One River
"Enjoyable and insightful work was written as a tribute to the scientific achievements of Richard Evans Schultes, an Amazonia explorer active during 1940s-50s. Also relates explorations of the author and of Timothy Plowman, both Schultes' students. Intended for a popular audience"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.
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- However, I think the Spanish can certainly be blamed
Some incredibly harrowing stories in Wade Davis's One River
There is also a chance some of the disease giving unto the native americans was by accident, not intentional
- Another good book on drug and culture history is Sadie Plants' "Writing on Drugs" (1999). It's full of great short clips of history and analysis drug-fueled/-inspired literary efforts from Coleridge and Baudelaire to Burroughs & PK Dick.
P.S. Richard Evans Schultes is a very interesting figure in the field of ethnobotanical psychedelic pharmacology, and he was as interested in the plants themselves (peyote, mushrooms, ayahuasca and others) as in the cultural traditions that surrounded them (One River by Wade Davis is a good partial biography).
- TL;DR The book is great - "The Amazon Conservation Team would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Wade Davis, whose book One River was essential in reconstructing details of Schultes' travels for this map."
- It's certainly not terrible advice, but for those wanting a primer on such things before committing themselves any further, I would suggest reading a book titled "One River" by Wade Davis.
- Anyone interested in learning more about the history and economics of rubber trees and ethnobotany is advised to watch this fantastic Wade Davis YouTube video [0] and I also highly highly recommend the book One River by the same speaker [1].
- Humans used psychoactive substances for centuries, usually under the supervision of a shaman or some type of religious figure to undergo a journey
Likely even longer; if you're curious about some of the anthropology and botany behind mind-altering substances, Wade Davis's One River is excellent: https://www.amazon.com/One-River-Wade-Davis/dp/0684834960?ie.... It focuses on the first half of the 20th C in particular.
As far as I know, it's impossible to know for sure when humans began using mind-altering substances like psychoactive mushroom, peyote, or ayahuasca, but it's likely been a very long time.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/12/the-ayahuasca-...
