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Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge — A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution

Author:
Terence McKenna (author)
Language:
English
Original language:
English
Publisher:
Rider
Categories:
Anthropology, drugs and history
Publication year:
1992
ISBN:
978-0-7126-7038-8
Pages:
311
Synopsis:

An attempt to chart out human evolution from the point of view of drugs, where drugs are conceived to be everything from Coca and mushrooms to sugar and red meat, with a lot of speculation on human culture.

Review:

If you're at all familiar with McKenna's output through his public lectures, then this book is just filling out the details. Terence is hitting a lot of his familiar riffs in this book, so you might skip it. However, for the really curious I can (of course) heartily recommend this book as I think McKenna is a pretty good author (and his ideas are in any case very interesting).

Has read?
Yes
Debut?
No
Images:
Back of Food of the Gods.Spine of Food of the Gods.Front of Food of the Gods.
High-res images:
[Back (4.76 MB)] [Spine (963.08 KB)] [Front (5.26 MB)]
Table of Contents:
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  • Introduction: A Manifesto for New Thought About Drugs

I Paradise

  • 1. Shamanism: Setting the Stage
  • 2. The Magic in Food
  • 3. The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge
  • 4. Plants and Primates: Postcards From the Stoned Age
  • 5. Habit as culture and Religion
  • 6. The high Plains of Eden

II Paradise Lost

  • 7. Searching for Soma: The Golden Vedic Enigma
  • 8. Twilight in Eden: Minoan Crete and the Eleusinian Mystery
  • 9. Alcohol and the Alchemy of Spirit
  • 10. The Ballad of the Dreaming Weavers: Cannabis and Culture

III Hell

  • 11. Complacencies of the Peignoir: Sugar, Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate
  • 12. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Opium and Tobacco
  • 13. Synthetics: Heroin, cocaine, and Television

IV Paradise Regained?

  • 14. A Brief History of Psychedelics
  • 15. Anticipating the Archaic Paradise
  • Epilogue: Looking Outward and Inward to a Sea of Stars
  • Notes
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography
  • Index

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