tried to make sense of what I got from reading this book by a straightforward description of its contents.

This is a way too specific work to be of use for most readers. There’s no way around this: we are here talking about the weird, the bizarre, the out of the ordinary. These themes are, for the most part, little know and, in most cases, not even recognized as worthy subjects of study.

Nonetheless, if you are still here, reading this, you are already one of the self-selected few with an inkling in knowing more about psychedelics, psychonautics, and even language under altered states of consciousness. And since you like knowing about fringy stuff, and you probably want to explore your own mind by altering it, this book, though long, will probably please you.


Probably. Worst case scenario and at least you’ll find out that you are not crazy, or at least that you are not alone in being as crazy as. In any case, there’s something there that will resonate with you.

The story of my reading this book is way too simple: it just happened. Actually, I only read it on the second try. What changed? Well, my guess is that this time I read a little bit further than the first time, and this little bit was enough to finally get me hooked. So, yes, the fault lied on me and I’m solely to blame.

To cut even shorter an already short story, what happened is that on the first time around I stumbled on something on the introduction that made me think this was just a superficial self-help you can do it! kind of book that I’m not particularly very fond of. But this was very far from the truth.

To be fair, and before I get lost in adding anything else, let me cut to chase and just state the obvious: this is a great book. It doesn’t matter if you are into writing or not. For every single time we open a book we are on the receiving end of the writing process, so we share a not so unimportant part on that process. This means that knowing about the trade will inevitably make you a better and more demanding reader. And, believe me (for I have fallen into to that dark pit of prejudice before), this book will tell you a lot that goes behind the scenes when it finally comes to get that book you love so much onto your hands.

In my case, and on my intentions for reading this work, let me just get it straight and tell you upfront that I’m not harboring any grand desire to become a writer. If anything, and because I’m trying to graduate from college, my sole interest in knowing about the nitty-gritties of writing ends where the production of sensible non-fiction is concerned. And even here I was struck by another pleasant surprise. For even the most committed boring non-fiction writer such as myself will greatly benefit from reading Sol Stein’s advices contained in this work.

Truth is that every chapter, every example, every little particular detail that Sol Stein breaks down to you matters in finally understanding how great writing comes about and how to work your way to it (that is, if you’re really interested in overcoming whatever stands in your way).

This happens because Sol Stein, out of a depth of knowledge that only comes from a long and hard fought experience, gives you an authoritative outlook on the writing trade both as a writer and as an editor. This makes his advices even more pertinent, for these are not the run of mill this is how I’ve done it! kind of shallow biographical accounts, but more akin to a roadmap on how to get across every step of the way throughout the publishing process, and this from the perspective of an experienced and talented insider.

Enough is enough. The book is what you want to read (not this review). Find the time for it and get it done. If you’re into writing, you probably already stumbled upon very similar recommendations (I’m just adding my grain of salt onto that pile). And if you’re just a reader, get it done nonetheless. Next time you’re reading something else, you’ll have a sharper eye and you will be much more critical in your understanding.

As much as I would wish to present a review that would justly honor this book, I guess I’m doomed to fail. For this is the kind of work that is so overwhelmingly complex, and great in scope, that trying to reduce it to any meaningful narratives is a daunting task. In a way, I want to chicken my way out of it, by simply saying, or better still, by simply pointing to the book, as in meaning: “go and read it yourselves”.

Do I recommend it? Of course I do. This is the right book on a very controversial but unavoidable topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI, for short). For we all sense it is happening, or at least it will happen, and with it will come many life changing (or should I say game changing?) consequences that cannot, and should not, be ignored.

Before reading this, though I was a bit aware of some of the problems and concerns around the development of a powerful General Artificial Intelligence (AGI), truth is that I hadn’t truly grasped how problematic these technologies were — or how dangerous an endeavor this was. And this is where the book will stun those who, like me, only have a passing view on this subject.

Author Max Tegmark, the Swedish-American cosmologist, has a depth of knowledge both in physics and, well, obviously, cosmology that makes his thinking reach far beyond any other author on this subject (not even science-fiction writers with their inkling for imagining dystopian futures). Sometimes his thinking so far ahead, and I do mean really far, so deep into the future, that you will be awestruck for how deep are his concerns about the future of life and of our continuation as a species when faced with the many unavoidable obstacles we will inevitably have to face.

I have no expertise in these fields or on this topic to go about and break down whatever is discussed here here in any meaningful way. What I can do is to share my amazement and sense of wonder that I felt by reading this book. Thanks to it I’m now more aware of how complicated these issues are, what are the risks involved in developing these technologies, and even of how they can, and probably will, change the course of life and our future as a truly planetary species.

Having followed the many reasonings and evidences as Tegmark lays them out, even if I’m not as optimistic as he seems to be at the end of the book (you would have to read it to understand what I mean — for he has very compelling reasons to feel the way he does), I’m at least more comfortable with the directions things are taking. For AGI, if it happens, will probably be that Life 3.0 kind of paradigm shift, the aptly named singularity point, from beyond which what we can think or hope to understand is without doubt meaningless.

So, to wrap it up: if you have the smallest inkling in knowing more about AI, AGI, the problems surrounding this topic (and there are many!), and about the future of life on this planet and of our species, I wholeheartedly recommend you read this book. How many pages? 300 something? Don’t worry — for you won’t even notice. This is how interesting and exciting you will find this book.

If you come to think of it, it’s hard to really appreciate how much we have inherited in terms of our past, and by past I mean actual, physical, past, if you don’t have a way to relate to what our ancestors did, what they had to face, and how brutal and unwelcoming was their natural environment.

