[.ca] Peyote and Other Psychoactive Cacti (ISBN 091417195X)

PeYoTe:
This book provides good information layed out in an easy to read format on the cultivation, consumption, legality, and history of peyote and other similar cacti. It also gives a breakdown of the alkaloids in peyote and gives detailed methods for mescaline extraction (you know...for resaerch purposes). It also includes pictures and descriptions of other cacti containing alkaloids similar to peyote. The only shortcoming I find in this book is the lack of any research reports on the harmful effects of peyote, but that could be because there has been very little research done on it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in peyote for any purpose.

Not so impressed:
This book is ok, if you want to learn about native use and things like that. It has good descriptions of lots of rare entheogenic cacti. If all you want to know how to do, is cultivate Lophophora and Tichocerous, the internet has better information.

Better to buy Anderson's Book:
I recently bought this book after purchasing a few Lophophora specimens, and was somewhat dissappointed. Much of the information is sparse or inaccurate, and overall you come away having learned little. It is vague in describing the effects and chemistry of the plant, and minimal effort is made to try and describe different species and varieties. A much better book to buy would be "Peyote: The Divine Cactus", by Edward F. Anderson. It gives a detailed ethnographic history of peyote, describing the modern ceremonies of the Navajo, Plains, Huichol, and many other Indian Tribes. He studies its effects on humans in detail, its chemistry, legal aspects of peyote, and (most importantly!) the botany of Peyote, giving a comprehensive view of the species as well as its different taxonomic varieties (eg. L. williamsi, L. diffusa, L. jourdania, L. fricii, L. decipiens, etc.). Much of the information contained within cannot be found on the internet. Although most of Gottlieb's material is dealt with in Anderson's book, nevertheless the practical information on grafting and mescaline extration is much more detailed in Gottlieb's (probably because of the different target audiences :-) All in all, still good to have as an accompaniment.