Sometimes a writer has to revisit the classics. Here we find that "gonzo journalism"--gutsy first-person accounts wherein the author is part of th...
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Oct 24, 2011
Ian
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Teenage Kicks
I read this book in the early 70's in my early teenage years.
The first thing about "The Doors of Perception" is that it was the source of the name of the band.
The second is that it shaped the views of many people about drugs for 20 years.
Aldous Huxley came from a scientific as well as a creative background. For me, it gave him some level of credibility when assessing the merits of psychedelic drugs.
Basically, (I think) he argued that More...
I read this book in the early 70's in my early teenage years.
The first thing about "The Doors of Perception" is that it was the source of the name of the band.
The second is that it shaped the views of many people about drugs for 20 years.
Aldous Huxley came from a scientific as well as a creative background. For me, it gave him some level of credibility when assessing the merits of psychedelic drugs.
Basically, (I think) he argued that More...
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May 20, 2010
Bird Brian
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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 art More...
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 art More...
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Jul 15, 2011
Keith
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Generally, I greatly prefer to read books in the dead-trees format—actual paper in my hand. This was the first I've read in a long time where I found myself desperately longing, not only for an electronic edition, but for a fully hypertextual version, rich with links. Over the two months I spent on this volume, on and off, I believe two-thirds of my time was spent on the Internet looking up references. At the very least, this book would benefit greatly from extensive illustration: the range o
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Jul 01, 2008
Shiv
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Doors of Perception is a deeply interesting short essay by the famous author Aldous Huxley. In 1953 he was involved in a controlled experiment into the psychological effects of the drug mescalin.
What he describes is less a mere hallucinatory experience and more an opening of his ability to percieve, and to see himself as part of the Oneness of the universe. He argues (quite correctly) that a massive part of the function of the brain is to selectively discard sensory input, keeping only wh More...
What he describes is less a mere hallucinatory experience and more an opening of his ability to percieve, and to see himself as part of the Oneness of the universe. He argues (quite correctly) that a massive part of the function of the brain is to selectively discard sensory input, keeping only wh More...
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Jul 03, 2008
Ryan
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A thoroughly thought provoking book! I really enjoyed the various thoughts and discussions on the nature of reality and perception - that is, the idea that what we see/interpret is unique no matter what we do to try to convey to another person. Some great excerpts:
"We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately t More...
"We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately t More...
Apr 09, 2008
David
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This is a collection of two long essays by Aldous Huxley. The First one featured is the Doors of Perception. It argues that the primary purpose of the brain is to filter out irrelevant thought, rather than creating relevant thought. This has somewhat been confirmed by modern neuroscience. with side effects from psychiatric medications and astral energy form covert groups, creating allegic dependsay on such normal things as caffine, alchol,tobacco, Through thease and recreational drugs, hallucino
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Dec 21, 2007
John
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i give doors of perception 3 stars, and heaven and hell 1. overall, there was just not much interesting material in these books. i found two ideas in "the doors" that were interesting to me.
first, the idea that the primary function of the brain is as a filter, to reduce the massive amount of incoming information that comes into a smaller set that is useful for survival and propagation. in itself, this is not much, but the implications as to what that unfiltered set looks li More...
first, the idea that the primary function of the brain is as a filter, to reduce the massive amount of incoming information that comes into a smaller set that is useful for survival and propagation. in itself, this is not much, but the implications as to what that unfiltered set looks li More...
Jul 15, 2011
Erik
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Towards the end of his life Aldous Huxley was introduced to psychedelics, still legal at that time. His analyses of the phenomenon are detailed in these two essays here combined in one volume. For further reading about his relationship to such drugs see, of course, the various biographies about Huxley, particularly Huxley in Hollywood, and his wife's collection of essays by and about him and these drugs entitled Moksha. For his use of his experiences in literature see his novel Island.
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Jan 28, 2009
Ryan
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Drugs and artists are connected? Holy Shit!
The copy I read contained only Doors, no Heaven and Hell, but in it Huxley writes about his controlled experiment with mescaline. It's not surprising what he comes up with, given his work in Brave New World and his stance as a contemplative artist: he argues in Doors that mescaline opens "doors through the wall" of existence that we all try to access as a way of escaping the the monotonous, the mundane, and also the higher order o More...
The copy I read contained only Doors, no Heaven and Hell, but in it Huxley writes about his controlled experiment with mescaline. It's not surprising what he comes up with, given his work in Brave New World and his stance as a contemplative artist: he argues in Doors that mescaline opens "doors through the wall" of existence that we all try to access as a way of escaping the the monotonous, the mundane, and also the higher order o More...
Oct 28, 2011
Shinn
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I'm not entirely sure how I feel about The Doors of Perception as well as its sequel, Heaven and Hell. On the one hand, this book seemed so familiar; some of the ideas and experiences so mirror ones I've lived through - albeit without the use of drugs - that writing this review will be difficult without divulging details, something I don't really want to.
