LSD

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Summary: Best Book on LSD Synthesis Ever Written
Review: LSD is truly an amazing book. No doubt the best book ever written on the subject of LSD synthesis. It is very comprehensive, describing the construction of all precursors from common materials. The illustrations are beautiful. There are quotes and descriptions from psychotherapists who personally used LSD in their practice. The text is small print, packed with multiple formulas that have been used by the actual manufacturers. Complete with graphic pictures of tablet machines and sheeting equipment. This first edition is sure to become a classic; collectible by all those interested in the subject of psychedelics. I really enjoy it and would recommend LSD (the book) to everyone.

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Summary: Mistakes in previous review
Review: The effect of LSD and other psychedelics is a fascinating area of study, and unfortunately, due to the failure of the legal system to keep up with the pace of neuroscience, very little research has been done in this area since the advent of modern scientific technology such as the fMRI (and what a shame it is!)

It is with that caveat that I must say the previous reviewer is either mistaken or simply not up-to-date with the current hypotheses as to how LSD and other indoleamine psychedelics affect the brain. Perhaps the previous reviewer may be interested in checking out the latest research, what little of it there is.

The idea that LSD is merely affecting the retinal cells does not make any sense in that it does not account for most of the subjective effects of the drug. Since sustained firing of retinal cells may account for the visual short-term sensory store (an effect that causes some degree of "trails" in all people) then perhaps LSD's effect of elongated "trails" is caused by this. However, it cannot account for anything else, and LSD certainly has myriad other effects: visual, auditory, emotional, cognitive, you name it.

Current literature states that LSD acts on a variety of 5-HT type (serotonin) receptors. The serotonin pathways originate in the raphe nuclei and spread throughout the cortical and sub-cortical areas; consequently, LSD may act on these pathways throughout the brain. Not only that, but LSD and similar compounds have been shown to have noradrenergic and dopaminergic effects, including effects on the locus coeruleus, a system that also extends pathways throughout the brain and acts as a modulator for such functions as emotion and arousal.

And finally, for many people, LSD truly is a mind-expanding experience. The effect it has certainly depends on the person taking the drug, their mindset, their openness to new experiences, etc. But regardless, LSD has the potential to, at the very least, shock the user into experiencing a new way of perceiving the world and the self, shaking to the core any previous assumptions that the world is exactly as they see it and they see it exactly as it is. For many, this can be truly valuable.

All that being said, this book is chock-full of information and as such is an extremely welcome addition to current psychedelic literature. This is a vastly under-studied topic, and new information whether related to neuroscience, or pure chemistry, or potentials for psychotherapy, is all extremely helpful for the growing academic and spiritual interest in this subject.

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Summary: Detailed discussion of the infamous drug
Review: This is a detailed book on the chemistry, manufacture, and physiological effects of LSD. It includes comments by doctors and therapists who have used it in their practice, and information on some of the other medical uses. For example, until I saw this book, I wasn't aware that it had an application in the treatment of specialized stroke-like migraines, which is how the author first became involved with the drug. So apparently there is at least one legitimate medical use of the drug, if one credits the information and statements here.

I personally never understood the fascination with LSD. All it's really doing is altering the chemical reactions in the lower strata and cells of the retina, the retina being composed neuronally of the rods and cones, amacrine cells, bipolar cells, Muller cells, horizontal cells, and ganglion cells in more or less distinct layers, although there is some mixing to some extent. It's not even a retinal ganglional effect in the lateral geniculate nucleus, the main visual system ganglion, let alone a visual cortical effect. In other words, it's a pretty primitive effect that occurs "up front" at the sensory transducer of the visual system and doesn't affect, at least from a perception and sensation standpoint, the advanced visual information processing centers further down the line.

Now if there was something that actually affected the three cortical primary visual receiving areas in the occipital lobe, or cytoarchitectonic areas 17, 18, and 19 of Brodmann, you'd really have something, maybe something really mind expanding and mind blowing, instead of what you have with LSD.

And as for LSD being mind-expanding, well, it certainly is perception-altering, but the people I knew back in the 60s who took it certainly didn't became any brighter or more brilliant taking it, from what I could see. On the other hand, they seemed to think it was something important. Still, they didn't seem any more perceptive, creative, insightful, or smarter to me, although they often thought so. As someone once observed about Aldous Huxley's book, The Doors of Perception, in which he reported on his experiences, it wasn't so much that LSD helped him write more and better, so much as it helped him write more about LSD.

Anyway, I apologize for waxing a little nerdy, but the neurobiology of perception and sensation is a subject I know something about, that having been my area of interest for my master's and doctoral work. Although I've been out of school for a while, this was the consensus on the neurophysiological effects of LSD at the time, and perhaps you'll find my comments there useful.