Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating History
Review: It seems to me, as others have said, that the discovery of LSD ranks up there with the top scientific discoveries of the century. The mere fact alone that there exists a substance, 50 micrograms of which, would be sufficient to perhaps reorient your entire life and understanding of the universe, whether or not one ever actually tries it, is well worth remembering on those occasions when we get a little too self-preoccupied. This book documents the history of the reactions of various individuals as they encountered this substance through an amazingly varied set of contexts, and through an intricately woven web of connections. I have a mild annoyance with the book in that the author is relentless in his effort to remain 'above it all' and regards everything with an amused and detached air. It is a puzzling attitude in a way. But the stories he tells are all well-crafted and make compelling reading. His lack of reflection on the ultimate meaning of LSD for our view of what it is to be 'normal' may be quite intentional, but it seems to give the book an unnecessarily superficial orientation which I found a bit strange.
Rating:
Summary: A trip
Review: Let's get a couple of things straight: No, I am not the author. No, I'm not related to the author. So despite the name, I think I'm pretty unbiased, although some might think otherwise after reading the following glowing review of Jay Stevens' book, "Storming Heaven."This was a great book. Mr. Stevens tracks LSD from its inception through San Francisco's "the Summer of Love" in late 60s. He artfully describes the discovery of the drug and its effect on the psychologists who first used it on their patients and on themselves. He introduces Alduous Huxley, Tim Leary, and Ken Kesey-the pied pipers of LSD-and explains their fascination for psychedelics. He discusses the drug's decline, its unpopularity with government officials, its abuse by "untrained" American kids, and the progressive marginalization of the drug's "prophets." And all the while, Stevens skillfully gives voice to the drug's proponents' vision of a "metal frontier" to be crossed using LSD, pushing human beings along the evolutionary path. It is clear from Mr. Stevens' book that LSD played a major role in the fundamental changes wrought in the 1960s. LSD tore down personal constructs and unveiled egos. LSD gave everyday Americans a chance to experience mystical visions. LSD gave many new insight into the nature of being. It was a psychological drug, and explains why most of the social change that occurred in the 1960s was psychological in nature. But while Mr. Stevens in his Epilogue seems to laud the continuation of psychological exploration by a handful of "inner" explorers who use a series of newly developed designer psychedelics, I think he misrepresents the importance of these drugs. First, the assumption that LSD will lead man (and woman) along the evolutionary path assumes that this path is straight and pointed in a forward direction. That is, that evolution is a natural process from simple to complex, from amoebas to man and beyond. Instead, science now concludes that evolution is more of a willy-nilly process. Species constantly bloom a number of seemingly useless mutations, and changes in environment conditions dictate which mutation reigns supreme. After all, it seems that the next species to inherit the planet is likely to be the cockroach, for the cockroach has the rigor and hardiness to withstand the destruction of the planet by humans. And cockroaches are hardly superior in intelligence or complexity. Second, is the assumption that LSD can "lead" us anywhere. While LSD gives visions, reveals fundamental truths about personality, it doesn't change anything. It's up to the individual in the end to enact change, to mutate. We only have to look at the example of Tim Leary to realize this. While Mr. Leary was turned on to the drug and believed its in therapeutic value, in the text he remained a womanizing, upperly-mobile egoist; he just traded in his tweed for buckskin, and academia for psychedelia. Basically LSD is a shortcut. It's a quick-fix buzz. In that way, it's the ideal substance for America. "Vision in a can." "Become a mystic in 12 easy hours." I would've liked to Mr. Stevens explore this facet of LSD a little more. But he seems to be totally enchanted with the cosmic possibilities... In any case, the writing is superb. It's the perfect book to read to begin exploring the important texts of the 20th century bohemian movement. Read this alongside "Brave New World," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "On the Road," "Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test," and "Howl," among other texts.