I liked many of Aldous Huxley's ideas on art, colour and the other worlds. It was personally interesting for me because the shift o More...
I liked many of Aldous Huxley's ideas on art, colour and the other worlds. It was personally interesting for me because the shift o More...
Aug 19, 2011
Nick
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The main book would have gotten 5 stars. Wonderful exposition of what a psychedelic experience feels like, of the common thoughts which occur, and of the shifts in perception which the psychonaut undergoes. The connection between psychedelics and aesthetics (especially visual arts, or visual experiences which could potentially inspire art) takes up a lot of the book, and is in my opinion its most interesting facet by far.
The subject of the spirituality of the experience is also address More...
The subject of the spirituality of the experience is also address More...
Aug 06, 2011
Tim
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Although much-lauded, especially by those looking for a literary advocate for the re-integration of altered states of consciousness into our society and culture (a cause I tend to support on principle), this book has not stood the test of time very well.
This edition contains, in fact, two works – ‘The Doors of Perception’, an account of Huxley’s experience taking mescalin and ‘Heaven and Hell’, a somewhat rambling view of art from a somewhat self-appointed cultural Pontifex Maximus. More...
This edition contains, in fact, two works – ‘The Doors of Perception’, an account of Huxley’s experience taking mescalin and ‘Heaven and Hell’, a somewhat rambling view of art from a somewhat self-appointed cultural Pontifex Maximus. More...
May 08, 2011
Keisha
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Extremely fun read, and the first work of Huxley's I've read that wasn't Brave New World. The blurb on the back describes it as “…among the most profound studies of the effects of mind-expanding drugs written in the twentieth century. These two books became essential for the counterculture during the 1960s and influenced a generation’s perception of life.” I can’t claim to know what life was like in the 1960s, nor can I verify that his experience on drugs were accurate reflections of the effects
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Oct 10, 2010
"I continued to look at the flowers, and in their living light I seemed to detect the qualitative equivalent of breathing—but of a breathing without returns to a starting point, with no recurrent ebbs but only a repeated flow from beauty to heightened beauty, from deeper to ever deeper meaning. Words like "grace" and "transfiguration" came to my mind, and this, of course, was what, among other things, they stood for. My eyes traveled from the rose to the carnation, and f
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Apr 11, 2011
Brad
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The absolute best time to read this is sometime in High School, on a particularly cool day, one in which you've forgotten not only the keys to your front door, but your phone and wallet as well, and are now stuck outside for two hours, waiting for your Dad to get home from work to let you in. Most of this, then, will be about The Doors of Perception with bits of Heaven and Hell sprinkled in for the former was the one I finished first.
But, well, that's just how I did it. I have no idea if i More...
But, well, that's just how I did it. I have no idea if i More...
Nov 05, 2009
Mark R.
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This book is composed of two works by Aldous Huxley, both dealing with the Other World and humans' abilities and means of glimpsing this Other World. Huxley describes how a person's potential for knowing is much greater than is normally realized, our brain and nervous systems filtering 90% of what we can know at any time, in order to keep us sane. But the potential is there, he says, and by some means, including ingesting mescalin, or peyote, a person can partially bypass our natural filters a
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Sep 17, 2009
Sandy
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"Occasionally.... messages from the Other World are transmitted by means of a subject drawn, not from real life or history, but from the realm of archetypal symbols. There hangs in the Louvre a "Meditation du Philosophe," whose symbolical subject matter is nothing more nor less than the human mind, with its teeming darknesses, its moments of intellectual and visionary illumination, its mysterious stairways winding downward and upward into the unknown. The meditating philosopher s
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Dec 18, 2010
Robert
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Huxley was a brilliant man and this book was a very fascinating read. “To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception“ says Aldous Huxley, “to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large - this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the [psychologist, philosop
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Aug 13, 2010
Alana
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A perfectly repackaged release from the painfully cool harper perennial. One doesn't need first-hand experience of the psychedelic trip to understand what Huxley is getting (although having personal experience of a trip does illuminate scenes in which mescalin-high Aldous is overcome by the "suchness" of things being very intensely themselves.
ye
I love this book. Not only as one interested in the intellectual possibilities of psychedelics, but as one interested in just about More...
ye
I love this book. Not only as one interested in the intellectual possibilities of psychedelics, but as one interested in just about More...
Jan 09, 2012
Matt
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So I decided that, starting with 2012, I'm going to try to focus on one "great mind" each year and read as much as I can by and about that person. There will probably also be various other goofy events like celebrating the person's birthday and planning mini-vacations around the person, but that is really up in the air at this point. ANYWAY, for 2012 I decided to focus on Aldous Huxley, the great mind behind Brave New World. Sadly, that is pretty much the only book most people (includi
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Jan 21, 2010
James
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I wouldn't exactly classify this book (which is actually a combination of two separate works) as essential reading, but it was, for the most part, interesting. The first half is a fascinating record of Huxley's experimentation with mescalin and the altered perceptions achieved by the experience. He also makes an nuanced case for the responsible, enlightened, recreational use of mind-altering drugs. The second half of the work is more dry and philosophical. Huxley larges spends his time disse
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Dec 22, 2010
Matthew
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Aldous Huxley sure loved his LSD, taking the psychedelic drug on his deathbed.
