***This paperback edition has a new introduction by the author and
updated content.
This is the second volume of North Atlantic Books' updated paperback
edition of Dale Pendell's Pharmako trilogy, an encyclopedic study of
the history and uses of psychoactive plants and related synthetics first
published between 1995 and 2005. The books form an interrelated suite of
works that provide the reader with a unique, reliable, and often
personal immersion in this medically, culturally, and spiritually
fascinating subject. All three books are beautifully designed and
illustrated, and are written with unparalleled authority, erudition,
playfulness, and range.
Pharmako/Dynamis: Stimulating Plants, Potions, and Herbcraft includes
a new introduction by the author and as in previous editions focuses on
stimulants (including coffee, tea, chocolate, and coca and its
derivatives) and empathogens (notably Ecstasy). Each substance is
explored in detail, not only with information on its history,
pharmacology, preparation, and cultural and esoteric correspondences,
but also the subtleties of each plant's effect on consciousness in a way
that only poets can do. The whole concoction is sprinkled with abundant
quotations from famous writers, creating a literary brew as intoxicating
as its subject.
The Pharmako series also includes Pharmako/Poeia (which covers
tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, opiates, salvia divinorum, and other
substances) and Pharmako/Gnosis (which addresses psychedelics and
shamanic plants).