Rating:
Summary: A trip
Review: Let's get a couple of things straight: No, I am not the author. No, I'm not related to the author. So despite the name, I think I'm pretty unbiased, although some might think otherwise after reading the following glowing review of Jay Stevens' book, "Storming Heaven." This was a great book. Mr. Stevens tracks LSD from its inception through San Francisco's "the Summer of Love" in late 60s. He artfully describes the discovery of the drug and its effect on the psychologists who first used it on their patients and on themselves. He introduces Alduous Huxley, Tim Leary, and Ken Kesey-the pied pipers of LSD-and explains their fascination for psychedelics. He discusses the drug's decline, its unpopularity with government officials, its abuse by "untrained" American kids, and the progressive marginalization of the drug's "prophets." And all the while, Stevens skillfully gives voice to the drug's proponents' vision of a "metal frontier" to be crossed using LSD, pushing human beings along the evolutionary path. It is clear from Mr. Stevens' book that LSD played a major role in the fundamental changes wrought in the 1960s. LSD tore down personal constructs and unveiled egos. LSD gave everyday Americans a chance to experience mystical visions. LSD gave many new insight into the nature of being. It was a psychological drug, and explains why most of the social change that occurred in the 1960s was psychological in nature. But while Mr. Stevens in his Epilogue seems to laud the continuation of psychological exploration by a handful of "inner" explorers who use a series of newly developed designer psychedelics, I think he misrepresents the importance of these drugs. First, the assumption that LSD will lead man (and woman) along the evolutionary path assumes that this path is straight and pointed in a forward direction. That is, that evolution is a natural process from simple to complex, from amoebas to man and beyond. Instead, science now concludes that evolution is more of a willy-nilly process. Species constantly bloom a number of seemingly useless mutations, and changes in environment conditions dictate which mutation reigns supreme. After all, it seems that the next species to inherit the planet is likely to be the cockroach, for the cockroach has the rigor and hardiness to withstand the destruction of the planet by humans. And cockroaches are hardly superior in intelligence or complexity. Second, is the assumption that LSD can "lead" us anywhere. While LSD gives visions, reveals fundamental truths about personality, it doesn't change anything. It's up to the individual in the end to enact change, to mutate. We only have to look at the example of Tim Leary to realize this. While Mr. Leary was turned on to the drug and believed its in therapeutic value, in the text he remained a womanizing, upperly-mobile egoist; he just traded in his tweed for buckskin, and academia for psychedelia. Basically LSD is a shortcut. It's a quick-fix buzz. In that way, it's the ideal substance for America. "Vision in a can." "Become a mystic in 12 easy hours." I would've liked to Mr. Stevens explore this facet of LSD a little more. But he seems to be totally enchanted with the cosmic possibilities... In any case, the writing is superb. It's the perfect book to read to begin exploring the important texts of the 20th century bohemian movement. Read this alongside "Brave New World," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "On the Road," "Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test," and "Howl," among other texts.
Rating:
Summary: The book itself is mind-expanding!
Review: Obviously, the subject of LSD is a touchy one, yet Jay Stevens' painstaking research gains the trust of the reader early and maintains it throughout. I am a chemist, and he describes the circumstances surrounding the discovery of LSD perfectly. My father is a psychologist, and he was surprised at Jay Stevens' insights into the state of psychological research in the post-war era. This book is much more of a social history than it is a history of LSD- I only wish Jay Stevens would write more books.
Rating:
Summary: The Battle betwen God's Flesh and Green Money
Review: Segue to the end: money wins. Personal greed (or some variant of Maslow's hierarchy) triumphs over freedom of the mind. How pure these early pioneers of mind expansion were in their intentions. And how naive. What kind of society could sustain a populace of blissed-out fun-seeking consumer bees more bent on self-discovery than on collecting and distributing green pollen? The answer to this question posed such a threat to the established system that what resulted was no less than a civil war, with one side winning a smashing victory. Life in the trenches is so boring, we need our legal opiates to blot out the meaninglessness. How dare a group of outsiders suggest an alternative marketing channel! What would hapen to G.M., Seagram's, the Papal seat, and the organized crime syndicates working in the underground economy? Better to have a bloodless revolution (well, almost...see Chicago in 1968 and Kent State University in 1970) than to tolerate such an open threat to income production and distribution. This book is a fine social study that is a "must" reading for anyone who would attempt to explain the America we live in today. Going beneath the headlines without sounding too much like Oliver Stone opens up other interpretations of what happened and suggests what could have been. If you were born between 1945 and 1965 and want to know why you and your friends are doing this instead of that, read this book. If you are a student of modern American history, read this book. I have read it three time since it was first published (just finished it again), and as a baby-boomer born in 1952, I can appreciate just how close to the mark the author makes his shot.
Rating:
Summary: Rare Insight into Drugs & Counterculture in the Postwar US
Review: Stevens transports us to times and places that *should* be alien, and *should* be unusual, but instead takes us into parlors, labs, music halls, and jungles to give us what sounds and tastes like the real poop on how, and more importantly, why a drug culture was so ferociously and speedily born in postwar America. So real are his profiles, and so uncharacteristically down to earth compared to the other well known and more academic studies of the genre, that we, as readers, can easily see and identify with why Hoffman, the Wassons, Alpert, Leary, Huxley, et al took to these unique alkaloids in an ongoing attempt to seek new truths, often to to validate inner yearnings. Stevens feels like he was there, and so will you. If nothing else, "Storming Heaven" is a great read simply because Stevens is so very, very *on*. A must read if you are even remotely interested in the modern drug phenomenon, with a few bonuses of drugs in history (and theory) thrown in for good measure. I lent my copy out four years ago, never got it back, and have since regretted it!
Rating:
Summary: enthralled
Review: Storming Heaven chronicles the advent of LSD (as well as many other halucinagens) from its early days as a pharmaceutical curio to indispensable ingredient of sixties social upheaval. In rich detail it explains how, from the Sandoz pharmaceutical labs in Switzerland it made its timely way to American shores where it found, in the form of Timothy Leary, (and before him Aldous Huxley) its high priest.
Rating:
Summary: Once one begins Storming Heaven one can't put it down
Review: Storming Heaven is by far the most informative and comprehensive work I have ever read about the 60's Psychdelic movement! A breathtaking roller coaster ride down the steep inclines of the human psyche. If this subject at all perks your interest you won't be able to put it down!
Rating:
Summary: read this now, you are late
Review: This book is a fair account of the affects and consequenses of mature ingestion of the chemical Lysergic acid---please read thids book it is an eye opener for the skeptic--get it in the library first if you doubt this quick review.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Psychedelic History
Review: This book is pure information. And I cannot get enough of it.
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