Book Review - A Walk in the Woods

This one remained on my "To-Read" list for several years, but it sat there untouched until I recently started getting more interested in hiking. Sometimes going into a book knowing next-to-nothing is a good idea, whereas other times it can help to have a solid foundation of what to expect. I didn't know much about A Walk in the Woods before I cracked it open other than that it was about hiking the Appalachian Trail, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

In this book, author Bill Bryson weaves together a captivating tale with well-researched information about the Appalachian Trail's history and the surrounding sociology, plants, animals, and people. The story starts with an interest in hiking the trail that grows in him after moving to New England and follows Bryson on his voyage through the wilderness alongside his old friend "Stephen Katz". Their general naïveté concerning the art of hiking and frequently-clashing personalities make for some hilarious (and occasionally foolishly dangerous) situations.

The book is written in a style that cleverly mixes together gut-busting humor and Bryson's serious storytelling ability into an extremely satisfying concoction. I wholeheartedly recommend reading A Walk in the Woods if you have any interest in hiking, nature, or having a good laugh. It's no wonder that this book made The New York Times Best Sellers list and was named the funniest travel book ever written by CNN—Bryson's ability to be honest and vulnerable about the myriad of challenges that he and Katz faced on the trail make for a compelling and entertaining read.

4/5 stars. 305 pages.

Book Review - Getting Higher

Whether you are an experienced psychonaut or a first-time tripper, absorbing understandable and accurate advice about the psychedelic experience before embarking on an entheogenic journey can be extremely valuable. Although I have several years worth of personal experience and tips and tricks that I have picked up from many sources along the way, I was pleasantly surprised to find Julian Vayne's book Getting Higher: The Manual of Psychedelic Ceremony to contain plenty of suggestions and ideas that were new to me, which I will gladly be able to bring to my own psychedelic practice.

A section titled "Setting Out" describes a variety of things that someone may consider doing before embarking on a psychedelic journey, including cleansing the body with a bath or shower, fasting or making other intentional dietary changes, carefully choosing the clothes they are going to wear, cleaning and decorating the physical space, saying prayers or setting an intention, and lighting candles or incense. Additionally, choosing a group of people to trip with that have mutual trust and respect should be a priority. The end of a psychedelic ceremony can involve a formal conclusion to the session. For example, you could give thanks to the spirits of the medicine, extinguish a fire that has been burning through the night, or open the curtains to let the light in, if the experience has happened inside.

The next chapter introduces the concept of practices that can be done outside of psychedelic ceremony that will help you navigate the psychedelic experience. These include breathwork, meditation, various activities involving sound (such as listening to pre-recorded music, making music, drumming, singing, chanting mantras), and a vast array of different types of movements (synchronized or freeform spontaneous dancing, checking in on one's posture and balance, gestures, sensual and sexual activities, etc.).

Another chapter focuses on activities that can be done while high that will guide or intensify the experience for the psychonaut, such as artistic explorations like drawing or painting, consciously consuming content, holding or observing objects that are significant to the tripper, playing games, going on a journey in nature, venturing into a museum on a "museum level" dose, participating at a rave or music festival, experimenting with divinatory practices like tarot or the I Ching, and creating an environment of sensory deprivation like with a float tank. Vayne also goes into great detail about how to plan, organize, and execute an effective medicine circle, which is a way to have a structured—yet highly meaningful—psychedelic experience in a group setting. In fact, there are several descriptions of ceremonies scattered throughout the book that are provided so the reader can gain ideas and inspiration for creating their own unique practice.

Although there can sometimes be a feeling in the psychedelic community that it is imperative to the success of the movement for its members to approach and speak about psychedelics exclusively in a serious manner, Vayne suggests that strict divisions between the concepts of using psychedelics for spirituality, play, and enjoyment are not needed. I tend to agree.

While it is not a primary focus of the book, it does include some scientific research. For example, there is a small section regarding the effects that psychedelics have on the physiological health of the human brain. Research has shown that psychedelics may enhance organic brain processes such as neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain cells to form new connections), and the compounds found in some psychedelics have been demonstrated to cause neurogenesis (the formation of neurons from neural stem cells) in vitro. There are a few more scientific snippets in the book, but it mainly looks at what one can do to create the most optimal conditions for a psychedelic experience.

I was ultimately extremely impressed by Getting Higher, which contains plenty of legitimate advice for psychonauts wishing to take their trips to new levels of intensity or learn how to move through the psychedelic space more effectively. This book is certainly worth reading, regardless of one's skill level with psychedelics, but I do feel like it may be appreciated more by people who have had a few trips under their belt than by complete novices. Perhaps this will even increase the re-readability of this book—for me at least. Only time will tell. However, I am confident that the suggestions in Getting Higher that I highlighted and/or wrote down in my own notes will be helpful for my own psychedelic practice for years to come.

4/5 stars. 135 pages.

Book Review - On Cats

On Cats is a collection of short stories and poems written by German-American author Charles Bukowski, all of which have something to do with cats. Although Bukowski is often regarded as tough and gnarly, he considered cats to be special creatures—something that I can certainly relate to as well.

The cats featured in this book are amusing, touching, resilient, and much more. As Bukowski puts it, "The cat is the beautiful devil." He pays tribute to their abilities as predatory hunters, street-smart scrappers, and resourceful survivors, as well as their positive qualities like providing affection and care for their owners. However, this is not exclusively a cutesy book about cats. The cats featured in this book are shown sneakily stalking their prey, stabbing their claws into Bukowski's typewritten pages as they walk across his work, and defending themselves viciously against the other neighborhood cats.

This was the first book that I've read of Bukowski's, and I very much enjoyed it. It's a quick read (it only took me a few days to complete) and it's about my favorite domestic animal. I especially appreciated how similar his cats were to his own personality, almost as if they had attracted each other with a strong magnet. If you appreciate cats (or even if you don't—Bukowski's cats run the full gamut of lovable all the way to loathsome) then you should check this one out.

