Good Drug Books

The Archaic Revival by Terrence McKenna (the end of the world as a perspective relative to shrooms and ayahuasca)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (godlike)

Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Doors of Perception (mescaline)
Heaven and Hell
-both by Aldous Huxley

Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley (a little dark, but a fucking epic of Heroin and coke)

 

How 'bout "Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse? Also, you can check out my own "Autumn Shadows in August." The main character is a middle-aged Vietnam War conscientious objector turned expatriate who goes on a mushroom journey through his own Magic Theater in a hotel room in Amsterdam. That takes up a third of the novel. I also have a podcast online.
http://norris.podomatic.com

Here're a few more suggestions. I think most of these are still available online if you google the titles.

THE VAULTS OF EROWID

Erowid.org is an online library of information about psychoactive plants and chemicals and related topics. The information on the site is a compilation of the experiences, words, and efforts of hundreds of individuals including users, parents, health professionals, doctors, therapists, chemists, researchers, teachers, and lawyers. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information as well as a library for the collection of documents published elsewhere. The information found on the site spans the spectrum from solid peer reviewed research to fanciful creative writing.

The library contains over 13,000 documents related to psychoactives including images, research summaries and abstracts, media articles, experience reports, information on chemistry, dosage, effects, law, health, traditional and spiritual use, and drug testing. The following book was popular among intellectual and researchers experimenting with psychedelics in the sixties.

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE: A MANUAL BASED ON THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD by Timothy Leary, Ph.D., Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., & Richard Alpert, Ph.D.

From the Citadel print edition's back cover:
"The drug is only one component of a psychedelic session. Equally important is the mental and spiritual preparation, both before and in the course of taking the drug. The authors find no need to invent new mental and spiritual materials for this purpose. The great literature of meditation lends itself very well to this use. This manual uses material from The Tibetan Book of the Dead for this preparation. The authors also make an important contribution to the interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. They show that it is concerned not with the dead, but with the living. The last section of the manual provides instructions for an actual psychedelic session, under adequate safeguards."

THE PSYCHEDELIC LIBRARY

This site has a lot of useful books and essays concerning research on psychedelics. The following books are among my favorites.

THE MAN WHO TURNED ON THE WORLD by Michael Hollingshead

Originally published by Blond & Briggs, Ltd. in 1973, this book is the autobiography of one of the legendary figures in the history of the psychedelic rediscovery. In 1962 Hollingshead introduced the Harvard researchers to LSD.

THE SEARCH FOR THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE by John Marks

Originally published by Times Books in 1979, this book tells the extraordinary story, compiled from documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, of how the CIA conducted a series of secret programs to find ways to control human behavior. Marks' investigation reveals that the Agency was deeply involved in research with psychoactive drugs, psycho-surgery, electroshock, hypnosis and other methods on Agency operatives, students, mental patients, defectors, prisoners and prostitutes; many of these subjects were unwitting or involuntary collaborators.

LSD, MY PROBLEM CHILD by Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD and discoverer of psilocybin, the active principle of the "magic mushroom," recounts the history of his discoveries. HTML edition, table of contents and complete text. Originally published in 1980 by McGraw-Hill Book Company. Translated by Jonathan Ott from the German, LSD -- Mein Sorgenkind, 1979

THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION by Aldous Huxley

Huxley's classic from 1954, which sparked the rediscovery of psychedelics by a wide and varied audience. "There is nothing the pen of Huxley touches which it does not illuminate, and as the record of a highly civilised, brilliantly articulate man under the influence of an astonishing drug, The Doors of Perception is a tour de force." -- The Daily Telegraph, London.

 

the peterpan bag is good a little bit young but good. the bell jar is good too. The Vice Guide to Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll.

 

As far as non-fiction is concerned I would definitely recommend Hallucinogenic Plants of North America by Jonathan Ott. I just posted a thread on this one a moment ago, which you can see here:
http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200965

 

I liked that one as well. It's a good book, but it tends to drag in some places.

 

The main element in Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" is intoxication, I would say...an absolutely maniacal chaotic dionysian masterpiece.

The drugged up nature of it can get a little dumb at times though...when he just adds shit like an insignificant flying cow into parts that are pretty fucked up in the first place

 

Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr.

If you have not seen the movie...read the book first and then see the amazing film. Prepared to be blown away

 

That Was Then This Is Now is something about drugs... not entirely based around but it mentions it in some detail and it's a great read.

 

These were both good reads. I also think that Smashed, which isnt about drugs so much as it is about girls drinking and the risk they are put at when they binge drink, is a good read.

 

How about A Scanner Darkly. I'm not to big a fan of science fiction but I like a lot of Philip K. Dick.

 

Absolutely agreed!

 

Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr.

Not exclusively a drug book, but still.

And no matter what anyone says, i love Go Ask Alice, lol. I read that shit all the time.

But, of course, Fear and Loathing will always be the best ever ever ever.

 

As for nonfiction, Buzzed seems to be as good as it gets for straight up info on effects, addiction potential, etc. of all major recreational drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine.

 

Junk
Junky
Someone said 'Go Ask Alice' but I don't think it was that good, just my opinion.

 

Smashed is a pretty good read, and the follow up to A Million Little Pieces is good too, it's called "My Friend Leonard".

 

A Child's Garden of Grass. An f'ing hilarious book. And useful.

 

It's just a short story but a good read nonetheless. "The Euphio Question" by Kurt Vonnegut is a pretty good metaphor for LSD usage and it's social consequences.

 

It is funny. Try and find the audio (vinyl) its pretty good too.

 

Tweak by: Nic Sheff.

I loved that book. :]

 

of course albert hoffmans "My problematic child' maybe i got the title wrong as i read it in polish but it is a book about him diocsovering lsd, absolute classic A MUST!!!