Product Description

Long out of print, this is a landmark study on narcotic and psychedelic substances by a world-renowned pharmacologist and toxicologist

- The first book to bring non-judgmental scientific insights to the use of drugs around the world

- Provides detailed information on all major drugs of the time, including opium, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, peyote, fly agaric, henbane, datura, alcohol, kava, betel, coffee, tea, cocoa, and tobacco

- A book credited with starting an era of ethnobotany that continues to the present day

The publication of Louis Lewin's "Phantastica" in 1924 began an era of ethnobotany that is still flourishing today. Until Lewin, books on the use of drugs were purely works of anthropology, concerned with how people used these plants, rather than how the plants produced their famous effects. Lewin, a world-renowned pharmacologist and toxicologist, was fascinated by both, and "Phantastica" was the first book to bring scientific insights to a survey of the use of drugs around the world. Lewin traveled extensively and acquired an astonishing variety of knowledge, reflected in this book, which provides detailed information on all major drugs of the time, including opium, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, peyote, fly agaric, henbane, datura, alcohol, kava, betel, coffee, tea, cocoa, and, of course, tobacco. For thirty years ethnobotanists have bemoaned the fact that "Phantastica" has been impossible to find; now this landmark work is once again available.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1443344 in Books
• Published on: 1990-12-31
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .70" h x 5.98" w x 9.16" l, 1.06 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 1 pages

Review
"Phantastica has weathered the test of time quite well, and it continues to bear testimony to the scientific dedication and keen wisdom of one of the world's great psychopharmacologists. [An] open-minded, scientific approach to the study of psychoactives."

Mark Blumenthal, HerbalGram
One of the primary classics in the field of ethnopsychopharmacology.

Timothy White, Shaman's Drum, Summer 1999
Phantastica has weathered the test of time quite well, and it continues to bear testimony to the scientific dedication and keen wisdom of one of the world's great psychopharmacologists. [An] open-minded, scientific approach to the study of psychoactives.