4/5 stars. 128 pages.

Book Review - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

You may know of this book because of its popular 1982 film adaptation, Blade Runner. However, if you're unfamiliar with it then you should know that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is the most well-known and critically-acclaimed of Philip K. Dick's novels. It's a classic science fiction piece that was first published in 1968. Set in post-apocalyptic San Francisco, lifeforms on Earth have been severely impacted by a global nuclear conflict, dubbed "World War Terminus". Unfortunately, most animal species are either endangered or completely extinct due to ongoing radiation poisoning from the fallout of the war. Therefore, owning an animal has become a status symbol that indicates one's position in life as well as a signaling to others of one's empathy toward animals, which is highly revered by the remaining human population. Only the wealthy can afford real animals—the poor have to resort to purchasing artificial (yet realistic-looking) electric animals.

The main plot follows our protagonist Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who is tasked with killing ("retiring") six androids who have escaped from Mars. These fugitive androids are the brand-new Nexus-6 model, which were recently made illegal on Earth because they went violently rogue while off-world. A subplot follows John Isidore, who possesses a low IQ and is therefore sentenced to live the rest of his lonely life on Earth while more intelligent people are allowed to emigrate to the off-world colonies. Isidore finds a much-needed sense of community with the androids and decides to help them evade their pending retirement. The novel explores the concept of what it is to be human, contrasting that experience with androids who are unable to feel empathy toward others.

The overall story is captivating and entertaining, the characters are fully-baked with believable personalities, and the overall atmosphere is tinged with just the right amount of darkness, paranoia, and confusion. Absent from this book—yet common in PKD's novels—is the use of psychoactive drugs. However, a device called the "Penfield mood organ" is capable of inducing any feeling or emotion in the user such as "a fresh attitude towards one's job", "the desire to watch television, no matter what is on" or "self-accusatory depression". This device is only mentioned in the beginning of the book, but it serves as a worthy replacement for the psychoactive drugs that normally accompany a PKD story.

This was my second reading of this book; I listened to the audiobook version this time around. And I also watched the film Blade Runner recently, so that was fresh in my mind during this reading. The first time I read this book (which was more than ten years ago), I was impressed but admittedly a bit lost and confused. Even though I didn't fully "get it" at the time, I knew that it was considered to be one of PKD's finest books so I ended up rating it with 4/5 stars at that time. However, having a better understanding of the plot this time, I feel that it is worth the full 5 stars. Not only that—I can tell that I'll be re-reading this book over and over again for the rest of my life. That's because even after this most recent reading, I know that I glossed over a fair amount of the story—leaving plenty more in store for when I return. I'd definitely recommend this book to science fiction fans and general fiction fans alike. If you're first getting into PKD, you can't go wrong with this book. And if you're looking for more after you finish this one, you should check out The Man in the High Castle, A Scanner Darkly, Ubik, and my personal favorite—The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Bon voyage, my friends.

5/5 stars. 244 pages.

Book Review - The Art of Happiness

Having been a student of Mahayana Buddhism for the past couple years, I had been meaning to read a book by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, and was overjoyed to purchase this one after being alerted that the Kindle edition had gone on sale by the excellent ebook deal-alerting service Bookbub. Since it was the first book by the current Dalai Lama that I ever read, I wasn't sure what to expect but I did expect it to be of high quality—especially since it is his most well-known book. Fortunately, it did not disappoint me in the slightest!

The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living was co-authored by psychiatrist Howard Cutler, who posed questions to the Dalai Lama over the series of many interviews. Cutler provides the setting and context for their meetings and also incorporates his own reflections on the issues raised in their discussions. In addition, transcriptions from several of the Dalai Lama's teachings are scattered throughout the book. It was first published in 1998, and I read the ten-year anniversary edition that was published in 2008 which includes a new preface and introduction.

The book delves into the concept of using various techniques to train the mind in order to achieve true happiness. In the preface, His Holiness the Dalai Lama states, "If you want others to be happy practice compassion; and if you want yourself to be happy practice compassion." This focus on developing compassion is consistent throughout the book and is a main focus in many of the answers that the Dalai Lama gives to Cutler's questions. It seems that this is a sort of prerequisite for cultivating happiness, a foundation upon which all of the other advice is based upon.

Another point that is made time and time again is that happiness comes down to one's state of mind more than by external events. There are a plethora of examples provided in the book, such as how lottery winners do not sustain their initial delight over a longterm period and instead return to the level of moment-to-moment happiness they were accustomed to prior to winning the lottery. Or how studies have shown that people who are struck by tragic events like cancer and blindness typically recover to their normal level of happiness after a reasonable adjustment period. Psychologists label this process "adaptation", which simply refers to the tendency of one's overall level of happiness to migrate back to a certain baseline.

From a Buddhist perspective, the root causes of all suffering are ignorance, craving, and hatred. The book fleshes out this idea and suggests methods for one to overcome them. For example, the Dalai Lama advises, "We cannot overcome anger and hatred simply by suppressing them. We need to actively cultivate the antidotes to hatred: patience and tolerance."

Overall, I was very impressed by this book. When I first started reading it I wished that the Dalai Lama had been the sole author, however I eventually grew to appreciate Cutler's additions. That's mainly because I did not realize that the book was co-authored until after I started reading it, so I had unknowingly and unintentionally set an improper expectation for myself. However, by the end of the book I had overlooked the co-authoring aspect entirely and focused more on the book's content, which is excellent. I would advise this book to anyone who is interested in the Dalai Lama, Buddhism, mindfulness, or becoming truly happy.

Namaste.

5/5 stars. 348 pages.