6/25/2007

Reading Food of the Gods: The search for the Original Tree of Knowledge, A Radical History of Plants & Drugs, and Human Evolution, by Terence McKenna. It explores whether the psychedelic fungus psilopsybin is the missing link in how the brain tripled in size, setting humans apart from apes and culture became more complex, adding things like religion. McKenna also argues that caffeine, nicotine and alcohol make our society hierarchical, whereas cultures that use pot, mushrooms and peyote are more egalitarian. She's also reading The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, by Jeremy Narby. For the past few months she's been reading about DNA, science in general, and drugs. These books have not only broadened her mind academically but have also enhanced her own psychedelic experiences by helping her tap into things she hadn't been able to before. If she were to write her own book, it would be about modern day shamanism, psychedelic drugs and the Burning Man party scene.

Something she recommends--Gould's Book of Fish, by Richard Flanagan, which is the story of a convict on an island near Australia who draws pictures of fish in his journal. The author of the book finds the journal, reads it, then loses it. Gould's Book of Fish is the result of the retelling of what he remembers. The illustrations, she says, are great.

Another good book with pictures that she loved as a child--The Never Ending Story, by Michael Ende, an edition that is now out of print. When she was a child she also loved reading books with animals points of views and, for a short time, became a vegetarian because of this.

Her most recent photography project--when she was living in Santa Barbara she carried around her boom box, camera and tripod and photographed strangers dancing to Billy Idol's Dancing with Myself!