Breaking Open the Head

Breaking Open the Head explores the promise and meaning of the psychedelic experience, from the rituals and spirituality of tribal cultures to modern consciousness in the West. The author's personal journey includes encounters with Allen Ginsberg, Walter Benjamin, and present-day ethnobotanists, as well as his own experiences with outlaw compounds. Through brave participatory journalism, Pinchbeck transforms from a jaded Manhattan journalist to shamanic initiate and grateful citizen of the cosmos.