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Be Here Now: The Hippie Manifesto
Be Here Now (1971) is a classic text on Hindu spirituality that bloomed open like a lotus flower in the wake of the hippie movement. The seed for this book was planted in the mind of Harvard psychiatrist turned Indian mystic, Ram Dass, and was written – with the blessings of his guru Neem Karoli…
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is arguably the most famous book written by the renowned science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick, which is mainly due to the book being the inspiration for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi film masterpiece Blade Runner (1982). It’s only fitting that I review this book after reviewing Heart of Darkness (1899), which inspired the film Apocalypse Now, and The Hellbound Heart (1986), which inspired the…
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The Hellbound Heart (1986)
Clive Barker’s mature horror novella ‘The Hellbound Heart’, made its debut in 1986 and spawned the cult classic horror film Hellraiser and its subsequent sequels. The book is so short I read it in one sitting and it almost feels like a short story, and this is both the book’s strength and weakness. It’s a strength because…
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Heart of Darkness (1899)
‘Exterminate all the brutes” Kurtz Joseph Conrad’s novella ‘Heart of Darkness’, written in 1899, is perhaps most well-known for having inspired Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film adaptation ‘Apocalypse Now’. If you’ve seen the movie, which I’m sure you have, then you already know the basic premise of ‘Heart of Darkness’ – a man’s journey upriver to find…
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Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga (1985)
‘Hammer of the Gods’ is the cult classic Led Zeppelin biography, famous for its unflinching portrayal of the band’s legendary exploits with groupies, orgies, violence, hotel destruction, black magic, and drugs. With this book, Stephen Davis captures the true spirit of the “sex, drugs and rock and roll” philosophy of the 70s and vomits it up…
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Neuromancer (1984)
Neuromancer, written in 1984, was both William Gibson’s debut novel, and the father of the cyberpunk movement in science fiction. The novel is a crowning achievement of literary fiction in every sense of the word, even so far as being the first winner of the science-fiction “triple crown” — the Nebula award, the Phillip K. Dick award, and…
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Echo’s Revenge (2012)
I was recently asked (and by recently I mean over a year ago) if I would be interested in reviewing a YA (young adult) book which was due for release in May 2012. Even though I don’t read young adult fiction I replied to the email anyway and said I would check it out. Here I…
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The Only Dance There Is (1974)
The Only Dance There Is is a compiled transcription of two lectures Ram Dass gave to a room of psychotherapists in the early 1970s; the first lecture at the Menninger Foundation in 1970, and the second at the Spring Grove Hospital in 1972. Seeing as Ram Dass was a trained Harvard professor and psychiatrist before he…
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Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson
Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson is a mind-blowing neuropsychological manual on how to reprogram your own brain. The book combines Timothy Leary’s Eight Circuit model of consciousness and psychological imprinting and conditioning theory to construct a strange but enlightening lens for viewing the world and our place in it.
