Book cover of One River: Science, Adventure and Hallucinogenics in the Amazon Basin

Book description

The Amazon river basin contains the world's largest remaining rain forest as well as its longest river. Countless Indian tribes live there, as well as vast numbers of plant species, many of them still unknown to science. This book tells the story of three scientists who explored the region: the…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked One River as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I've worked in Amazonia enough to know that its peoples and plants are a trove of shared experience and evolution, sacred and intricate in equal measure.

This book is a beautiful and intriguing account of these plant-human ('ethnobotanical') relationships. There is magic, with plants granting insights to those who approach them with respect and correct technique. Medicines, dart-poisons, and hallucinogens tell their stories, and sometimes the plants, like ayahuasca vines, can be heard singing for shamanic attention.

But there is darkness, too. It lies in the cruel history of Europeans in the Amazon and careless modernity destroying what nature and…

If you love One River...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like One River?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 36 books like One River.

Browse books like One River

Book cover of Zonia's Rain Forest
Book cover of The Unconquered
Book cover of The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge

Share your top 3 reads of 2026!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

190

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like One River, you might also like...

Book cover of Broken Boots, Redeemed Soul: A Veteran’s War with Sin and Salvation

Broken Boots, Redeemed Soul: A Veteran’s War with Sin and Salvation by Brian Lofton,

Broken Boots, Redeemed Soul: A Veteran’s War with Sin and Salvation, is a raw and faith-centered memoir about life after military service—and the internal battles many never see. Brian Lofton shares his journey through addiction, shame, identity loss, and spiritual distance, revealing how the hardest struggles often begin after…

Book cover of No Color Is My Kind

No Color Is My Kind by Thomas R. Cole,

No Color is My Kind tells the stories of the desegregation of Houston, TX, in 1960, the life of civil rights leader Eldrewey Stearns, and the author's relationship to Stearns.

They met in a psychiatric case conference while Stearns was hospitalized at the University of Texas Medical Branch. After his…

5 book lists we think you will like!