True Hallucinations – Review

True Hallucinations

by Terence McKenna (HarperOne)
by Michelle Laframboise

I picked up this book at Tower Records, not because I was specifically looking for anything, least of all a book, but because I thought the cover was neat (a rain forest of massive mushrooms with a toucan grinning mischievously), and of course the title, True Hallucinations. It was described as an account of the Author’s Extraordinary Adventures in the devil’s paradise. Because the book was wrapped in plastic, I couldn’t just open it and speed read the first chapter, so in a fit of curiosity, I spent a rather large sum of money for a rather small book with a really neat cover (didn’t anyone ever tell you…? -typist) and a title that promised a good read. I wasn’t disappointed; True Hallucinations takes us on a twisted and bizarre – yet oddly technical at times – journey in search of the perfect hallucinogenic experience.

“Our first Stropheria trip at La Chorra occurred on the twenty second of February 1971, only a little more than 24 hours after our arrival at La Chorra and following the four day walk through the jungle from San Jose del Encanto on the Rio Cara Paran. My journal entry on the following day makes it clear that I was spellbound. It was the last thing I could bring myself to write for several weeks. All day I was suffused with contentment. I knew that the mushroom was the best hallucinogen I had ever had and that it had a quality of aliveness I had never known before. It seemed to open doorways into places I had always assumed would always be closed to me because of my insistence on analysis and realism.”

I could throw in any number of quotes from this book and still not quite be able to describe this strange and crazy tale, which will surprise the intellectuals and bring a smile and a nod of approval to the faces of those familiar with psilocybin’s mystical, magical eye-opening properties. For once I took a risk and came out on top; this book is a must-read for anyone curious about psilocybin, as well as an enjoyable and insightful look into one man’s journey of self-discovery. On the downside, the author leaves us with an overwhelming sense of sadness; of things not quite finished, of days all too vividly remembered, never to return. Mr. McKenna is an old man shrugging his shoulders, asking, “did the cosmic giggle move on?” and walking wearily away, a look of vast disappointment on his face.

(Other books by Terrence McKenna: Food of the Gods and The Archaic Revival.)