HOFMANN’S ELIXIR: LSD AND THE NEW ELEUSIS

“Any scientist who is no mystic is no scientist” Albert Hofmann

Dr Albert Hofmann died in 2008 aged 102. The philosopher-chemist would have been a remarkable man even if he hadn’t discovered the chemical compound that changed the course of the 20th century – LSD. Voted the greatest living genius in a 2007 poll, the self-described ‘little Swiss chemist’ was as much loved and respected for his personal nobility and modesty as he was for his chemical creations, which besides LSD, included chemicals used every day in maternity and geriatric wards the world over.

This unique book collects, for the first time, a number of his later essays and lectures. Between them they present a comprehensive overview of Hofmann’s relationship to his controversial creation, and reveal his profound mystical outlook, informed both by his own LSD experiences, and by a life lived through one of the most turbulent centuries in human history.

The second section contains essays and memoirs from some of the world’s leading psychedelic thinkers, including Huston Smith, Myron Stolaroff, Ralph Metzner, Jonathan Ott, Stanislav Grof and Amanda Feilding. The book is also is illustrated throughout with many rare photographs from the Hofmann archives.

Hofmann’s Elixir is at once an important cultural and historical document, and a rare glimpse inside a visionary mind.

All proceeds from the book go towards the Beckley/Imperial Psychedelic Research Programme.

Also available from Amazon UK and Amazon USA

Talks & Essays by
Albert Hofmann and others.
Translation by Jonathan Ott
Edited by Amanda Feilding

The Psychedelic Press UK Literary Review: ‘Hofmann’s Elixir’, Edited by Amanda Feilding

Paperback: 170 pages
Publisher: Beckley Foundation Press and Strange Attractor
Language English
ISBN: 780-954 805494

Related Pages: Hofmann’s Elixir Polish Edition