E-Book Overview
This is the story of LSD told by a concerned yet hopeful father, organic chemist Albert Hofmann. He traces LSD's path from a promising psychiatric research medicine to a recreational drug sparking hysteria and prohibition. We follow Dr. Hofmann's trek across Mexico to discover sacred plants related to LSD, and listen in as he corresponds with other notable figures about his remarkable discovery. Underlying it all is Dr. Hofmann's powerful conclusion that mystical experience may be our planet's best hope for survival. Whether induced by LSD, meditation, or arising spontaneously, such experiences help us to comprehend "the wonder, the mystery of the divine‹in the microcosm of the atom, in the macrocosm of the spiral nebula, in the seeds of plants, in the body and soul of people." More than sixty years after the birth of Albert Hofmann's problem child, his vision of its true potential is more relevant, and more needed, than ever.
E-Book Content
LSD - My Problem Child Albert Hofmann Baby Albert, born January 11, 1906 Albert, sitting on the right, holding the hand of his younger brother Walter Enters the University of Zurich, 1926 Gets his own lab at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland, 1935. Three years later, LSD was first synthesized in this lab. Outbreak of Second World War, 1939. Neutral Switzerland is ready to defend its frontiers. Albert wears the typical Swiss army helmet. Family Photographs With Dieter, Gaby, Beatrice and Andreas - 1950 With William Burroughs, 1978 With John Lilly, 1981 Translator's Preface Numerous accounts of the discovery of LSD have been published in English; none, unfortunately, have been completely accurate. Here, at last, the father of LSD details the history of his "problem child" and his long and fruitful career as a research ch