I was quite surprised by this work as it is essentially a short and unconventional art history book. Aldous Huxley hoped that with mescaline he could visualize the way master artists like Botticelli and William Brake did naturally without the drugs, "opening doors" the Anglo aristocratic artist had never entered.
German author Thomas Mann (a friend of Huxley) felt this work was an More...
I was quite surprised by this work as it is essentially a short and unconventional art history book. Aldous Huxley hoped that with mescaline he could visualize the way master artists like Botticelli and William Brake did naturally without the drugs, "opening doors" the Anglo aristocratic artist had never entered.
German author Thomas Mann (a friend of Huxley) felt this work was an More...
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Jun 20, 2009
Ldrutman
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Huxley takes mescalin and generally praises the benefits of experiencing a state of altered consciousness now and then.
Writes Huxley: "To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly, and unconditionally, by Mind at Large -- this is an experience of inestimable valu More...
Writes Huxley: "To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly, and unconditionally, by Mind at Large -- this is an experience of inestimable valu More...
Feb 06, 2011
Maddsurgeon
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Interesting piece of philosophy; "The Doors of Perception" describes the effects of mescaline on the brain, from the user's perspective, and uses that as a crowbar to begin to pry open some mysteries about how the brain actually works when it's not being honed in to focus on specific survival tasks. Much of this is abstract and speculative, but Huxley does lament the fact that some new discoveries about nonverbal methods of learning haven't really made their way into our schools.
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Mar 28, 2011
Ben
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"That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradise seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and has always been one of the principal appetites of the soul. Art and religion, carnivals and saturnalia, dancing and listening to oratory—all these have served, in H. G. Wells's phrase, as Doors in the Wal
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Jul 16, 2009
Andrius
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Interesting thoughts:
the inherent inadequacy of words and language in general to completely convey certain ideas or experiences. And yet words and language are the tools we use to build knowledge and separate us "from the brutes."
For example, it is impossible for you know what madness feels like by reading an account. Mescalin could be the most accurate way for you to know madness.
Mescalin acting as a dampener to your cognitive reducer valve in human More...
the inherent inadequacy of words and language in general to completely convey certain ideas or experiences. And yet words and language are the tools we use to build knowledge and separate us "from the brutes."
For example, it is impossible for you know what madness feels like by reading an account. Mescalin could be the most accurate way for you to know madness.
Mescalin acting as a dampener to your cognitive reducer valve in human More...
Apr 06, 2009
Edified
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Within The Doors of Perception, Aldoux Huxley, enlightens the questioning mind whom is confused not only about the nature of psychedelic drugs but also of the meaning of existence. He tackles this doubtful notion of existence through the use of, timeless, metaphors and similes, in where one delves deeper inside themselves to find answers rather than searching elsewhere. In this short essay written in 1953, after experiencing Mescalin, a psychedelic drug found naturally in a cactus referred to a
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Jan 23, 2012
Meutron
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Amazon did an amazing job pitching this to me as a sort of proto-gonzo type of book. What I got from it was this; My cheesedick uncle Aldous, who is trying so hard to show me how cool he is, tells me a story about the time he got some mescaline from some cheesedick medical experiment. When he took all them drugs, he then decided to go to a drugstore and look at art books...like a total cheesedick.
Aldous Huxley makes doing drugs seem as fun as proofreading a term paper on income More...
Aldous Huxley makes doing drugs seem as fun as proofreading a term paper on income More...
Feb 06, 2012
Naomi
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This is one of those books that I keep reading again and again. The first time I read it was in 1996, I read it again in 2010 and 2011, and I've just picked it up to re-read it.
I think the thing that keeps bringing me back to it is an attempt to understand the current state of the world/universe through the eyes of the past. It's the same reason I go back to authors like Margaret Laurence, and Farley Mowat, among others like Nietzsche, Shakespeare and David Foster Wallace. There are More...
I think the thing that keeps bringing me back to it is an attempt to understand the current state of the world/universe through the eyes of the past. It's the same reason I go back to authors like Margaret Laurence, and Farley Mowat, among others like Nietzsche, Shakespeare and David Foster Wallace. There are More...
Apr 07, 2011
jim
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The Doors of Perception/Heaven and Hell is a very interesting yet complicated story. It describes the experiences and effects of Huxley himself using and experimenting with the drug mescalin. The outcome of his drug use is a deeply intriguing book that makes me struggle between understanding reality, spirituality and illusions. Aldous Huxley uses very strong language that at times I had trouble grasping my hands around, especially because the topic is so abstract.
I would like to say I lik More...
I would like to say I lik More...
