The 5 Best Psychedelic Rock Books
Contents
A list of the 5 best psychedelic rock books finds its way onto the internet, complete with summaries and purchase links.
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a 1968 nonfiction book by Tom Wolfe that follows the exploits of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. The book is considered an important work in the history of psychedelic drugs and the counterculture of the 1960s.
The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary
This book is seen as a classic in the world of psychedelic literature. First published in 1964, The Psychedelic Experience was written as a guide for people interested in taking LSD. The book is based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Leary describes it as “a manual for dying.” Though it’s been criticized for its potential to encourage irresponsible drug use, The Psychedelic Experience remains an important work in the field of psychedelia.
The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception is one of the defining works of the psychedelic experience. First published in 1954, the book details Huxley’s experience with mescaline, which he ingested in an attempt to break through the “doors of perception” and see the world in a new way. Though technically not a book about psychedelic rock music, The Doors of Perception has been hugely influential on the genre, and its impact can still be felt today.
The Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
The Naked Lunch is a novel by American writer William S. Burroughs, published in 1959. The book is structured as a series of loosely connected vignettes. It was originally published in two installments in the magazine Nova Express in the issues for November 1959 and February 1960.
The book became influential for its experimental style and juxtaposition of image and text, as well as its experimentation with -> mind-altering -> drugs. The residents of the Annex, an apartment building in New York City’s Greenwich Village, are turning into cockroaches. Beat poet and novelist William S. Burroughs’s most famous work, Naked Lunch is a journey through addiction, mental illness, and literary experimentation.
First published in Paris in 1959 by the Obelisk Press (owned by Olympia Press, which also published Lolita), ->Naked Lunch caused an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic-> . In 1961, an American edition was published by Grove Press with a introduction by Allen Ginsberg. Since then, the book has been translated into more than 20 languages and has become a classic of countercultural literature.
The Acid House by Irvine Welsh
The Acid House is a collection of three short stories by Irvine Welsh, first published in 1998. The stories are set in the author’s hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland and are based around the use of LSD. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1999.
The first story, “The Granton Star Cause”, is about a teenage boy who is annoyed with his parents and takes acid in an attempt to escape reality. The second story, “A Smart Cunt”, is about a young man who becomes involved with a group of criminals and takes acid as part of their initiation ritual. The third story, “The Acid House”, is about a man who takes acid and ends up living in a house with rats.
The book received mixed reviews upon its release, with some critics praising the author’s use of language and others complaining that the stories were too graphic. However, the book has since become a cult classic, with many fans citing it as one of the best examples of psychedelic literature ever written.
