Trips: How Hallucinogens Work in Your Brain - Softcover

Pellerin, Cheryl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1888363347 ISBN 13: 9781888363340

Publisher: Seven Stories Press, 1998

Synopsis

Trips shows, using color illustrations, the latest research, and bleeding-edge cultural analogies, how the still-mysterious hallucinogens may work in the still-mysterious brain. Written in language a general audience can understand, the book's tone is light and irreverent, yet at the same time deals with the drug culture in a serious way.
Trips offers readers a rare look at the social, cultural, historical, and scientific phenomenon of psychedelics-through the eyes of artists who've grown up with them, regulators who control them, federal scientists who approve and fund their research, and scientists who've spent careers studying them—and in the process fills a growing need for truthful information about drugs. For a generation, people have been worried about false horrors attributed to LSD-chromosome damage (LSD doesn't; coffee and aspirin do), suicide, madness, and flashbacks (no such thing). There are, however, real problems associated with hallucinogens, which until now have been unknown, ignored, or untranslated from the scientific literature. Trips separates the facts from the falsehoods and provides, through the combination of Pellerin’s text and the artwork of legendary American artist Robert Crumb, a practical, entertaining, and yet rock-solid guide.

About this title

About the Author:

CHERYL PELLERIN is an independent science writer for broadcast and print. Her work appears regularly on the Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel.
R. CRUMB is an underground cartoonist and an American national treasure. He is the author of Robert Crumb’s Genesis, a fully illustrated edition of the first book of the Bible, and many legendary underground comics besides.

From Booklist:

If that subtitle triggers the response "Really well!," presumably the book's acquisition is a foregone conclusion. Although not suitable for a results-oriented collection, as would be, say, a DARE-funded project, it is a fine source of responsible information about how the verboten and vilified but perennially popular hallucinogenic drugs go about their nefarious business. Pellerin leavens scientific terminology with illustrations that include lots of the work of underground comic book artists, most notably that of comix superstar R. Crumb. More of the book is devoted to the history of hallucinogen use and control than to chemistry and biology, but the emphasis is on full and open discussion of recreational use. That Pellerin does not damn that practice outright may be an acquisitions disincentive for many libraries, which would be a shame, for her book is fresh, reasonable, and very engaging. Mike Tribby

About this edition

• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1888363347
• ISBN 13: 9781888363340
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Illustrator: Seefelt Ellen, Crumb R.