Person
Every book Dennis McKenna recommended on podcasts
Across 3 podcasts. Every show Dennis McKenna appears on, in one place — not just one.
Dennis McKenna’s most recommended books
- The Psilocybin Solution by Simon G. Powell
- Magic Mushroom Explorer by Simon G. Powell
- The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda
- Entangled by Graham Hancock
- Plant Intelligence And The Imaginal Realm Beyond The Doors Of Perception Into The Dreaming Earth by Stephen Harrod Buhner
- Tryptamine palace by James Oroc
- Ayahuasca Visions by Pablo Amaringo
- Changing Our Minds by Don Lattin
- Communion by Whitley Strieber
- Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna
Dennis Jon McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. He is the brother of well-known psychedelics proponent Terence McKenna and is a founding board member and the director of ethnopharmacology at the Heffter Research Institute, a non-profit organization concerned with the investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines. Appearing on podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, and The Tim Ferriss Show, McKenna recommended and discussed various works related to psychedelics, nature, and ethnopharmacology. He brought up Simon G. Powell's The Psilocybin Solution to discuss how psilocybin affects human perception, and referenced Stephen Harrod Buhner's Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm when discussing alternative ways of relating to nature. He recommended James Oroc's The Tryptamine Palace while discussing 5-MeO-DMT, and endorsed Graham Hancock's novel Entangled. Furthermore, McKenna discussed Pablo Amaringo and Luis Luna's Ayahuasca Visions to illustrate traditional iconography associated with ayahuasca, referenced Peter T. Furst's Hallucinogens and Culture regarding psychedelics and language, and noted that The Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (co-authored by Dennis McKenna, Ghillean T. Prance, and Wade Davis) alongside Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan were crucial in framing his early professional interests.
Books recommended by Dennis McKenna
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Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs
Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs is a multi-volume scientific work documenting traditional plant use, botanical research, and the history of psychoactive substances.
Discussed“we can go back to this this is earlier than schulte's but i got my hands on this amazing book called the ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs”
Where to get it
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The Psilocybin Solution
The Psilocybin Solution by Simon G.
Discussed“you know I think we've talked before about Simon Powell's work he wrote about he writes about psilocybin wrote a psilocybin solution and that was this first book”
Where to get it
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Magic Mushroom Explorer
Magic Mushroom Explorer by Simon G.
Discussed“and I think his latest is the magic mushroom Explorer”
Where to get it
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The Teachings of Don Juan
The Teachings of Don Juan is a book by Carlos Castaneda that chronicles his claimed apprenticeship under a Yaqui shaman, which became a foundational text for the New Age movement.
Discussed“and then the ethnopharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs which i am not even sure i don't even remember where i originally got the first edition but that had come across my radar a few months earlier and these two books were very important for me in terms of framing my interests”
Where to get it
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Entangled
Entangled by Graham Hancock is a fictional work that explores fascinating concepts through a narrative born out of deep personal experiences and extensive research in Brazil.
Recommended“no very interesting entangled oh you should read it”
Where to get it
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Plant Intelligence And The Imaginal Realm Beyond The Doors Of Perception Into The Dreaming Earth
Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming Earth is a non-fiction book by Stephen Harrod Buhner that examines alternative ways of perceiving nature, plant communication, and ecological awareness.
Recommended“He's written a book called uh plant intelligence and the imaginal realm and uh it's all about this, you know, uh this uh essentially what his rap is.”
Where to get it
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Tryptamine palace
Tryptamine Palace by James Oroc is an exploration of the visionary entheogen 5-MeO-DMT, blending personal memoir, chemical history, and philosophical inquiry into the nature of consciousness.
