Review Detail

Middle-aged and silver-streaked hippies definitely notice this title and I can state from personal experience that it arouses curiosity. (It's true that the more things change, the more they remain the same.) The cover jacket describes Get High Now as containing “over 175 sensory trips and tricks for visual stimulation, compressing time, lucid dreaming, meditation, and more.” And indeed it does. Some of them are more mundane, such as self-hypnosis and some are quite bizarre, such as sungazing; many are quick and simple and can be done almost anywhere. The author has compiled these methods from many eras and sources around the world, and with a group of volunteers, tested all of those that have no undesired effects, which the majority of these entries are. There are a few methods that the author does not recommend but has included for their intrigue—anthropological oddities, he calls them.

Although it is unlikely that I would sit down and “read” this book, it makes a great travel book, bathroom book, or for reading any time you have a few minutes to spare. It could also be fun to experiment with some of these methods in groups. Get High Now also offers an audio-visual web component if you want to expand your repertoire. I love this book just because it stimulates perception and thought processes—like having a portable jungle gym for your mind on hand. Groovy.