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This authoritative, multidisciplinary overview of altered states of consciousness (ASC) shows how their study is necessary to gain a fundamental understanding of human culture, history, and biology.

Altered consciousness is one of humanity's most mystical and life-altering aspects. These remarkable changes in mental state have understandably been a topic of general interest and scientific inquiry across time. Beyond simply satisfying our curiosity, however, studies focused upon altered consciousness can also bring valuable insights into our experience, biology, and culture.

This unprecedented two-volume set will intrigue anyone interested in psychology, biology and neurology, science, history, arts and the humanities, and literature on consciousness, from general readers to scholars and researchers. An impressive collection of international contributors address altered states of consciousness from the perspectives of history, evolution, psychology, culture, literature, human biology, contemporary science, and society, seeking to illuminate the causes, effects, and meanings of altered consciousness. The first volume provides an introduction and centers on the importance of altered states in history, culture, and the humanities, while the second volume presents biological and psychological perspectives on altered consciousness and examines their potential for healing and pathology.

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CHOICE Review

This compilation reminds one that attempts to change the way humans comprehend reality remain important and fascinating to scientists of the mind. Prefaced by Charles Tart, the "father" of altered-states research, the set brings together essays by international scholars with the aim of broadening discussion of altered states of consciousness (ASC) beyond philosophy and neuroscience. The editors' claim to the contrary, ASC still gives scholars qualms. It is associated with self-experimentations of Timothy Leary and Carlos Castaneda, with Freud's use of cocaine. The present set approaches ASC with an eye toward understanding its past and presenting recent work on ASC in biology and psychology. Those unfamiliar with ASC will particularly appreciate the summaries in the first volume, especially "Reconceptualizing the Field of Altered Consciousness." The second volume takes a bold look at, among other things, drug use and addiction, and also offers psychological perspectives on altered states associated with bodily consciousness and spirituality and extraordinary states stemming from pathologies. Each essay includes excellent references; the set as a whole has an outstanding bibliography that covers the vast array of topics related to ASC. Skeptics are likely to be dismissive of this endeavor, but ASC research remains important, and a scholarly treatment is welcome. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and above. D. M. Chirico York College CUNY

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Etzel Cardeña , PhD, holds the endowed Thorsen Chair of Psychology at Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Michael Winkelman , MPH, PhD, retired from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, in 2009 and currently lives in the central highlands of Brazil where he is developing permaculture-based intentional communities.