Book cover of Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers

Book description

Three scientific titans join forces to completely revise the classic text on the ritual uses of psychoactive plants. They provide a fascinating testimony of these ""plants of the gods,"" tracing their uses throughout the world and their significance in shaping culture and history. In the traditions of every culture, plants…

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 Plants of the Gods as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When I was conducting research for my own book, Plants of the Gods never left my desk and accrued an alarming number of bookmarks and footnotes. This is the reference book on nature’s extensive pharmacy of psychedelics. But don’t expect a dry textbook—this is immensely readable and bursting with color illustrations.

All three of the authors were giants in various fields psychedelic research. Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann discovered LSD and was the first to identify the active compounds in magic mushrooms. Richard Evans Schultes, a biologist and the father of ethnobotany, was the first Westerner to study ayahuasca in the…

If you love Plants of the Gods...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like Plants of the Gods?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 23 books like Plants of the Gods.

Browse books like Plants of the Gods

Book cover of The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness
Book cover of The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America
Book cover of Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

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

1,366

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Plants of the Gods, you might also like...

Book cover of Pioneer Paddles of the Colonial South

Pioneer Paddles of the Colonial South by William D. Auman,

Award-winning novelist William Auman, author of If Trees Could Testify..., takes the reader on a time-traveling odyssey featuring 345 bodies of water in six states within the historical context through which they unfold.

Journey into remaining Colonial-era wilderness with stories of pirate treasure, epic frontiersmen, Indigenous Peoples, and Revolutionary…

Book cover of A Winter's Disgrace

A Winter's Disgrace by Kathleen Buckley,

Cyprian, a marquess’s heir, will not let his mother choose his next bride. Leaving a house party in a blizzard to avoid her stratagems, he finds a woman trudging half frozen toward the London road. Rosamund fled disgrace, hoping to reach the one person who might shelter her, but even…

5 book lists we think you will like!