The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants

Nobody gets 5 stars. It would take all of the striving out of doing anything. This book contains, among other things, a wonderful explanation of the recent evolution of human consciousness. It is written from an anthropological perspective, but is anything but droll and academic. There are some big words, but it is easy reading from the interest point of view. I think this book offers some insights for seekers who have experience with psychedelic intoxicants and for those of curious mind.

Book came brand new, and shipped in great packaging. It is a book where I have to make myself stop reading it, it's that great and can't wait to finish it. Terence McKenna is a brilliant mind and gave great thoughts in this book.

I won't say I agree with everything said in this book. Some of it is way, way out. It is worth looking at. He is better known for his podcasts. His books, including this book, are well structured, and useful. However they just don't have the energy of his podcasts.

McKenna's dissertation on the implications of the mushroom is one of the most undeniably pertinent and eye-opening books I've ever read.

T.M.'s way of writing and speaking is exceedingly pleasant and cognitively stimulating, and his sense of humor is on par with a zen masters in my opinion.

Read this book if you've ever had an experience worth learning more about ;)

In examining the effect of entheogenic molecules upon the development of human genes and culture Terence McKenna makes an engaging and thought provoking argument for the reasons behind our culture's current crises and posits a solution, by means of the so-called Archaic Revival, in which the human race is able to bring about healing to itself, its members and the planet. A very well constructed read!

This book deals with a controversial subject usually left unexplained, the moment primates acquired consciousness and evolved into humans. Remember the movie 2001 Space Odyssey? The moment where the monkeys touch the monolith and jump forward in evolution? Well, this book talks about more or less the same thing, but with mushrooms and other hallucinogens instead of monoliths. I enjoyed every page, and hoped it never end.

Although I enjoyed the subject matter of the book, I thought the author's writing style left a lot to be desired. Considering how fascinating this topic is, I thought this book would have sucked me in, but instead it felt very dry and dull.

Terence McKenna is a better speaker than he is a writer, so I'd rather recommend that you watch some of his youtube videos instead of purchasing this book. I can't speak for all of his books, but this one felt incredibly dry and overly analytical.

This book helped me satisfy much curiosity over these interesting drugs and their history. However I didn't end up sharing Mckenna's viewpoint in the long-run. Instead I was able to move on from this youthful obsession. Looking back, this book was probably the most fun to read non-fiction for me and I don't regret reading it at all. Definitely a fun reading experience, but in light of further investigation I personally didn't find it totally convincing. But that's ok! It helped me move forwards in establishing a likalbe/concrete perception of existence and entertained along the way.

Very intriguing book by dear departed Mr. McKenna. The flow of writing is peculiar in this one. On one moment you notice you have just consumed 50 pages by one sitting and on another, you struggle to read more than couple pages at time. English is not my native language so some words were unfamiliar, but most of them were explained at the end of the book. Deepens one's McKennaism.

So incredibly inspiring!! Mckenna is a genius! This book has confirmed so many ideas I have had but felt unable to put together thoughtfully. The research he has put together is immaculate, and McKenna's perspective, unique and magnificent as usual. So much love for this man and his work

Great book if your looking to find out mankind's take and view on "drugs" throughout history. Have only taken a read out of the first few chapters, but its very interesting and I would recommend to read.

`Food of the Gods' offers an interesting take on the evolution of homo sapiens from their predecessors into modern society. Unfortunately, I also consider Terence McKenna to be a biased person, meaning that many of his arguments are inherently flawed.

There are several things I liked about `Food of the Gods.' The first is that Terence chose to take a more conversational tone in this book as opposed to an academic one. I found this refreshing as I think that academic discourse oftentimes gets bogged down with the tendency to try and objectively prove every argument. For a subject with a scope as large as this, I think it would be very difficult and counterproductive to go into great detail trying to prove every argument.

Upon reading `Food of the Gods' I was already familiar with many of Terence's arguments through other sources unrelated to him, so a lot of this book was review for me. However to those uninitiated with the teachings of the modern drug counter-culture, this would definitely be a good place to start. Like I said, this book is written in a tone that is easy to understand. Terence takes the time to explain things that the more educated take for granted, so there is very little chance of getting confused.

That being said, I consider Terence to be a biased person. Clearly Terence found his experiments with hallucinogens to be meaningful and significant. I do not deny this. However, he is far from the first person to have had such experiences. I know people who hold with equal conviction the significance of their experiences stemming from things totally unrelated to hallucinogens. Examples include, but are not limited to, the adoption of new political, social and/or religious beliefs. The problem is that once people start thinking this way, they start seeing their ideology everywhere.

There may be some merit to the idea that our society needs to update its perception of drugs, however I doubt that this is the answer to all of our problems. I certainly do not believe that all of humanity's problems throughout the course of history are a result of whether or not people accepted hallucinogens as a valid practice. I have seen Christians display the same attitude, as if all the conflict in human history could have been prevented by the adoption of their religion. Same goes for libertarians, socialists, feminists, etc. Like Terence's `Stoned Ape Theory' all of these ideologies have some merit, however I do not believe that people are that simple where there is one ideology which fits the needs of every human in every situation imaginable. Terence offers some unique ideas, but it is presented with the same tired rhetoric I have seen many times before.

I am all about free thinking and going against established norms etc. and praising shamanism and womens' rights etc., and don't get me wrong McKenna has had some great quotes, but I just didn't enjoy reading this book at all. I think that he makes a good point that primates ate mushrooms and developed consciousness and language etc which is what we became, but I think instead of really making a convincing argument he just kind of rambles and jumps around from subject to subject, making the reader feel like he assumes they already agree with him and don't need to be convinced. Basically I just think his reasoning presentation was severly lacking and that he sounds like a teenager on acid.

Some people can see further. If you fly over your home-town, on Google Earth, you notice the higher vantage point straight away. You would never have guessed that there where so many trees surrounding your home-town if you stayed on Earth. Zoom out a little and the view becomes higher. Now you see mountains and seas. You apprehend more because you are high. When you come back down, try explaining what you have seen to your friends. Chances are, if your friends have never risen to those heights themselves, they won't believe you. You will then get thrown into the cooking pot!

You flew too high and they dragged you back down. You looked down into the DMT flash, you witnessed grandeurs beyond grandeurs, chasms over chasms, deeps beyond deeps. Just like in mathematics where there are infinitudes of higher orders infinitely transcending lower infinities, so the phenomenon of consciousness can no longer be seen at sparks firing from living meat. Rather, your consciousness is a revelation of infinities overlapping your normal, hum-drum, pay that mortgage, monkey mind.

Read it and go very high!

'Food of the Gods' is perhaps the best book Terence McKenna has written, and I have read it with an enthusiastic participation that I have rarely experienced in my literary life. It was as if I was co-authoring the book while reading it.

And this book is much more coherent than The Archaic Revival, and much less esoteric than The Invisible Landscape—the book I shall review next. In fact, it treats a very important subject that is rather obfuscated in modern times: food. When I say obfuscated I really mean that most modern city dwellers have developed no consciousness of what they ingest on a daily basis; they are just gnawing away their very juice of life, with all the toxics that modern processed food contains. While in ancient times food was medicine. You still have this philosophy in the Chinese food tradition where there are many dishes, for example a whole array of mushroom dishes, that originally were concocted for medical purposes but that today we eat just for enriching our daily diet. There is one rather esoteric dish among them, that is called the ‘black chicken.’

The interesting thing about this dish is that while you can buy these small black chickens in any supermarket in Asia, the other ingredients you best don’t buy there, but in a Chinese medical pharmacy. They will open a number of little drawers for you and put on a sheet of paper a curious composition of mushrooms, herbs, spices and dried plums that you take home for a few cents.
Now, you brew this with water, and just put some salt. You cannot imagine what this dish can do! It cures any cold, influenza or cough—guaranteed! The taste is exotic, it really tastes like medicine, and the red meat of this little black chicken really has a good taste. This is the way to enjoy life as the ancients did: you eat what you like, but you eat medicine at the same time.
McKenna’s mind was incredibly lucid for unveiling the machinations of our negative oversoul, and I wonder if any of his predictions are understood by a larger number of people, other than the eternal adolescent-minded and hopelessly narcissistic baby boomers that surrounded him like a plague all through his life, and that surely will not have the necessary strength to assume his heritage.

Food and mind do interact: this is the essential message of this book. And there is one more link to it. Food acts on sexuality, and sexuality acts in turn on the mind. This is not an insight unique to McKenna’s food research but many studies have shown that alcohol abuse has a particular effect on sexuality in that it renders the sexual appetite more violent, more sadistic, or else leads to impotence. McKenna speaks of an ‘alcohol culture’ and a little later he also speaks of a ‘coffee culture’ so as to characterize, in terms of food, our patriarchal tradition:
—Dominator style hatred of women, general sexual ambivalence and anxiety, and alcohol culture conspired to create the peculiarly neurotic approach to sexuality that characterizes European civilization. Gone are the boundary-dissolving hallucinogenic orgies that diminished the ego of the individual and reasserted the values of the extended family and the tribe./148

On the other hand, the current demonization of the harmless hallucinogenic Cannabis will in the author’s opinion cause us a particularly heavy price to pay for the surrender to dominator values in that it will bring about the deterioration of the individual self, and selfhood.

At the same time, with the suppression of Cannabis, a most harmful and toxic food rises: sugar.

I know that most people are unaware of the dangers of modern-day sugar ingestion, and gradually destroy the health of their children with this peak form of ignorance that is promoted and encouraged by all governments in the world. McKenna unveils the cunning trick that led to a total inattention to sugar as a really harmful drug.

Then, eventually, we talk about tobacco and the myth of its cancerogenous nature that not only McKenna has unveiled in the meantime, but also a number of other researchers.

Opium addiction was once the price paid for the prohibition of tobacco, as addiction to gasoline has been seen to be one of the consequences of alcohol prohibitions both in 1930s America and in Iran under the reign of Ayatollah Khomeini. As a general rule, you can observe in life that every denial brings about worse a condition compared to the original desire that was denied to manifest. Only that our decision-makers have so far not fully understood this law of the psyche.

So much depends on how we define food, or not define it as food! Psychedelics were originally defined as food, and no one had a problem with them. And the suppression of culture and the suppression of food go hand in hand, as McKenna lucidly demonstrates:
—Psychedelic plants and experience were first suppressed by European civilization, then ignored and forgotten. The fourth century witnessed the suppression of the mystery religions—the cults of Bacchus and Diana, of Attis and Cybele. The rich syncretism that was typical of the Hellenistic world had become a thing of the past. Christianity triumphed over the Gnostic sects—Valentinians, Marcionites, and others—which were the last bastions of paganism. These repressive episodes in the evolution of Western thought effectively close the door on communication with the Gaian mind./223

I would like to close this book review with a reproduction of McKenna’s unique law draft, which he entitled ‘A Modest Proposal’, and hope that the publisher will allow me to share this information here, which is surely not destined to preclude any book sales, and in the contrary encourage the reader to buy the book:

—Quote—
A drug policy of democratic values would aim to educate people to make informed choices based on their own needs and ideals. Such a simple prescription is necessary and sadly overdue. / A master plan for seriously seeking to come to terms with America’s drug problems might explore a number of options, including the following.
1. A 200 percent federal tax should be imposed on tobacco and alcohol. All government subsidies for tobacco production should be ended. Warnings on packaging should be strengthened. A 20 percent federal sales tax should be levied on sugar and sugar substitutes, and all supports for sugar production should be ended. Sugar packages should also carry warnings, and sugar should be a mandatory topic in school nutrition curricula.
2. All forms of cannabis should be legalized and a 200 percent federal sales tax imposed on cannabis products. Information as to the THC content of the product and current conclusions regarding its impact on health should be printed on the packaging.
3. International Monetary Fund and World Bank lending should be withdrawn from countries that produce hard drugs. Only international inspection and certification that a country is in compliance would restore loan eligibility.
4. Strict gun control must apply to both manufacture and possession. It is the unrestricted availability of firearms that has made violent crime and the drug abuse problem so intertwined.
5. The legality of nature must be recognized, so that all plants are legal to grow and possess.
6. Psychedelic therapy should be made legal and insurance coverage extended to include it.
7. Currency and banking regulations need to be strengthened. Presently bank collusion with criminal cartels allows large-scale money laundering to take place.
8. There is an immediate need for massive support for scientific research into all aspects of substance use and abuse and an equally massive commitment to public education.
9. One year after implementation of the above, all drugs still illegal in the United States should be decriminalized. The middleman is eliminated, the government can sell drugs at cost plus 200 percent, and those monies can be placed in a special fund to pay the social, medical, and educational costs of the legalization program. Money from taxes on alcohol, tobacco, sugar, and cannabis can also be placed in this fund.
10. Also following this one-year period, pardons should be given to all offenders in drug cases that did not involve firearms or felonious assault./269-270
—End of Quote—

Rest assured, I'm as big a fan of McKenna as the next guy and this book does an excellent job of illucidating the ways in which humans have been enmeshed in botanical forces in ways we never have realized before.

But it seems the with Tony Wrights book Left In The Dark, an entirely new view of how plant biochemistry influenced the evolution of the human brain becomes apparent. Humanity evolved in a symbiotic relationship with the unimaginably complex biochemistry of plants, particularly fruit, and this had a huge impact on DNA transcription, pineal activity, endocrine activity, etc, etc...Tony's book is utterly profound beyond words, and the implications are staggering. Is it any wonder that the most complex neural tissue to date evolved in an ecology filled with the most complex biochemical species on the planet? There was way more going on here than simply mushroom ingestion...Left in the Dark

Terence's brother Dr. Dennis McKenna actually wrote the forward to Tony Wrights book, which can be found on his site. It reads:

Foreword
∼ψ∼
The progress of science, and indeed, of human knowledge, requires a dynamic tension
between the mere accumulation of observations and "dusty facts" and a synthetic process in
which the accumulated results of scientific observation and inquiry are woven together into
frameworks that, in the ideal case, create revolutionary paradigms that enhance human
understanding of apparently discrete and unrelated aspects of nature. The hypotheses
proposed in this book may well represent such a revolutionary paradigm. These ideas do not
originate from the mainstream of academia, but rather are the contribution of two independent
scholars. The history of science and intellectual inquiry teach us that, as is so often the case
with truly novel syntheses, established scientific and intellectual institutions are too ossified,
and too invested in the conventionally accepted worldview, to allow the introduction of a new
paradigm without putting up considerable resistance.

Resistance will more than likely characterize the response to this book; its authors will
undoubtedly be denounced as mavericks, unqualified to comment on such a momentous topic
as the evolution of human consciousness; the ideas put forth here will be condemned as
heresy. Indeed they are heresy, in the context of what we think we understand about human
evolution, particularly the anomalous evolution of the human brain and consciousness. But
one is reminded of the famous observation of philosopher Arthur Schopanhauer: All truth, he
said, passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; third, it
is accepted as being self-evident. We should be wary of rejecting out of hand the premises of a
hypothesis that may one day seem self-evident.

Evolutionary biologists have long been puzzled by what is perhaps the chief mystery
of human origins: the explosive and rapid expansion of the human brain in size and
complexity over a vanishingly small span of evolutionary time. There is also the mystery of
hemispheric lateralization and the apparent de-integration of the right- and left-hemispheric
functions that we humans suffer. In this work, the authors postulate that it was not always so;
the universal myth of a pre-historic Golden Age, they maintain, is a racial memory that
reflects our primate evolution in an arboreal, rainforest environment in which humans
possessed mental and psychic abilities that have since become lost or atrophied in the profane
ages that followed. That rainforest environment favored a frugivorous diet rich in flavonoids,
MAO inhibitors, and neurotransmitter precursors, and relatively low in steroid containing orinducing elements.

This dietary regime both mimicked and fostered a state, reinforced by
positive feedback loops, in which pineal functions, including neocortical expansion and
hemispheric integration, were potentiated; moreover, these neurochemical feedback loops
were amplified in succeeding generations via the regulation of gene expression in the
developing foetus, independent of conventional evolutionary mechanisms of mutation and
natural selection. Climate changes or other environmental catastrophes forced several lineages
of hominids as well as archaic/early humans out of their forest-dwelling ancestral home into
much harsher savannah or grassland environments. As a consequence dietary regimens shifted
toward roots, tubers, grass seed and a greater proportion of animal protein, triggering a
reversal of the positive feedback loops that had sustained pineal potentiation and hemispheric
integration in the paradisiacal, forest-dwelling Golden Age. Pineal dominance was disrupted
by steroid-mediated, testosterone-driven functions primarily due to the reduced consumption
of flavonoids and other steroid-inhibitory dietary factors. Changes in the dietary patterns that
were forced on the population by this migration put an end to the rapid evolution of the human
brain and triggered its devolution, ultimately resulting in the damaged human neural
architecture that we suffer from today, and the myriad mental and physical deficits that are the
legacy of our biological `fall from grace'.

It is not the place of a foreword to present the central tenets of a complex theory in
detail; what is alluded to here is only the barest outline of an elegant hypothesis that plausibly
elucidates many baffling aspects of human evolution, brain science, and physiology into a
coherent explanatory framework. Ecologists have realized for several decades that the
complex interrelations of plants and insects are largely mediated through plant chemistry, and
that the interactive dynamics we can observe in these processes is a reflection of millions of
years of plant-insect co-evolution. Evolutionary biologists have long suspected that similar
co-evolutionary processes, mediated by interactions with plant secondary products, have
influenced the evolution of vertebrates, including primates. The hypotheses presented in this
book are incomplete, and are even now being refined and developed; however, even in their
present form they present a credible foundation on which to build a better understanding of
who we are, and how our puzzling human species got to be the way it is.

Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D.
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
December 2007

... which should be read by every thinking individual, but especially by those who participated in the hallucinogenic experience of the 50's-60's-70's . In my sixties now, remembering the sixties, I can only say that the most meaningful, transformative experiences of my life occurred in the environs of a psychedelic experience. Very simply: McKenna, the most eloquent observer of the return to the mycenial matrix of earthly consciousness, in the historical dimension, seems to get more of it right than anyone else. In this seminal volume, he articluates the scope of this mass phenomenon within the sweep and context of human history and evolution/involution. If you have not, at some point, engaged the psychedelic experience, you have not experienced one of the best and most important experiences that life in our time has to offer. One of the few books written in the past half-century that I would recommend to anyone as a "must read". As folks in the Village used to say, "...more than a drug".

This man is a genius! In Food of the Gods, McKenna postulates that monkeys on a diet of mushrooms, or dipping for insects in mushrooms, ate psychoactive chemicals that eventually played a major part in the evolution of human consciousness.
He then goes on to examine mushroom spores and there ability to leave the planet and travel intergalacticly in deep space frozen hibernation before landing on another planet. He describes the mushroom as the perfect vehicle for intergalactic travel and the spreading of consciousness.
SPACE MUSHROOMS!
The rest of the book is all about mankind's evolution with psychoactive plants by his side. Although he did get some things wrong in this book it was still cutting edge for its time and remains one of the most important thoughts on the topic to date. The world will also miss the man after his recently passing into that higher realm of consciousness.
Take this trip with Terence McKenna and expand your IQ.

I purchased this book several years ago on my last account with the store. This has a really cool drawing of a Horned Goddesses in all her sexual splendor. It has also a picture of a relief of the goddesses Demeter holding poppies, snakes and possibly ergot contaminated barely. It has many interesting facts about drugs ancient and recent culture and also interesting commentary on the Dominator Culture. A must read for those who are interested in goddesses, drugs history and even the modern age.

First of all I must say Kirkus's review of the book was only "okay", in fact it misleads potential customers when it says Mckenna is all for "legalization of all drugs". HA! Any avid fan of Mckenna knows from his speeches that he is not for a populace of drug-users. In fact he feels only a select few should experience mind altering drugs, as most aren't responsible enough. I reiterate... VERY misleading on Kirkus's behalf.
But onward.. McKenna, more or less sums up all his beliefs on humanity in this one book. It's his thesis on history more or less. He gives good examples of what the scientific community has shoved under the rug, and what these examples could do for liberating our theological minds. At times though, McKenna has the tendency to lose his audience with phrases like "Trancendent Other". He assumes a lot in such cases, but in the end he does provoke one's mind. Into considering the vast possibilities that remain untouched in Man's early history.

Absolutely incredible anthropological history of man and psychedelics and other drugs throughout history. McKenna's theories of evolution and nomadic trade of altered-states-of-consciousness-plant culture is really interesting and the bets explanation i've heard to date about how we came to be in our society. the only thing left unexplained is from where and how dominator culture arose and evolved.

Food of the Gods is one of the first recommended books that I purchased from the store. I enjoyed the idea of learning about the history of plants, drugs, and human evolution, but I had no clue where Terence McKenna was going to go with this, let alone who he was. Having said that, I was very surprised when I found out that the majority of this book was about psychedelic mushrooms and even more surprised when I found myself believing McKenna's arguments towards the benefits of them. He has a very open mind when it comes to things like this and after reading just the beginning of this book, I knew this would be a entertaining read.

The beginning of the book is basically a breakdown of the practices of shamanism and other earlier tribes who experimented with psychedelic mushrooms. McKenna argues that the very fundamental things that make us who we are, religion, sex, and language, were all brought on, if not built upon, by the use of psychedelic mushrooms. Through these means we were able to create and build upon the things that make us the evolved humans we are today.

I was also fascinated by McKenna's view on alcohol. "Alcoholism as a social and community problem appears to have been rare before the discovery of distillation. Just as heroin addiction was the malignant flower that sprang from the relativity benign habit of opium use, so distilled changed the sacred art of the brewer and the vintner into a profane economic engine for the consumption of human hopes." McKenna believes that in these days of our existence we have become a male dominated society. Just to give one of many examples, "How many women have their first sexual experiences in an atmosphere of alcohol use that ensures that these crucial experiences take place entirely on dominator terms?" Even when we speak of God, we are talking as if "he" is a male when clearly there is no form that God takes.

"...I would prefer to separate the vision-producing plants from the popular notion of drugs. The global drug problem is a different issue entirely and has to do with the fates of nations and mega-dollar criminal syndicates. I avoid synthetic drugs and prefer the organic hallucinogens, because I believe that a long history of shamanic usage is the first seal of approval that one must look for when selecting a substance for its possible effects on personal growth." That last sentence is the key to understanding the point of psychedelic mushrooms: personal growth. I have only experienced psychedelic mushrooms once in my life, but it changed the person who I was forever. I had a very deep and understanding relationship with nature that day. You could say I saw the bigger picture of life and it made me appreciate everything around me from the nature that allows us to thrive to the connection we all have as human beings. Some people will never experience psychedelic mushrooms for a variety of reasons, mostly being because it is still considered a drug, but I want to give everyone an idea of what the DEA considers to be the most dangerous drugs on the market: Schedule 1 drugs. This section lists marijuana, peyote, magic mushrooms, LSD, and ecstasy as the most dangerous drugs with no medical value. Some Schedule 2 drugs which are considered to have some sort of medical value are cocaine, crack, speed, PCP, and morphine. Why is it that "drugs" like marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms are considered to be more dangerous than PCP and crack? Lets just say that hypothetically you and I both do crack and marijuana. Don't you think that our parents would send us to a rehabilitation center for crack users before we went for marijuana? So why is it that most of the examples in the DEA Schedule 1 list contain drugs that many people feel help fuel personal growth? Personally, these drugs are most dangerous to the government than us because they allow us, in the appropriate setting, to think outside the box. If anyone chooses to believe that those Schedule 1 drugs are much more dangerous than the Schedule 2 drugs, they have every right to believe that, but if I can personally grow from the experience of those drugs like psychedelic mushrooms, I guess I am considered to be the most dangerous of abusers in our society.

This book is mind blowing. Terrance melts cold facts into a fondue of clarity regarding homosapien's possible origins. I absolutely recommend this book for anyone interested in biology, philosophy, evolution, sociology, or science in general.

You may disagree with some of the conclusions Terence McKenna draws, but the fact of the matter is there's no serious competing work in this field to point to for alternative conclusions (certainly there are other books on the subject but as far as I know this was the first and most thorough/serious). Food of the Gods is a pioneering work that attempts to illuminate a massive blindspot in the modern worldview. The book consists of a rigorous and thorough synthesis of research on mind altering substances (including things like coffee, sugar, and even overstimulation) from the anthropological perspective. The systematic effect of drugs on the evolution of man and society are largely ignored by mainstream thought (to my knowledge). Unfortunately the existing discussion on mind altering substances consists of two camps, equally irrational in their approach: one completely ignores them and the other worships them. Any serious discussion or research on drugs is sorely shortsighted and narrow in scope.

Regardless of your opinion of drugs, they must be acknowledged as an integral component to any broad understanding of humanity. Mind altering substances have been pervasive throughout human history in one form or another. This is a fact that is tacitly ignored, perhaps due to its inconvenience, perhaps due to sheer mental blindness. However there is no doubt that our interaction with these substances profoundly shapes our culture and therefore merits serious and thorough consideration with an open mind.

Food of the Gods is the beginning of a direly important examination of our relationship with mind altering substances and their systematic effects on us. This is the seminal work of what I suspect will eventually become a much more important area of research and discussion. As it is the first serious and thorough work in the field, you can't expect McKenna to have everything figured out. Certainly in the future the foundations McKenna has laid down here will lead to different and more informed conclusions. One day, when humanity has become more conscious of its relationship with substances and practices that alter the mind, McKenna will be hailed as the father of psychedelic anthropology (or whatever you wish to call it). If not, then I fear humanity is nearing its end.

Not something I would normally read, but why not change things up from time to time? Overall, it is very engaging and McKenna presents some interesting theories. I am not sold on the main point, i.e. that psilocybin containing mushrooms played a part in human evolution and are the foundation of the first religious experiences. They undoubtedly played a part in specific shamanistic cultures since the Neolithic period, but he falls into the same trap as Marija Gimbutas (who I was not surprised to see cited in the book) in jumping to conclusions without any contextual proof of their interpretation of artwork from lost cultures. Nonetheless, I found some of the evidence compelling and enjoyed the read.

Before I found out about Terence Mckenna I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Before I tried Marijuana for the first time I was very very anti-drug. A complete rationalist who disregarded anything that couldn't be proven in a physical way. Even when I first started smoking I felt like "it's just a way to get messed up" but always thought deep down there was more to it.

Enter my first Psilocybin experience and Terence Mckenna. This was the first book of his I read and it completely changed my life. You don't have to believe every one of his ideas or theories, just go into the book with an open mind. Out of all of his books this is clearly the most backed by factual evidence. It gives a great history on "drugs" in general, and even delves into drugs most people don't associate with the word such as sugar. A lot of great facts in this book, and you will undoubtedly take something away from it if you allow yourself to step outside your cultural boundaries for the duration of the book. Be skeptical, you should never believe what someone tells you without your own research into the subject, but pursue some of the ideas you find interesting and you might find that they are more well established in reality than you may think.

Overall it's a great read for a skeptic or a believer in his work.

Human evolution depended on psychedelic mushrooms? Mushrooms came from outer space? Whoa! Any lunatic could have made some of the assertions Terrance McKenna makes in Food of the Gods and some probably already have.

The difference between brilliance and lunacy is the ability to back up those wild statements with fascinating insights that make people think.

McKenna's scholarship is not bound by controlled studies or data in the conventional sense. Unlike most scientists, McKenna is happy to speculate about the possibilities contained in his daydreams about the direction of the human race. Instead of pretending to be the academic expert, the sole arbiter of truth, instead passing off his speculations as conclusive McKenna assumes a tone that invites rather than commands. Though he had plenty of academic credentials to play with (a Ph.D. and decades of research) McKenna doesn't ask you to believe him so much as he asks you to listen. In some ways, this tone makes the wild assertions McKenna makes so much more digestible then so much conventional scientific writing propelled by less ambitious theses. One never need be on guard against the B.S., poorly defended arguments, psuedo reasoning and all the other tradecraft of scientists who care more about establishing their own authority than exploring ideas openly. Indeed, there is no way McKeena could have hid, tamed or toned down his speculations so wisely, he didn't even try to. His work suceeds at a high level because of it.

I deeply respect Terrance McKenna's insights because of his approach, his bravery in dealing with subjects and asking questions that automatically made him an academic outsider and because I share his deep, abiding belief that nothing much good has come from Western civillization. He asked the questions he wanted to ask, motivated only by an enthusiasm for discovery.

All that said, I have to admit that the central theme of Food of the Gods, that human evolution and mushrooms are intricately linked, somewhat tenuous. One needs to understand that McKenna doesn't deal in "probabilities" but possibilities and frankly, even though there is not enough evidence to support his primary claims, his corollary evidence and his ruminations about drugs, drug use and modern society and nothing short of brilliant and full of truth.

Big picture: This book is the lifelong work of a genius at the pinnacle of his intelligence, clarity of mind, and bravery of spirit. It is a masterpiece. The insights contained in Food of the Gods tower over even luminaries like Aldous Huxley and Richard Schultes.

If you are looking for a thought provoking book that is a bit left field, but well written, this book is for you. The main premise of the book is that due to climate changes homonids were forced to adapt eating habits to include previously untried foods, such as psychoactive plants and mushrooms, and that this led to an evolutionary jump for the species. McKenna then shows historically how and why certain drugs have become dominant and what this could mean for humanity. McKenna's idea concerning the origin of the human species is an interesting conjecture but the evidence seems too thin to me, but on the other hand his analysis of the effects of drugs on western civilization hits the nail on the head. Alcohol, tobacco, coffee, chocolate, sugar and television (yes, television) are all promoted or are tolerated by society. McKenna shows you why this is and what it could mean for our future. A previous reviewer said that McKenna promotes the annihilation of the mind, which is patently false. I can hardly believe he read the book. Whether you agree or disagree with the theories presented in this book it will make you think and entertain you in the process. The mind is what got humanity to this point in history and it is the key to our collective future. That is what this book represents, being responsible for our own consciousness and the world that we create.

This is a fascinating world history told through the eyes of the last leader of the psychedelic community. McKenna argues that, before the onslaught of the current dominator-model of society, humans lived in happy partnership, united in their love for mother earth. The key to this society was the ingestion of magic mushrooms, a psychedelic plant that offers its eater a view of a benevolent, beautiful and inherently vegetable mind -- the necessary vision for life in a partnership model.
McKenna makes a valid argument and the book is filled with very interesting ideas, though the middle section is bogged down with shred after shred of "evidence" pointing towards ancient mushroom use. This is a truly great book, though Archaic Revival is a much easier and enjoyable introduction to Terence McKenna and his outrageous yet convincing ideas.

All the hype surrounding this book is a disservice. It's a fun read when taken as fiction. The prose is wonderful, and it's the work of some kind of genius, dedicated to a beautiful, singular vision of things. But facts are loose (often wrong when given), and thorough support for any idea offered is nonexistent anyway. Trying to take the work as an academic piece (as it is repeatedly touted to be) is an exercise in cognitive dissonance. Don't bother. But if you're looking for psychedelic and shamanic tales, you'll probably like this book.

Terence McKenna is a muse, a trickster, he is (or was)
an incarnation of the psychedelic. Now although this book is not devoid of facts, even Terence would (and did) admit that the theory that human consciousness sprang from the use of the hallucinogenic mushrooms is rather speculative. Nonetheless
Terence's strength is not science per se, but getting us to think
and rethink, getting us to break the routine of our normal worldview and look at our lives and life differently....breaking set.Thomas

It's not necessary to be a fan of illegal narcotics to find this speculative investigation into the origins of human consciousness both provocative and convincing. I might be described as a moderate drinker at worst, and yet found this argument into the origins of human consciousness utterly plausible. However, if you're anything like the editorial writer from Kirkus review, and obviously uneasy with challenges to your established notions and beliefs, you will probably be resistant to the implications of the author's in-depth research and painstakingly well reasoned speculations. Indeed, you should be resistant to all speculation. The thesis always begs the anti-thesis. It is, however, disingenuous to compile a list of the most extraordinary implications of the divergent views presented by an author and then formally dismiss the work merely as "unconvincing." I was not convinced by the work. But I could not honestly state that the argument was unconvincing. What makes this book so extraordinary is its ability to lead you to seemingly improbable and impossible conclusions, while rendering you incapable of denying either its sound logic or a better explanation of the facts, which brilliantly supported the thesis.

Mckenna definetly has some thoughts to share. Thoughts awakened in the midst of a psilocybin-induced state of euphoria and terror. I think Hunter S. Thompson said it best--you can't buy enlightenment. You can't pick it in the forest either... The idea that a mushroom (or any other psycedelic) is some kind of extraordinary gateway to another dimension or key to the underlying nature of the universe violates the nature of what we see around us everyday. Its just not that simple, and its apparent that those who buy this book still wishes it were. but I must say in its defense that the stories are fascinating, mystical and nearly-convincing to the uninitiated. its an interesting idea that most of us would like to beleive. But insight comes from struggle.

This is a book for those who think so far outside the box that the box is but a dot on the horizon. To some, it will seem crazy, and even McKenna fans have problems with some of his more outlandish theories, but anyone who is interested in the human relationship with drugs has to study and understand McKenna's work.

'Food of the Gods' concerns itself with evolution and the possible role played by drugs in that evolution - from the mushroom eating humanoids of the African grasslands to the Latte-sipping sophisticates of the technological age. His central thesis, which is becoming more scientifically acceptable with time, is that mushrooms were consumed by the earliest humans, and that the introduction of this transcendental experience into their animal existence led to the birth of religion, art, culture, and so on.

If you're new to McKenna, I recommend 'The Archaic Revival' as more easily bitten off and chewed. This book sits somewhere in the middle of McKenna's cannon for accesibility. For the more advanced stuff, and the metaphorical envelope containing the meaning of life, you should graduate to 'The Invisible Landscape'.

However, this is perhaps McKenna's most sweeping, ambitious work, and it reverberates with a lucidity, coherence and basic humanity that makes it easy to recommend to anyone who can read.

this book firstly reaches down to the beginning of language thought and religion. it bases development on the"transcendual other" . Slowly it builds to the change of partnership into dominance.From pure primitive religion to the masculine christianity.then he speaks of hell and the synthetic world we live in now. And to sum up he tries to formulate solutions."GO GREEN OR DIE!"

Terence gives a history of mans use and interaction with drugs. He sheds light on why in today's society certain drugs are taboo, while other drugs like Alcohol, Caffeine and Nicotine are accepted. Terence makes a good argument that psychedelics have had a major role in the evolution of the human brain and by making them illegal we may have unwittingly closed the door on future evolution.

This was my first glimpse into the theories of Terence McKenna, and I will certainly be coming back for more. Organic hallucinogens are extremely special and important to humans, whether we know it or not. McKenna brings it all together in Food of the Gods, in a surprising, enlightening, and shocking way. "Food of the Gods" is not light reading. It is a tough and challenging book, but extremely rewarding. I always knew that the accepted version of human history was either wrong, inaccurate, or incomplete. McKenna proves it in stunning fashion in "Food of the Gods". I could not recommend a book any more than this one.

Food of the Gods explores mankind's connection with the Earth as an organism. The author's speculations on our long lost mutualist relationship with plants has deep implications in science and offers sound insight into modern conditions of human iniquity.

To give you an idea, McKenna postulates that:
- The loss of the feminine in today's 'dominator' cultures
has been further catalyzed by our abuse of plants, drugs,
and nature as a whole
- The psychedelic experience, with its ego dissolving effects
represents an important component of the symbiosis of man
on Earth
- The striking similarities in the chemical structures of
neurotransmitters in the brain and indole compounds in
hallucinogenic plants are no coincidence
Despite the exhaustively researched and largely scholarly presentation of this work, unfounded criticism ensues when the subject matter stands as evidence in the indictment of many commonly held belief systems. However, most often the tone of McKenna's opponents caries the confident smirk of one safely distanced from his fierce intelligence, by their lack of experience with psychedelics.
Terrence McKenna didn't write for the amusement of those unfamiliar with the psychedelic experience. It was well within his mental capacity and scholarly abilities to legitimize his work for an audience of intellectual indifference. I wont say it's easier, but it certainly displays less integrity and truth of cause for one to cater to the lowest common denominator when attempting to relate ideas of this scope, even if they are only speculative.
Neither was it that the uninitiated were intentionally ignored and his priceless intellectual contribution was meant to be out of reach from common people, in an extension of Huxley's philosophy which he is often mistaken for representing.
Rather, his weakness seems to be his naivety in assuming that people inexperienced with psychedelics would approach his work with the unbiased mindfulness due of a reader of any great work of cultural and spiritual diagnosis.
The fact is that any intelligent, honest approach to this work will inevitably lead one to an intersection with a reality that cannot be negated.
Those who are experienced with psychedelics are likely to find in this book truths which they will integrate without hesitance - truths with implications profound enough to dissolve many of the illusions that largely pass as fact.
This book is a powerful catalyst of intellectual growth for anyone engaged in the pursuit to understand this world.

I enjoyed this book a lot when I read it. His stoned apes theory is a bit much to swallow, however the message is an important one. I do believe the psychedelic experience is of immense value to the individual.

It is the type of experience that, if nothing else, is of therapeutic value. I do believe there is more research which supports psychedelic therapy. There is a phenomenon called "ego death" which happens when mushrooms are ingested in higher doses. This is a very peculiar and transforming experience. It can take the most overconfident jock and reduce him to a scared little puppy. This is the type of stuff that has the potential to change society for the better. I do believe we would greatly benefit as a society if we not only ended the ban, but also accepted it as a means of experiencing spirituality in a society whose spirituality has been destroyed by organized religion.

His stoned apes theory is not implausible, seeing the world from this new perspective could have helped start our characteristic model building, an idea Richard Dawkins expounds upon with his "Necker Cube" example. Eating mushrooms and getting horny could have a Darwinian advantage for obvious reasons. A psychedelically enlightened population may be more altruistic than one which is not. It is certainly more plausible than any creation theory I've heard. It is just lacking in conclusive evidence.

It is sad that moving forward into the 21st century there are no outspoken spokesmen of the psychedelic experience. Perhaps now more than ever our society is starved for a more profound understanding of the world. This book is like looking through a window into the psychedelic experience; it's neat to look at, but to really be effected by it you have to experience it for yourself. That being said: Just Say No to drugs, because drugs are bad, and so is breaking the law.

Read this book if you don't see how plants have effected society, if you think mushrooms are bad. Do not read this book if you want to try mushrooms or if you've read Mckenna's stuff elsewhere. If you have, you've read this stuff already. If you never had mushrooms, you will want to have them. You probably are better served by reading Whitman or Lorca. You are too eager. Read this book with Schultes "Plants of the Gods". The two books will inform each other. This book is a wonderful overview of plant philosophy. Schulte's book has lovely pictures and he will back up Mckenna. Better still, read this book to understand why relegion is empty for so many people, how God truly is in the details, embedded so deep, we must wedge our way into molecules to find it, how we must shake off the painkillers and SEE! the world. God bless anyone who is so in touch with the force of God that he/she doesn't start the process this way but for myself there was no other way in and Terence has illuminated the path just fine. Sure he's a kook. God bless kooks. Mushrooms aren't the way. They aren't even the map. They are the bench we sit on to relax midway and figure out where we will go next.

Before reading Food of the Gods, I thought that I was paranoid concerning western civilization. After I finished it, I became aware of all these little and big things which McKenna ties to the ego-dominator complex. McKenna has a way of putting things which describes human civilization as no one else I have read has. He does not write about the psylocybin experience, its effects on the human mind, but the impact of its effects on our civilization, across millions of years. I expected this to be a book of his theories about the Stropharia cubensis species being part of the cosmic gateway of data and consciousness transference, but this is about us, humanity, and what we have done with our minds, our bodies and our planet. This book kind of brings it all back home. I enjoyed it immensely. Get it :)

Terence McKenna (Food of the Gods), Julian Jaynes (Evolution of Consciousness ...), Camille Paglia (Sexual Personae), and Ruth Eisner (Chalice & the Blade) all look at the same evidence, and come to radically different, but equally radical, conclusions about the origins of what we call civilization (while trying to keep a straight face). Reading all three is an interesting, fun, and maybe useful exercise in juggling different world views. Ask yourself: why did each of them see the same evidence differently?

Or, perhaps, it's just a matter of trying to make too much soup from too little stock. The reason we CALL prehistory "pre-history" is that there's so little history to work from, so each brilliant (or not) author gets to project their own interpretation of what they'd LIKE the evidence to mean.

In McKenna's case, by the end of the book, it is obvious what he wants the evidence to mean. Terry McKenna wants us all to get off of what the Church of the SubGenius calls "Conspiracy Drugs," the ones that America got rich off of, like tobacco, caffeine, white sugar, distilled alcohol, and television. If we need to get high or drunk or trashed or whatever, he says that we need to go back to the drugs that first made human beings strong, fast, smart, sexy, and spiritual: organic psychedelics.

Of COURSE this is a weird and controversial view point. That's half the fun of this book. You know that only the trippers and the stoners are going to come out of the back end of this book fully convinced. But even if you're not one, you just mind find yourself a teensy bit convinced, and that, my friend, is a strange sensation.

Besides, it's a rollicking fun read.

Food of the Gods... is a very academic pursuit of the origins of consciousness. The theory is understandably complex, drawing what seems to be paradox tangents into one hypothesis. It is an important text to add to your library especially if you hold an interest in any of the following, origins of consciousness, recreational drugs, evolution, religion, history, and anthropology. It isn't an easy read but like most difficult things in life, this text is very rewarding.

McKenna masterfully rolls through the evolution of mankind, focusing on the fantastic impact that psychedelic plants have played in the journey. A must read for anyone trying to understand the important relationship we as humans have with our planet and its plants; and how that relationship affects our individual and collective consciousness. He also discusses how we've gotten far away from that traditional relationship via our modern day obsession with dominator culture and how we can return to that relationship by shifting society to a more partnership-based model.

This is the only book I can think of that I read back-to-back; the second I finished the last page, I turned back to page 1 and started it again. I read it twice in 4 days. ENJOY

This book is brilliant. It's insightful, original, enjoyable, well supported, thoroughly researched, and mind altering

I must say that I've never before tried mushrooms, and was compelled to after this reading. McInnes and his obsession with dissolving boundaries is engaging in the way a poet or novelist would be, more than a scientist or researcher. The book is riddled with the authors side theories, and he makes connections and hypothesis which come from a genius originality . It's very clear when reading that the nitty gritty was not his favorite part of the research, because it tends to drag (Maybe that's just MY attention which drags). Yet his main points were always expressed in very poetic and articulate ways, that verge more on emotional and spiritual proof than empirical.

That's just the thing! McInnes claims that science and empirical observation can not obtain full understanding because it does not take into account other "senses" besides the easily verifiable five. There are parts of his theory that take leaps which don't seem like hard and fast scientific proofs. Yet his belief that subjectivity is as much reality as what we can easily observe sober outside ourselves calls for a change in our approach to knowledge. This books seems to be an example of his new methods.

This book is not the ramblings of a brain-melted hippy. It's a call for change from a intelligent, creative and enlightened psychonaut. It's a call for a new paradigm. It's compelling, and openminded, even if it can be a bit charged at times.

I highly recommend it

I'd just like to note that the implication Ace Backwords made in his review is very misleading.

As "Ace" so eloquently stated: "Then one day, McKenna was suddenly hit by a massive brain tumor from "a rare and strange form of brain cancer," and died shortly thereafter at age 53. And suddenly people weren't quite as excited about McKenna's theories regarding the injesting of exotic psychedelic drugs."

However, the doctors were asked at point blank about McKenna's drug use in relation to his tumor. The doctors reply was that they were in NO WAY related. In fact, they said, the marijuana he smoked should have actually shrunk the tumor! Furthermore, it has been proven scientifically that psychedlic mushrooms are safer than over the counter aspirin! In studies of LD50/ED50 (lethal dose in 50%/effective dose in 50%) in mice aspirin proved to be over 6 times more toxic to the body/brain than psilocybin, the active component in magic mushrooms.

The doctors said the tumor had nothing to do with the psychedelic drugs.

Also note that this book is absolutely astounding. A must read.

:)

McKenna is a great read, worthy of discussion. Did entheogens help humanity reach greater self-consciousness? Are we currently in an ecological crisis that Requires the reemergence of these substances? Whether or not entheogens are the "answer" to current planetary issues, this book begs to be read, its topics thoroughly analyzed and discussed. Check it out.

I seriously was astounded by this book. Great historical knowledge on all sorts of drug and plant use from primates to Bush administration. McKenna really goes in depth about the evolution of language and consciousness. His theory that primates found psilocybin containing mushrooms growing in cow dung in the grasslands of Africa. Is represented quite well. He believes we may have literally "eaten our way to a higher conscious". McKenna really makes the war on drugs look like an absolute joke. He is subtly condescending of close minded politics yet brilliant and charming in informing readers of the power and potential of consciousness expanding drugs if taken properly.

I'm a bit flabbergasted by all the accolades here about McKenna's "solid research." Well, partially flabbergasted. His research into the properties of ethnogens is unrivaled. But his research into history is awful. For instance, he simply takes for granted such things as the Great Mother Goddess theory, without apparently considering that this was never accepted by serious scholars in the first place - with the exception of Gimbutas - and is now accepted only in the popular imagination. (Read Ronald Hutton's "Triumph of the Moon" for more info on how this theory took hold of popular consciousness.) And he routinely presents various conspiracy theories (the CIA destroyed the "New Left", etc.) as complete fact without stopping to even consider that alternative viewpoints and interpretations may exist. That is not good scholarship.
McKenna was an important countercultural figure and his work has great value, but don't take him as authoritative on purely historical issues. Read him for his unique point of view and for his first-hand experiences with the various substances he writes about.

This is a beautiful, new and refreshing walk through on human evolution, I recommend this to everyone intersted in human life. I feel that McKenna has created a very interesting, expansive and easy to understand thesis on our lives and history, in which the most important point McKenna seems to be making is the need to "Change our Minds". The implications on dominator/ego socity, drugs, philosophy, psychology and science is what has given me a huge respect for one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. This is such a good book I feel it is a must read.

The author's ideas are quite drastic but he backs them up with a lot of research and resources. I liked how he talked about subtle addictions like coffee, sugar and chocolate which people don't normally think of as drugs. You can tell from our society, and the obesity problems we have, that sugar is something we should be concerned about. It also made me wonder how the government determines which substances are legal and which are not. All in all, it's a great read!!

I enjoyed this book and every single last bit of information with it! The information in here I highly agree with and realize is something that we as a nation need to start being a part of. We have learned from the 60's, but it was still a wonderful time. We can take that and modernize it, maybe even improve on some things. But first-we need to end the war on drugs. Overall-this book was great, I highly recommend it, one will learn so much.

Terrance McKenna's masterpiece, the ideas and background to support them presented in this work makes you take a serious look at how things operate in todays society. The Food of the Gods is essential reading because of the wide range topics covered and McKenna's ablity to draw this information together and make point as to our origins as a species as well as pointing to the possible outcome.

The late Terence McKenna, God/dess bless, considered Amanita muscaria as not the Soma of the Rig Veda, based on his experience with the mushroom. As it turns out, it probably is. He considers entheogens to have probably expanded the size of the human brain. Did the large-brained cetaceans take psychedelics, way before us? At any rate, the bard has bestowed a thought provoking read.

As a 39 year old lifelong feminist, I was impressed by the true respect McKenna shows for the feminine (aka Mother Nature, Gaia). Plus I am enormously impressed by the elegance,lucidity and poetry of his natural science-based thinking. Of most importance for 1999, I believe, is his outlining of the lost partnership model of society as opposed the the inevitable burn-out of the dominator model.

