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Reviews
Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey from Cynicism to Shamanism by Daniel Pinchbeck
tombs's review against another edition
3.0
This was such a strange read for me. But he had a lot of interesting insights into some very psychedelic topics.
serizawa's review against another edition
might come back to it but rn I’m not interested. I think I’m just not in a nonfiction mood. also, a lot of the language the (white) author uses towards cultural practices kind of puts me off.
crispymerola's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
2.0
An accidentally brilliant experience - a tome of spastic babbles, laden with unintentional sexism and xenophobia, which manages to say nothing about the world and everything about its author.
Homeboy is so self absorbed. He, a wise white boy, spends half the book critiquing western society for its ignorance and condescension towards other cultures, while consistently displaying the same carelessness in his writings. He visits Huatla in Mexico, describing the town as a "Third World backwater," "rough, functional, and ugly," "the smell of cheap gasoline hung in the air," his hotel was "plain, concrete-walled, with a septic smell."
Instead of charting various shamanic practices, as the title of the book suggests, Pinchbeck decides to spend the book tripping balls on whatever he can find, cobbling together images and puddle-deep insights from his journeys to bestow upon the reader. Across the 300-ish pages of the book, we witness his writings grow more disconnected, arrogant, self-righteous, irrational - and entertaining.
There's no knowledge to be found here. But, if you want to watch a man zap the shit out of his mind and see the effect this has on his prose and ability to structure a book - you're in for a trip.
Homeboy is so self absorbed. He, a wise white boy, spends half the book critiquing western society for its ignorance and condescension towards other cultures, while consistently displaying the same carelessness in his writings. He visits Huatla in Mexico, describing the town as a "Third World backwater," "rough, functional, and ugly," "the smell of cheap gasoline hung in the air," his hotel was "plain, concrete-walled, with a septic smell."
Instead of charting various shamanic practices, as the title of the book suggests, Pinchbeck decides to spend the book tripping balls on whatever he can find, cobbling together images and puddle-deep insights from his journeys to bestow upon the reader. Across the 300-ish pages of the book, we witness his writings grow more disconnected, arrogant, self-righteous, irrational - and entertaining.
There's no knowledge to be found here. But, if you want to watch a man zap the shit out of his mind and see the effect this has on his prose and ability to structure a book - you're in for a trip.
ginalim0n's review against another edition
2.0
could not finish. some interesting information but do we really need to hear it coming from another self-important white man
kat_amo_'s review against another edition
4.0
An honest and extremely informative account of the development (and repression) of psychedelic medicine over the past century. Daniel presented strong intrinsic evidence accompanied by entrancing personal experiences to take the reader on an educational journey. Highly recommend if you are interested in learning about a variety of different cultural histories and visionary catalysts.
pspspsp's review against another edition
4.0
This is much more than a cultural history of psychedelics. It is an argument for 21st century spirituality, which Pinchbeck claims is necessary to regain different levels of consciousness lost to the Western world. Towards the end, the book takes a rather bizarre turn but until then it's a good read. As a person who had previously only taken psychedelics for fun, Pinchbeck's book really made me reconsider the possibilities of these drugs and what other realities could be out there. It could have done with some information on acquiring some of these drugs, particuarly ibogaine which sounds potentially lifesaving. Pinchbeck was lucky enough to be able to go to shamanic retreats and that sort of thing through his work but the majority of people don't have that luxury.
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