This is the third and final volume of North Atlantic Books' hard cover
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/Gnosis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path focuses on
plant-based and derivative psychedelic "teachers" (including ayahuasca,
peyote, LSD, and DMT) and on the "poison path" of substances such as
belladonna, ketamine, and ibogaine. 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 includes the predecessor volumes Pharmako/Poeia
(which covers tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, opiates, salvia divinorum, and
other substances) and Pharmako/Dynamis (focusing on stimulants and
empathogens).