If the basic principles described in this book were widely accepted, we would have solved our current crisis (that of mutual self destruction), and embraced life in all the infinite ways that we are aiming to achieve by virtue of tecnology. We'd all realise that through the power of mind we can travel into any time/place and that our supreme goal of deep space travel to other worlds could be satisfied without destroying ourselves by virtue of technology.

I am sure that when Terence McKenna knew he would have to go all the way with his research and essays or he shouldn't have done it at all... he does go all the way and farther. One doesn't even have to be a scholar or a biologist to get the drift of what he says in these pages. While it is a cumbersome read, it does provide for many long explanations for questions that have plagued the human mind for years. And some questions that no one even thought to ask as well.

a highly original, powerful work of revolutionary thinking designed to heal the planet and our own minds.
The author was a brilliant man who vouchsafed to us some of the most amusing and enlightening ideas ever transmitted.
This work is full of brainstorming wonder!

Mckennas voice carries on so gently and purely through this entire piece of work. I was left with a gained sense of respect for these plants of the gods and my interaction with them throughout my life. I learned more about myself and my very own reason for ritual than ever before. RIP Terrance, we love you!!

I can't compete with these other reviews, and this is a real review btw (which is rare these days). I don't have much interesting insight to add. What I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was clearly written skillfully by a very wise man. And I certainly appreciate the fact that many points of view are represented in this book. I highly recommend this book, I plan to read it again.

McKenna is one of the most misinformed writers I have ever read. He has no grasp on the evolutionary process. He makes assumptions on important subjects with little or no scientific evidence. I'm not complaining that he tries to qualify the use of hallucinogens, I'm all for it if that is what you want to do, I only wish that he would not mislead the reader by simplify what are very complex ideas. McKenna has built is argument on sand as anyone who looks into the subject will find.

_Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution_ by ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna is an interesting book which provides much for the reader to think about. Nevertheless, I believe this book to be highly dangerous, and I will start with some warnings and complaints.

1. First, whether or not you believe the current drug laws to be just, the fact is that the drugs mentioned in this book are illegal. If you use these drugs, you could lose your job or worse be tossed into a jail to rot! Is the price really worth it! There are other more traditional ways to attain altered states of consciousness, such as prolonged meditation or prayer, fasting, and various forms of deprivation. While they require more work and effort they are also a far nobler approach than to resort to drug use.

2. The author is terribly naïve in his belief that the hallucinogenic drugs advocated in this book will serve as a panacea to all mental, physical, and social ills. The fact is that these drugs can be dangerous, and that one cannot function while using them.

3. This book is severely marred by very muddleheaded thinking. The author hypocritically ends up advocating restrictions be placed on all sorts of things, from sugar to alcohol to gun control, while at the same time advocating that restrictions be removed on hallucinogenic drugs. The author is totally blind in this respect. For example, we need guns to fend off the very corrupt governments that he spends so much time railing against!

4. This book is severely marred by political correctness. The author advocates all sorts of feminist nonsense (something which I have precious little tolerance for), claiming that sexual differences are not innate and that during the "golden age" of hallucinogenic drug use mankind existed in "partnership cultures". In addition, the author is highly biased against Western civilization and Christianity (monotheism) in particular. This is unfortunate because it damages an otherwise interesting read.

What this book is is a revisionist account of the history of humanity and his co-evolution with various members of the vegetable kingdom. The author calls for an "archaic revival", emphasizing various forms of primitive shamanism against modern scientism and materialism, but also religion. However, unlike such scholars of shamanism as Mircea Eliade, McKenna believes that the use of hallucinogenic drugs among shamans does not constitute a form of decadence and degeneration. The book is based on a bizarre evolutionary theory, which emphasizes co-evolution of man and hallucinogenic mushrooms, but also is distinct from other Darwinistic theories of evolution in that it appreciates a more holistic view of nature (not to be understood as nature "red in tooth and claw" or the "survival of the fittest"). Mentioning such theories as that of the maverick psychologist Julian Jaynes regarding the origins of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind, as man learned to use his two brain hemispheres in tandem he developed self awareness, McKenna proposes that the hallucinogenic mushroom Stropharia cubensis, containing the essential ingredient psilocybin, is responsible for man's evolutionary development into self-awareness and consciousness. McKenna contends that primitive man living in Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies learned to eat these mushrooms on the African savannah and that these mushrooms played an essential role in his evolution. Although McKenna rejects Lamarckianism as unscientific, his theory contends that by eating these mushrooms man and mushroom co-evolved. The remainder of this book consists of a history of drug use and various recommendations for modern civilization.

McKenna's book is divided into four sections: "Paradise", "Paradise Lost", "Hell", and "Paradise Regained". In the section "Paradise", McKenna argues that the hallucinogenic mushroom allowed for a golden age of man's development, constituting the original Tree of Knowledge, and that its loss and replacement by other drugs constituted a fall from grace. McKenna mentions the theories of maverick investment banker and intelligence operative turned ethnobotanist and mycologist, R. Gordon Wasson, regarding the substance "soma" mentioned in both the Rig Veda and the Zend Avesta among primitive Indo-European peoples. Wasson contends that the soma mentioned was a form of hallucinogenic mushroom. In addition, McKenna suggests that the hallucinogenic mushroom played some role in the mystery cults including especially the Minoan and Eleusinian mysteries. In the section "Paradise Lost", McKenna shows how other drugs came to take the place of the hallucinogenic mushroom. Here he mentions alcohol (especially its harmful effects and addictive properties but also mentioning the role of alcohol distillation as a process of alchemy) and cannibis (which contrary to all common sense he argues is a panacea for social ills). In the section "Hell", McKenna argues that such "drugs" as spices, sugar, coffee, and chocolate contributed to a culture of decadence in early modern Europe and created the slave trade. He also shows how these substances can be harmful. Next, McKenna turns his attention to other harmful drugs including tobacco (highly carcinogenic) and opium (mentioning the role of the opium trade and various accounts of opium use among Romantic writers and poets) as well as heroin and cocaine but also television as a drug. Finally, in the section "Paradise Regained", McKenna mentions the coming development of various psychedelic drugs including LSD-25 discovered by Albert Hofmann and DMT. McKenna argues that these drugs offer man an opportunity to reclaim his archaic shamanistic heritage. McKenna concludes with remarks on the supposed vile nature of the War on Drugs and argues for hallucinogenic drug use.

While McKenna's theories are certainly interesting, they are severely muddled and dangerous as I have already stated. Nevertheless, this book does provide much food for thought regarding the nature of man's evolution and the subsequent role of governments in restricting access to certain mind altering substances.

I have listened to several lectures and interviews by and with McKenna but this is the first book by him I have read. With McKenna there are always things I agree with, disagree with, think to myself well maybe and some things I write off as sheer kookery but I always found him and his ideas interesting.

There is a lot I totally or partially disagree with in this. He really pushes his theory that early man injesting Psilocybin mushrooms caused the brain to evolve to a state where man was able to have language, imagination and creativity. I feel like this theory is vaguely possible but extremely sketchy. For one thing I believe the white race is effected differently than non whites by psycheldelics. Plus whites have much more powerful imaginations and the ability to create both in and out of their heads. Before the brainwashed hippy types that read McKennas books start pointing fingers and condemning me for saying this I've read stuff where even these South American Indian shamans that guide white people through Ayhuasca sessions have said they believe that it effects whites differently than other races. I'm also not into how McKenna for a guy that thinks outside the box still blindly accepts the out of Africa theory for the origins of humanity.

McKenna is big on Psilocybin Mushrooms and Ayhuasca/DMT. I have experience with mushrooms but none with Ayhuasca/DMT but I think these can be a gateway but are not the "Tree of Knowledge" as he calls it. He also doesn't promote Cannabis (the true "tree of knowledge" if there is such a thing) enough. He also doesn't condemn hard drugs like Heroin, Cocaine and Methamphetamine enough. I also think he should give a strong caution about heavy psychedelics. People often aren't quite prepared for what they are in for. While I'm not against people using Mushrooms, Peyote or Ayhuasca I also don't think everybody is cut out for using them. These are not casual or party drugs.

