Dale Pendell è autore di una fondamentale storia letteraria che esplora le piante psicoattive. Distilla meticolosamente complessi saperi interdisciplinari, attingendo da farmacologia, neuroscienze, etnobotanica, antropologia, mitologia ed economia politica. Pendell esamina come questi campi si intersecano con l'esperienza umana diretta dell'uso psicoattivo. Il suo lavoro offre una prospettiva unica sulla profonda relazione tra umanità, regno vegetale e coscienza.
"Ancient Greek herbalists used the term pharmakodynamis to refer to the intrinsic powers of plants. Pendell charts a voyage around the world of plant teachers and allies. Applying poetry, chemistry, pharmacology, and a generous sprinkling of arcane lore, Pendell wends a course through the realms of plant powers, potions, and herbcraft."--BOOK JACKET.
In Pharmako/Poeia, Dale Pendell offers a mesmerizing guide to psychoactive plants, from their pharmacological roots to the literary offshoots. "This is a book," writes Gary Snyder, "about danger: dangerous knowledge, even more dangerous ignorance." Against the greater danger, ignorance, Pendell strikes a formidable blow, as he proves himself a wise and witty guide to our plant teachers, their powers and their poisons. "Pharmako/Poeia is an epic poem on plant humours, an abstruse alchemic treatise, an experiential narrative jigsaw puzzle, a hip and learned wild-nature reference text, a comic paen to cosmic consciousness, an ecological handbook, a dried-herb pastiche, a counterculture encyclopedia of ancient fact and lore." -Allen Ginsberg poet"Dale Pendell reactivates the ancient connection between the bardic poet and the shaman." -Terence McKenna author of True Hallucinations
"Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft focuses on familiar psychoactive plant-derived substances and related synthetics, ranging from the licit (tobacco, alcohol) to the illicit (cannabis, opium) and the exotic (absinthe, salvia divinorum, nitrous oxide). Each substance is explored in detail, not only with information on its history, pharmacology, preparation, and cultural and esoteric correspondences, but also the subtleties of each plant's effect on consciousness in a way that only poets can do. The whole concoction is sprinkled with abundant quotations from famous writers, creating a literary brew as intoxicating as its subject." (éditeur)
Kniha o nyvyzpytatelné moci rostlin a cestě jedů.
Velký záliv, novela amerického básníka a etnobotanika Dalea Pendella, je dystopickým, a přesto optimistickým pohledem na svět po zhroucení civilizace, tak jak ji dnes známe. Poté co dojde ropa, lidstvo zdecimují epidemie a potopy a nastane oteplení prostřídané novými dobami ledovými, poté co vymře většina světové populace, musí nečetní přeživší napnout veškeré síly k přežití a pod nánosy trosek vyhledávat pohřbené zbytky vědomostí. Ke slovu se dostanou hluboko ve vědomí zasuté pradávné mýty, šamanská moudrost a léčitelství přírodních národů. Jaký osud bude mít nešťastné lidstvo? Dojde k vytvoření civilizace podobné té naší, nebo vznikne něco úplně nového, neméně vzrušivé, ba lepší uspořádání?