Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence Mc Kenna, is an autobiographical account of renowned ethnobotanist Dennis Mc Kenna’s childhood, his relationship with his brother, and the author’s experiences with and reflections on psychedelics, philosophy, and scientific innovation.
Chronicling the Mc Kenna brothers’ childhood in western Colorado during the 1950s and 1960s, Dennis writes of his adolescent adventures including his first encounters with alcohol and drugs (many of which were facilitated by Terence), and the people and ideas that shaped them both. Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss weaves personal narrative through philosophical ideas and tales of psychedelic experimentation.
In this book, Dennis describes these inquiries with the wisdom of perspective. In his account of what has become known as “The Experiment at La Chorrera”— which Terence documented in his own 1989 book, True Hallucinations — Dennis describes how he had visions of merging mushroom and human DNA, the brothers’ predictions for the future, and their evolving ideas about society and consciousness. He also offers an intellectual understanding of the hallucinogenic effects of high-dose psychedelic mushrooms and other psychedelic substances.
Dennis, now world-renowned for this ethnobotanical work, describes in Brotherhood his early interests in cosmology and astrology, his sometimes rocky relationship with his older brother and how their paths diverged later in their lives. Dennis describes his academic career in between touching accounts of both his mother’s and Terence’s battles with cancer. In the 10th Anniversary edition of Brotherhood, Dennis reflects on scientific revelations, climate change, and the social and political crises of our time.
The new edition also features both the original foreword by Luis Eduardo Luna and a new foreword by Dr. Bruce Damer. Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss is a story about brotherhood, psychedelic experimentation, and the intertwining nature of science and myth.
About the author
Luis Eduardo Luna was born in Florencia, in the Colombian Amazon region. He is both a Guggenheim fellow and Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. Luna worked with Pablo Amaringo to establish the internationally recognized USKO-AYAR Amazonian School of Painting in Pucallpa, Peru. From 1994-1998, he taught as a Professor of Anthropology in Brazil, and currently teaches as a Senior Lecturer at the Swedish School of Economics in Helsinki. He has also been an Associate of the Botanical Museum of Harvard University since 1986.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
47,207 Ebooks in this category
