I've got a birthday party coming up and I'd like to buy the birthday boy (46M) a novel or a memoir. My friend is into psychedelic experiences but that's not my cup of tea, nor it is in terms of literary themes – I know the usual suspects (Huxley) but that's as far as I go there. Any recommendations for something that may be of interest to him and he'd likely not have read yet?
by Slow_Association_682
5 Comments
Hunter S Thompson. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a classic
The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. It’s a psychedelic occult initiation in written form.
If you want to get exclusively into the psychedelic side Pihkal: A Chemical Love story by Shulgin is an out of the way classic.
Electric Kool Aid Acid Test is a great nonfiction book.
Is he into hippie sort of stuff at all? If so, he might enjoy **Jitterbug Perfume** by Tom Robbins. A funny, whimsical, mildly philosophical, novel, with a great story tinged with a bit of magic and mysticism. To me it’s got great counterculture vibes.
Is he into fantasy/sci-fi at all? Because there are a few fairly trippy books he might enjoy, and possibly not have read.
The Dark Tower by Stephen King comes to mind, starting with **The Gunslinger**. The series really kicks off with the second book, **The Drawing of the Three**, so I’d maybe buy the pair since the first is a lot shorter, and different. It’s a really trippy, wild ride of a series, and I remember the main character having some psychedelic experiences at various points.
Another really trippy one that’s pretty underrated is **Imajica** by Clive Barker. I don’t remember it necessarily having any *actual* psychedelics in it, but it’s an imaginative trip of a book.
A recent book I enjoyed that felt like a trip while reading it, is **Gnomon** by Nick Harkaway, another lesser known gem, imo. It’s closer to a near-future, cyberpunk-y, dystopian/utopian(?) novel, but plays with genre a lot and heads into mystical territory unexpectedly. A fairly confusing book at times, but a lot of fun, and once again involves trippy concepts like mind-reading, ritual magic, etc.
Or you could always go with the classics, but he may have already read those if he’s an avid reader. Ken Kesey, Terence McKenna, Hunter S. Thompson, Ram Dass, etc. They’re all great, and have a lot of books to choose from. Another cool author to check out might be Carl Jung, depending on how much your friend is into questions of consciousness, dreams, and mysticism — And The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley is great if you can find a special edition of some sort.
Naked Lunch by Burroughs