Breen focuses on the personal stories of people involved with the birth and rapid development of psychedelic science. These are colorful characters, but what I found most interesting about the book is how the formal field mirrored many others in mid-century science. These folks appropriate indigenous knowledge with little to no attribution, had a techno-utopian view of their field, and became deeply entangled with unethical research within academic institutions and with the US defense complex.