What this book offer us is not the tired old run-of-the-mill glimpse into that distant past. Through the lenses of Brian M. Fagan’s theoretical telescope built upon his wealth of archeological knowledge, we get a different picture, one that is more like a window, even if a small one, to whom those peoples were and how they evolved.

Even if you’re not particularly interested in this field of study, even if you think there’s little to be learned here for it matters little to what your life is for, if you give this book a try you’ll find it to be very engaging. Fagan’s narrative is compelling, even thrilling at times, but does not sacrifice accuracy for the sake of readability.

In the end, by peeking into Fagan’s telescope onto that distant and very much forgotten Cro-Magnon past, we end up not only valuing more our much fought and suffered bodily past, but also hear the faint echoes of their lives and troubles, deepening our sense of awe for their artistic and technical remains. In this sense, in spite of aligning or not with your immediate interests, this book is very much worth the time spent reading it.

This book is a compilation of interviews of Terence McKenna as he is being asked by different people about the plethora of ideas McKenna was known to joust for. As a transcription of said interviews, these lose quite bit by being rendered in text, since Mckenna was mostly a very good conversationalist — the spoken word was his most unique quality; the text presented here becomes much drier than any recording on the same topic.

In any case, this is a good showcase of McKenna’s inventiveness and ease with making new and surprising connections. Since this book is organized by interviews standing for chapters, even if the book lacks some overall coherence making it a bit harder to take it as a whole work, this also allows you to read it as what it is, a compilation, something to be read in many sits, not necessarily tying the whole reading together.

If you are deeply interested in McKenna’s ideas and you’re looking to dig deeper to their origins and developments, inevitably you have to go through this book. However, if you’re just curious and not very prone to waste your time away reading, you’ll be much more satisfied by listening/watching to the many McKenna’s lectures available online, where you’ll not only learn about his ideas, but you’ll the get the full package of having the bard himself saying them, where he’ll delight you with his unmatchable skill in guiding your imagination through the power of his mastery of words.

I stumbled upon this book by roundabout way. I’ve watched a documentary where D.C.A. Hillman was featured, and saw him labeled as the author of this Chemical Muse work on the drug use and the roots of western civilization.

For quite some time now, I’ve had this intuition (for lack of better word) that history classes were somewhat lacking in regards to acknowledging the role drugs played in whatever was happening back then. I got that feeling (stressing it was just a feeling, for I lack expertise on the subject) just by reading some of the works of the Greco-Roman period, since they seemed to hint that the author had had his mind altered in order to have the kind of view presented in his writing. Nevertheless, my intuition could easily be dismissed for lack of any expert view on the matter, so, if anything, this was just one of those things I kept on the back of my head for lack of further evidence.

And here is why finding this book struck me as such an interesting proposal. For here it was the expert’s opinion on this particular topic promising to dig up that forgotten (or hidden) aspect of our culture’s past. So I read it eager as I was to find out how the author would argue in favor of that thesis.

The book opens with a very engaging presentation of the main reason why Hillman chose to write this book. For those of you who have had college experience, his description of what happened during his doctoral cross examination in regard to his research findings concerning recreational drug use in Ancient Rome will not come as a surprise. He had to remove his findings from the overall work or his doctoral degree would be rejected. Having done so, he remedied the removal by publishing his findings in the form of this book.

And here is where things get interesting. I was expecting a different kind of approach; well, not that I had a particular map in mind, but what I mean is that Hillman’s approach surprised me positively. For he starts to describe how terrible and miserable was life back then in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Too much suffering, disease and death for those poor wretched people forsake plant medicines just for the sake of some abstruse morality. And it makes sense. Plants were needed for they provided at least some comfort and assurance where little to none was to find. That also meant that they stumbled upon the mind altering effects of those same plants. And knowing them, they surely used them. It makes more sense if you think as Hillman points out the way.

In the following chapters, the author continues to guide us through what amounts to a congruent view that the use of recreational drugs was not only a reality but a necessary one in the context of those living back then. Taking bits from different sources, Hillman mounts his case by showing that different authors in antiquity, both Greek and Roman, were not only familiar with the various aspects of the possible uses of medicinal plants, as they seem to hint they also knew by first-hand experience the recreational uses of those very same plants.

In one really interesting chapter, The Pharmacology of Western Philosophy, Hillman presents a good case stressing the importance of mind-altering substances in promoting the development of Greek philosophy in ancient Pre-Socratic times.

Overall, the book tries to speak with different people, with very different views and specialization concerning the subject of Greco-Roman civilization. On the one hand, Hillman is very critical of most Classicists stance in regard to the specific topic of drug use in antiquity; but on the other hand, he is also speaking to the larger public that may be open to understand the past through this new perspective.

In spite its many strengths, the book is a little short on hard evidence to support its case — that is, there are too few references to actual texts that could make a stronger case for those who are not convinced by his overarching argument. But that could easily be justified as this book is not intended to be a specialists book only. Instead of offering the passages, Hillman points to where one can find them, if one is so inclined to do so.

If, like me, you’re partial to this subject; that is, if you already are favorable to the view that drug use and human history go side by side wherever you look, you’ll find this book very enlightening and pleasing. But if you oppose this view, I’m not sure if you’ll find the whole argument compelling. Nonetheless, if you have in you some spark of curiosity to allow yourself a different understanding of what might have happened in the past, you probably will find this book very engaging.