The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (P.S.)
by Aldous Huxley
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Book Summary Information
Author: Aldous HuxleyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-07-28
ISBN: 0061729078
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780061729072
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (P.S.)
Book Review: Huxley should've stuck to fiction
Summary: 2 Stars
The author of Brave New World describes his experiments with mescalin. He should've stuck to fiction.
Fun with Patterns
The highlight is Huxley's discussion about patterns and colors. During one of his trips, he became intensely aware of the pattern of folds and wrinkles in the sheets of his bed. The experience made such an impression that he continued to take particular notice, even after his trip, of the patterns that occur in folded cloth. He also began to notice that some artists (Michelangelo) seem to lavish much more attention than others on these patterns. Did the mescalin help Huxley achieve a perspective Michelangelo attained without chemical aid? Who knows? But try looking at the Pieta after this without thinking about Huxley and his folded-cloth fixation!
Drop the "Mr Science" act and give us what we came for!
The above paragraph notwithstanding, this book ovarall is too long, and burdened with excessive and extraneous details along the lines of:
I took the pill and lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling, not sure what to expect. After a while, I got up and paced around the room, trying to decide whether I should get something to eat. Etc.
This gives the text an air of clinical respectability, but the scientific facade doesn't stand up to much scrutiny. The word "experiment" comes up a lot, but what exactly is being tested? Nothing objective is measured. There is never a discussion of what specific data is collected, or how it will be analyzed. At the end, no conclusions are discussed. It is simply too charitable to call any of this "scientific". I think the "science" angle was disingenuinous, and intended to lend respectability to a subject publishers and readers may have been uncomfortable with. Huxley probably felt he couldn't admit "I just wanted to see what it feels like". That's too bad, because it would have been a lot more fun to read if he had embraced the subjective nature of what he was doing, and addressed the questions most of us probably wonder, like How did this experience make you feel?
Was it "cool"?
Do you feel like you "brushed the face of God", or some such trippy thing?
Was it FUN?
Would you let your kids do this?
Denying readers that is just a cheat
Summary of The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (P.S.)
Half an hour after swallowing the drug I became aware of a slow dance of golden lights . . .
Among the most profound explorations of the effects of mind-expanding drugs ever written, here are two complete classic books?The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell?in which Aldous Huxley, author of the bestselling Brave New World, reveals the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. This new edition also features an additional essay, "Drugs That Shape Men's Minds," which is now included for the first time.
Sometimes a writer has to revisit the classics, and here we find that "gonzo journalism"--gutsy first-person accounts wherein the author is part of the story--didn't originate with Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe. Aldous Huxley took some mescaline and wrote about it some 10 or 12 years earlier than those others. The book he came up with is part bemused essay and part mystical treatise--"suchness" is everywhere to be found while under the influence. This is a good example of essay writing, journal keeping, and the value of controversy--always--in one's work.
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