All those criticisms aside I did enjoy Food of the Gods. He really nails down the truth on what a brain numbing and dumbing down drug television is and has lots of interesting ideas. Like I said I don't always agree with McKenna but he's always interesting.

I picked up this book because of an interest in drug culture and history. The premise sounds interesting enough: we stopped doing shrooms and got worse as a society, along with a history of cultural drug use.

Let me sum up the book for you in case the premise sounds interesting to you:

- Some ancient cultures used mushrooms.
- Lots of cultures MAY have used mushrooms but we'll never know
- Mushrooms may have helped the human brain evolve and help us evolve language
- Ancient orgies on mushrooms are good for society because they dissolve social boundaries
- He goes into a history of sugar and says it's just as addictive as heroin.
- He goes into a history of lsd, cocaine, dmt, heroin, tea.
- He suggests we have become male dominated, loss of feminine societies because we removed drugs from everyday society

The wikipedia article on shrooms is far more interesting than this book, and better written. That's right, a wikipedia article is more coherent than this book. That should send you running.

Terence will present a pseudo idea, and then ramble off into barely related topics until you want to die. It is a chore to read. Instead of any kind of solid research, he glues together tangents into a a rickety web of boredom.

Let's look at an example gem from Terence's writing:

"The drive for unitary wholeness within the psyche, which is to a degree instinctual, can nevertheless become pathological if pursued in a context in which dissolution of boundaries and rediscovery of the ground of being has been made impossible."

Did you zone out while reading that sentence? Imagine 300 pages of that. He has a remarkable way of presenting ideas in a fog of poor writing. It's the same style of writing as a highschooler with a thin grasp of an essay topic and way too much access to a thesaurus. It's as if Terence knows his ideas don't hold much water, so he throws in as many slightly related things as possible to make it look like he has a solid theory. The worst is when he gets into his own head without relying on any external sources. When that happens, expect to be liberally skipping paragraphs.

This book suffers terribly from not having an editor. 90% could be cut out easily and not lose any substance. And once you realize that hearing about someone's drug trip is almost as boring as hearing about their dreams, you start to think very hard about your life and why you're 200 pages deep in hell.

Some of his theories, like mushrooms helping our brains evolve language, are completely unfounded, and he has no research to back it up. This would be fine if he didn't devote dozens of rambling pages to them.

I don't think ideas about mushrooms and societal integration are bad. I started reading to become more familiar with drug culture and history and potential good uses of psychedelics. But 10 pages in I regretted it. If you think you enjoyed the book then you haven't read any good nonfiction. Compared to persuasive, organized, well researched, non fiction books, Food of the Gods is a pile of trash.

This book provides a good overview of reflections of the late Terence McKenna, a celebrated icon of the contemporary psychedelic scene and discussion, comparable perhaps with Timothy Leary in the 1960's. For the curious reader, "Food of the Gods" offers a rich insight into his thought and its appeal. But that appeal turns out to be rather narrow and limited, unfortunately. Like Leary, McKenna commanded considerable attention, reaching a wide audience and achieving some degree of celebrity. But as reflected in the pages of this book, his analysis and views turn out to be surprisingly (I would even say disappointingly) weak, and fatally biased, with no solid substance.

I am sure McKenna must have been a very nice man from what people say, and I don't necessarily suspect he was a dishonest person. Nor is he a bad writer. But for a subject as interesting as the human impact of hallucinogenic fungi, the discussion McKenna offers here leaves a lot to be desired. He tends to jump precipitously to his conclusions, and tries to support his arguments by speculation, often idle in nature, and rarely qualified with any semblance of scholarly rigor. This is surprising (and again, disappointing) because he is apparently well educated.

For example, the glare of Lamarck's error is blinding in McKenna's speculations that psilocybin mushrooms may have catalyzed the very evolution of our species from its hominid ancestry. This is a good example of the kind of thought that seems to have excited so many readers of McKenna's works. But if you have a minimally sound understanding of the idea of natural selection, it's actually a little bit insulting to your intelligence (not that I think he meant it to be). McKenna's thesis of the extraterrestrial origin of Stropharia cubensis gleefully throws any and all pretense of informed reason to the wind, and I'm sure that's a lot of fun--but only in a cartoony, conceptually childish way.

Readers seeking a more balanced understanding about psilocybin mushrooms will scratch their heads at how oblivious McKenna seems to findings from science. To me his writings recall "scientific creationists" and their style of argument. In fact, along these lines, one of the worst flaws in this book is its stifling, overbearing, disaffecting ideological rigidity. It is almost like what one sometimes sees in "creationism" but of opposite, left-wing rather than right-wing, character. The more different, the more the same? This is hokey, corny stuff, and actually not interesting, unless you are really into, well, overt propaganda really, about the "partnership" society of prehistory, and the "dominator" culture, and ... it just goes off into this sort of hambone rhetorical bait for anyone who will snap at it. Here, a lot of fashionable, widely circulating fairy tales about prehistory and pre-industrialized culture are installed at the foundation, where only a better informed theoretical perspective could serve. It's Rousseau's "noble savage" all over again, with PC retooling. (From my perspective, notions that other peoples are better or worse than we are, especially if they are really really different from us, probably tend to distort our image, and capacity for humane understanding, of both them and ourselves, sooner or later).

One seeks in vain for a connection of any significance in this book to the prior works of pioneers such as Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith, and R. Gordon Wasson, whose comments about the personal power and impact of their experiences with psilocybin mushrooms and/or similar agents are so insightful. McKenna actually challenges Wasson's thesis about Soma, suggesting it was not Amanita muscaria but ... you guessed it ... Stropharia cubensis. And true to form, he offers nothing amounting to evidence, only a chain of poorly reasoned supposition and speculations--a far cry from the exhaustive research and painstaking studies upon which Wasson based his theory.

McKenna argues his ideas with all the passion he can muster, and perhaps this explains part of his appeal for some readers, especially if they share in his brand of polarized politics (note the unbridled enthusiasm on parade in many of the reviews posted here). So if firing your imagination with a lot of wild and wooly psychedelic surmises is your cup of tea, you will perhaps find this book entertaining. It's really a dalliance in mental self-stimulation for anyone whose tastes it appeals to. If a sound, well-informed perspective about a subject as important and interesting as ethnobotany is what you seek, well, this book is still good in that you can get a clear, detailed picture of the Terence McKenna phenomenon, and what it represents as a body of ideas or thought, what it is all about, the better for you to be able to evaluate its relative merits.

Apart from that, this is essentially an uninteresting book on a fascinating subject. I would prefer to bear happier tidings, but "Food of the Gods" really fails to deliver a discussion worthy of the visionary promise of personal experiences with psilocybin mushrooms, compelling and glittering as that promise is.

But don't take my word for it, read the book and see for yourself what you think. The good news is, if the king within it looks naked, you need not think there is anything wrong with you, even if you don't hear others around you mentioning this surprising fact. (BTW, McKenna's does have some good essays such as "Wasson's Literary Precursors" where his scholarship and writing can shine without being muddled by a lot of prank speculation, but they are not to be found in this book.)

Terrence McKenna was dubbed "the Timothy Leary of the '90s" by no less than Timothy Leary Himself. Talk about damning with faint praise. For a while people were all excited about McKenna's exciting new theories regarding the injesting of exotic psychedelic drugs. Then one day, McKenna was suddenly hit by a massive brain tumor from "a rare and strange form of brain cancer," and died shortly thereafter at age 53. And suddenly people weren't quite as excited about McKenna's theories regarding the injesting of exotic psychedelic drugs.

(P.S. Michael Cashore claims that I'm "misleading" when I say that there very well may have been a connection between McKenna's brain tumor and the massive ammounts of brain drugs he was consuming. No, YOU'RE misleading, dude. Several doctors have gone on record as saying there very well probably WAS a connection -- McKenna himself suspected as much -- they just couldn't PROVE the connection. But let me end this review with words from a "higer" source than McKenna: "By their fruits you will know them." Or in other words: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." Or in other words: You might wanna be more careful about what you shove in your mouth than the deceased "genius" Terrence McKenna was.