Recommended“James oro's book The tryptamine Palace no oh you should you might want to get him on this show triamine Palace James Oro how do you spell it o r o c I believe fxy DM this is all about Fib methoxy DMT uh that's his whole book yeah and his he says you think DMT is something f methoxy”
Where to get it
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Ayahuasca Visions
Discussed“it's the book that uh you're familiar with the artist Pablo amaringo the the Visionary Peruvian artist he and Luis Eduardo Luna wrote a uh a book he painted his Visions right he remembered all his Visions in perfect detail painted these visions and Eduardo and he collaborated on a book called Ayahuasca Visions the religious iconography of a Peruvian”
Where to get it
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Changing Our Minds
Discussed“and he wrote a book that they published called changing our minds ironically about the same time Michael Pollan brought his book out”
Where to get it
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Communion
Communion by Whitley Strieber is a striking account in which the author details his personal, unsettling experiences with alleged non-human entities and alien abduction.
Discussed“He's from the communion books or people don't know exactly what a series of books about being abducted and yeah”
Where to get it
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Food of the Gods
Food of the Gods is a fringe exploration of the history of plants, drugs, and human evolution written by ethnobotanist Terence McKenna.
Discussed“one of terence's books the food of the gods is being reprinted again i'm actually doing a online event with michael pollan and the publisher”
Where to get it
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Hallucinogens and Culture
Discussed“The connection to LSD and language and I think even more so with mushrooms because you're probably familiar with an essay I think by Henry Munn that was published in a book called uh I think it was by Peter Furst called Hallucinogens and Culture. This was around 1970. There's a wonderful chapter in there called The Mushrooms of Language.”
Where to get it
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Mystic Chemist
Discussed“they have a book called the mystic chemist about Albert Hofmann”
Where to get it
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One River
One River by Wade Davis is an account of ethnobotanical exploration in the Amazon that chronicles the adventures of Richard Evans Schultes.
Discussed“he's the person that wrote one river he was a protege of shulte”
Where to get it
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Supernatural
Supernatural by Graham Hancock is a controversial non-fiction exploration of human evolution, ancient cave art, altered states of consciousness, and the historical use of psychedelic substances like ayahuasca.
Discussed“the name of the book is supernatural two words supernatural a new vision of the unexplained”
Where to get it
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The Invisible Landscape
The Invisible Landscape is a psychedelic exploration of consciousness, shamanism, and time by brothers Terence and Dennis McKenna.
Discussed“and we wrote the invisible landscape in our first book it's four people have no idea what we're talking about”
Where to get it
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The Serpent and the Rainbow
The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis is a fascinating non-fiction account that investigates the cultural phenomenon of zombification in Haiti, blending ethnobotany, anthropology, and travel writing.
Discussed“his first book was called the serpent of the rainbow all right that was made into a film”
Where to get it
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This Is Your Mind On Plants
This Is Your Mind On Plants by Michael Pollan is a non-fiction book that investigates humanity's complex relationship with three mind-altering plant substances: opium, caffeine, and mescaline.
Discussed“and he wrote a book that they published called changing our minds ironically about the same time Michael Pollan brought his book out So Michael Pollan being who he is got all the attention Don's got very little still a good book you know”
Where to get it
Books Dennis McKenna wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (5: passing, ad reads, own books)
“one thing I'd like to mention, you've quoted a number of times from the Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss. People may be interested to know that there'll be a second edition coming out toward the end of the year. Oh, no kidding. I know you did. Yeah, they're going to reprint it. I've written a new chapter. So, it'll be”
“what goes around comes around in the book is ethno pharmacologic search for psychoactive drugs and it's from it's labeled from 1967 to 2017”
“and I guess you could say the personal dynamic was kind of strange and like if you read my book the Brotherhood of the screaming abyss there's a couple of chapter there's a chapter on this but over time even Wade changed his mind”
“you know and I guess you could say the personal dynamic was kind of strange and like if you read my book the Brotherhood of the screaming abyss there's a couple of chapter there's a chapter on this”
“I mean we we actually in my book I may as well plug my book oh the latest one the only latest one I wrote the Brotherhood of the screaming Abyss oh that's the one you promoted last time you were on here which is excellent”