A Short, Strange Trip - by John O'Connor (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Tag along with clever guide John O'Connor as he leads us on a gonzo journey through the history of psychedelics, the Amazon rainforest, and into the cosmic dimensions of our own minds. This will be the trip of a lifetime.

March 4th, 1971: Deep in the Colombian rainforest, a motley crew of "psychonauts" prepared for what they believed would be the ultimate experiment. Convinced that a mixture of powerful hallucinogenic plants held the key to unlocking human consciousness, they soon found themselves entering hyperspace.

The return journey was... complicated.

Present day: Acclaimed journalist John O'Connor is fascinated by this forgotten expedition. What really happened in those jungle depths? Armed with decades-old field notes, new interviews, and a healthy dose of curiosity, O'Connor ventures into the same Amazon territory, retracing the psychonauts' steps through the remote Putumayo in search of a legendary hallucinogen called ukuè --and the truth about an "experiment" that's been quietly gathering dust.

Working alongside indigenous Uitoto people who bore witness to it all, O'Connor explores how humanity's relationship with psychedelics has shaped everything from ancient religion to modern medicine. But as he journeys deeper into both the rainforest and the cosmic dimensions these substances reveal, one question keeps nagging at him:

Were the psychonauts onto something truly profound--or just profoundly stoned?

Some stories are worth the trip.

Review Quotes

"A compelling mix of travel writing and intellectual biography for readers interested in armchair travel, psychedelic culture, or 20th-century countercultural figures." -- Library Journal

"John O'Connor's A Short Strange Trip kept surprising me, not because of the shenanigans of his ostensible subject, psilocybin-dropping 'psychonaut' Terence McKenna, but because of O'Connor's honesty, breadth, and grace as a writer." -- Michael Benson, author of Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece

"A radical, unflinching, and occasionally harsh-toking reframing of Terence McKenna's legendary 1971 trip to the Amazon and its multi-decade aftermath, written from the far-crashed side of the Time Wave. Bittersweet and myth-shattering." -- Jesse Jarnow, author of Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America

"A Short, Strange Trip streaks across the psychedelic landscape, offering a cutting clear-eyed corrective to the mythic idealism and reckless commodification of the enduring hippie dream. John O'Connor blends his own heart-felt memoir with a hilarious take-down of a neo-shamanic creation story. Devil's Paradise, indeed." -- Don Lattin, author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club

"As we move further away from the fascist, hypocritical, and unenlightened prohibitionist practices of the past--including the abominable 'war on drugs'--it becomes ever more important to understand the modern history of the struggle for psychedelic freedom. A Short Strange Trip is a vital contribution to this emerging discourse, one that will help us reclaim democracy and build a more egalitarian society in the face of entrenched power. Essential reading!" -- Norman Ohler, New York Times bestselling author of Blitzed

"At once clear-eyed and wild-hearted, thrillingly adventurous and quietly profound, this book is a chimera, a delight, a wonder." -- Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails

"Huxley's doors of perception slammed shut in the years after Nixon's war on drugs. John O'Connor kicks them wide open again with this tumultuous trip into the Peruvian Amazon. He's in a quixotic search for magic plant potions which hold the secret of mankind's salvation. His companions along the tangled jungle path are irresistible shamans and crackpots. He emerges with a clear-eyed perspective on universal enlightenment and the 'pure poppycock' that its potent promise has all too often fertilized. Fans of Jack Kerouac, Bruce Chatwin and Redmond O'Hanlon are sure to get high on the result - nothing less than O'Connor's own psychedelic songline." -- Nicholas Shakespeare, author of Bruce Chatwin: A Biography

"John O'Connor's new book takes us on a magical mystery meta-trip of trips: a journey back to a fateful day in the Amazon jungle a half-century ago when a pair of brothers tried to crack open the screen of reality and escape into hyperspace on the strength of a handful of hallucinogenic mushrooms, but also a journey forward in time unveiling the startling menagerie of characters at the origins of today's renaissance in psychedelic research. A must read for all who are interested in the mysteries of consciousness and the quest to expand it." -- William Egginton, author of The Rigor of Angels

"Using humor and personal experience, O'Connor creates a path through dangerous territory: humanity's grand mess of utopian visions and psychedelic experiences. A Short, Strange Trip is lucid and profound, yet filled with empathy for all who search for answers." -- Aliya Whiteley, author of The Secret Life of Fungi

"What a romp across the cosmos! O'Connor is a masterful, ribald trip master taking you on a multi-hued journey--to a time and world where the visionary possibilities seemed endless... but only if you dared partake of the forbidden, elusive sacraments. In his expert hands, he shows how the ride sometimes meant strapping yourself to the back of the psychedelic rocket ship, leaving any known orbit, and then questioning everything--including yourself--along the flight. There's so much in this definitive work--dreams, idealism, humor, self-awareness, and the bittersweet way that nirvana can be both right at hand and oh so far away. In the end, O'Connor shows us that boundless curiosity maybe didn't kill the cat--but perhaps sent the cat to places it never imagined." -- Bill Minutaglio, bestselling author of The Most Dangerous Man in America

"When I began working with the Grateful Dead, the book I kept hearing about--they were a literate bunch--was Terrence and Dennis McKenna's The Invisible Landscape. Garcia loved what he called its 'incredible optimism.' The story of the McKenna brothers' psychedelic odyssey into the Amazon--and into their own minds--is an important event in the history of consciousness. John O'Connor's A Short Strange Trip is a fabulous study that puts what happened in La Chorrera into context and shines light on the whole of the psychedelic experience of the '60s... truly worth reading." -- Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip