Recommended reading

 Tree of Rivers – The Story of the Amazon by John Hemming

A riveting and thoroughly researched book about the Amazon basin, it’s great waterways and wildlife and especially concerning the impact of the arrival of European settlers that arrived at the end of the 15th century. He recalls the adventures and misadventures of intrepid explorers, fervent Jesuit ecclesiastics, and greedy rubber barons who enslaved thousands of Indians in the relentless quest for profit. He also tells of nineteenth-century botanists, fearless advocates for Indian rights, and the archaeologists and anthropologists who have uncovered the secrets of the Amazon’s earliest settlers. Finally, he highlights the current threat to Amazonia as forests are destroyed to feed the world’s appetite for timber, beef, and soybeans, and he vividly describes the passionate struggles taking place in order to utilize, protect, and understand the Amazon.

One River by Wade Davis

In the 1940s, biologist Richard Evans Schultes uncovered many of the secrets of the rain forest, relying not only on his own prodigious investigations, but on the wisdom passed down by local tribes. Thirty years later his student, Wade Davis, followed in his footsteps. Two interwoven tales of scientific adventure bring to life the riches of the Amazon basin and bear witness to the destruction of its indigenous culture and natural wonders over two generations.

The Wizard of the Upper Amazon by  F.Bruce Lamb

Wizard of the Upper Amazon is an extraordinary document of the life among a tribe of South American Indians at the beginning of the 20th century. For many readers, the most compelling sections of the book will be the descriptions of the use of Banisteriopsis caapi, the ayahuasca of the Amazon forests. This powerful hallucinogen has long been credited with the ability to transport human beings to realms of experience where telepathy and clairvoyance are commonplace. Manual Córdova, the narrator of these adventures is a well-known as a healer in Peru.

Three Halves of Ino Moxo – Teachings of the Wizard of the Upper Amazon by César Calvo

Award-winning Peruvian author Cesar Calvo takes us on a quest through the mysterious, dreamlike world of powerful Amazonian sorcerers and goes on a quest in search of the legendary ‘Wizard of the Upper Amazon…’

1491 – New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook by Chris Kilham

The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook provides a practical guide to ayahuasca use, aiding seekers in making right—and safe—decisions about where to go, who to drink with, and what to expect. Chris Kilham (a.k.a ‘ The Medicine Hunter’) has worked closely with South American shamans for two decades and has sat in ayahuasca ceremonies with at least 20 different shamans. Through his “Ayahuasca Test Pilots” program, Kilham has brought numerous people to the Amazon to engage in ceremonies with maestro ayahuasceros. Clear, concise, straightforward, and well informed, The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook is an indispensable guide for anyone curious about this unusual plant medicine.

Aya Awakenings – A shamanic Odyssey by Rak Razam

Experiential journalist Rak Razam sets out to document the thriving business of 21st-century hallucinogenic shamanism starting with a trip to the annual Amazonian Shaman Conference in Iquitos, Peru, where he meets a motley crew of “spiritual tourists,” rogue scientists, black magicians, and indigenous and Western healers and guides, all in town to partake of the ritual–and the medicine–of ayahuasca, “the vine of souls.” Combining his personal story with the history of Amazonian shamanism, Razam takes the reader along on an entertaining, enlightening adventure.

The Power of Now and A New Earth both by Eckhart Tolle

Immensely popular around the world and has been translated into over 30 different languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, these books take readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light.

The Ancient Secret of the Flower of life – Volumes 1 and 2 by Drunvalo Melchizedek 

Once, all life in the universe knew the Flower of Life as the creation pattern — the geometrical design leading us into and out of physical existence. Then from a very high state of consciousness, we fell into darkness and forgot who we were. For thousands of years, the secret was held in ancient artifacts and carvings around the world and encoded in the cells of all life. Now we are rising up from that sleep, shaking old, stale beliefs from our minds and glimpsing the golden light of this new dawn streaming through the windows of perception.

The Cosmic Serpent – DNA and the Origins of Knowledge by Jeremy Narby

This adventure in science and imagination, which the Medical Tribune said might herald “a Copernican revolution for the life sciences,” leads the reader through unexplored jungles and uncharted aspects of mind to the heart of knowledge. In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism, The Cosmic Serpent reveals how startlingly different the world around us appears when we open our minds to it.

DMT – The Spirit Molecule – A Doctors Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Rick Strassman

From 1990 to 1995 Dr. Rick Strassman conducted U.S. Government-approved and funded clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected sixty volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psychedelics known. His detailed account of those sessions is an extraordinarily riveting inquiry into the nature of the human mind and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. DMT, a plant-derived chemical found in the psychedelic Amazon brew, ayahuasca, is also manufactured by the human brain. In Strassman’s volunteers, it consistently produced near-death and mystical experiences. Many reported convincing encounters with intelligent nonhuman presences, aliens, angels, and spirits. Nearly all felt that the sessions were among the most profound experiences of their lives.

Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation by Andreas Moritz

An extensive book that helps people tame their Illnesses with mind and body power. Flying in the face of mainstream medicine and society’s many health myths-here is a book that finally proves that good health is not only easily achievable-no matter where you are right now-it’s your natural state. In this new, expanded edition of Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation, best-selling author Andreas Moritz reveals the most common but rarely recognized reasons behind illness and aging. He offers powerful and time-tested self-help approaches to remove the root causes of illness and achieve continuous vibrant health, regardless of age.

Healing Back Pain – The Mind-Body Connection by John E. Sarno

Dr. John E. Sarno is a medical pioneer whose program has helped thousands of thousands of people overcome their back conditions–without or drugs or dangerous surgery. Now, using his groundbreaking research into TMS (Tension Mytostis Syndrome), Dr. Sarno goes one step further: after identifying stress and other psychological factors in back pain, he demonstrates how many of his patients have gone on to heal themselves without exercise or other physical therapy.

The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders by John E Sarno

The book that will change the way we think about health and illness, The Divided Mind is the crowning achievement of Dr. John E. Sarno’s distinguished career as a groundbreaking medical pioneer, going beyond pain to address the entire spectrum of psychosomatic (mindbody) disorders. The interaction between the generally reasonable, rational, ethical, moral conscious mind and the repressed feelings of emotional pain, hurt, sadness, and anger characteristic of the unconscious mind appears to be the basis for mindbody disorders. The Divided Mind traces the history of psychosomatic medicine, including Freud’s crucial role, and describes the psychology responsible for the broad range of psychosomatic illness. The failure of medicine’s practitioners to recognize and appropriately treat mindbody disorders has produced public health and economic problems of major proportions in the United States. One of the most important aspects of psychosomatic phenomena is that knowledge and awareness of the process clearly have healing powers. Thousands of people have become pain-free simply by reading Dr. Sarno’s previous books. How and why this happens is a fascinating story, and is revealed in The Divided Mind.

The Archaic Revival – Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFO’s, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History by Terence Mckenna