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Books like Politics of Ecstasy

Politics of Ecstasy

1970, Timothy Leary

4.5/5

I'm rating this a little higher than I probably would normally on account of it being such an important historical artifact. Parts of this are excellent, for instance the Playboy Interview. What a fantastic piece of history! And some of his points on Herman Hesse's work as well make reading this worthwhile, though in general I would say it's a little repetitive and overly optimistic. I get WHY he was overly optimistic, he was aiming for something, but it's a bit sad almost 50 years later to see that the psychedelic revolution he was predicting "in just a few years" hasn't arrived and is just barely being decriminalized on the lowest of levels with marijuana in a few states. If you're looking for a good book on consciousness that is heavily influenced by Leary and his psychedelic experience then Robert Anton Wilson's book Prometheus Rising is much more useful and direct. As well I'll mention Thaddeus Golas "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment" as an invaluable tool in avoiding bad trips. But this book, of course, is excellent as a rich viewpoint from the smarter (if a bit deluded) side at an amazing point in time 1962-1968.
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