I think anyone interested in psychedelics and/or shamanism/ global paradigm shifts should read "Breaking Open the Head" and his newest book, "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl". They blew my mind, or better yet, broke open my head.
I loved 'Breaking Open the Head', that book completely changed my view of the world. I haven't read his book on 2012 though. Some of his articles for Reality Sandwich are intesting too
I read Breaking Open the Head in the spring, and I'm working on 2012 right now. One of the smartest people of our time, I'd say.
its so weird i found Breaking Open The Head on the floor of some random store...so i took it and read it and it changed my life i like terrance mckenna and pinchbecks writing is very similar
Borders Books didn't have Breaking Open the Head, so I bought "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" and so far so good! I love how Daniel Pinchbeck presents many different ways of looking at things for the reader to ponder, instead of giving one single viewpoint. He's not forcing his views down anyone's throat, just putting them out there for consideration. Very good read!
Breaking Open The Head is amazing. This guy is right on about everything. But here we are, the people reading it going "Yeah you are so right on", yet we don't actually do anything about it. Here we are, still sitting in our technological mess killing ourselves and our planet.
I guess I should probably actually read 'Breaking Open the Head' but i've skimmed through some of it and some of his stories kind of bug me for some reason. Don't get me wrong some of the stuff is very interesting but I just found it predictable that he wouldn't try something like Datura, and without even trying it, he applied a 'negative spirit' to it or something. He made some remarks about Ketamine users being soulless as well (that might be slightly taken out of context). I feel like he's just a random psychonaut that happens to write well and actually has a very skewed view and bias for and against certain substances. From what I read he seems to be reaffirming all the praise that the psychedelic community holds for the Natural entheogens, and some of the synthetic ones (LSD, MDMA, 2cb) and holds the disdain towards some of the darker ones like datura and ketamine. As far as his philisophical beliefs surrounding 2012, I didn't delve into that material too much. Mckenna seemed like much more of an explorer to me and I felt that he was strongly devout to certain substances (DMT and psilocybin) but even kind of somewhat rejected some fairly popular ones in the psychedelic community (MDMA) and his ability to break down certain aspects of the experiences was unparalleled. I am glad there are writers like Pinchbeck though taking over the reigns of the Psychedelics philosophers that came before him, I just don't care for his style much ....yet
only just found this thread... i loved this book! especially the stuff he wrote about that guy he met who was spontaneously having "shamanic" experiences.... i could relate to that... made me feel not so alone afterall (not that alone isn't good.. it's just that there is alone, and then there is ALONE)... arf
i really liked this book... lent it to my nephew a couple of years ago or so and haven't seen it since, just hope he's passing it on to others to read... gonna get myself another copy... i particularly liked the info about the bloke he met who's life just seemed to be one long initiation into something... so related to that man's experiences... kinda made me feel more sane than insane ooops, i didnt realize id already responded to this thread...
"Breaking Open the Head" was pretty good, as well as informative for the entry level. Afraid not. DP is a weak soul on the paper chase.
