Reviews

Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story by Ann Shulgin, Alexander Shulgin

burnabrenna's review

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informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

penderworth's review against another edition

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5.0

One of the coolest books I’ve ever read. Both Alexander and Ann’s writing styles are so unique that this whole thing felt like a wild adventure. I’m excited for my next read through.

bredahl's review against another edition

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4.0

Sasha Shulgin - utan tvekan en av de mest betydelsefulla människor inom psykofarmakologi genom tiderna - och hans fru Ann beskriver i denna bok bl.a. Sashas livsverk inom psykedelika och deras gemensamma äventyr med de substanser han uppfann och upptäckte.

Vi får utöver detta en inblick i deras individuella historier och den extraordinaritet som genomsyrade både de själva som individer och deras kärlekshistoria. De olika kapitlen skriver de var för sig och de har två väldigt olika fokus i sina författarstilar.

Genom sina arbeten berörde dessa två eldsjälar oändligt många människor och kommer fortsätta att göra det. Så länge preparaten fortsätter syntetiseras och deras ord fortsätter användas inom den personliga, själsliga utvecklingen.

Då den andra halvan innehåller kemiska formler och labbanteckningar vilket är som rena grekiska för mig hoppade jag över den.

sevenseventeen's review

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

clay1st's review against another edition

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3.0

The first half, written by Shulgin himself I would rate 4 stars.
It's a biography of his life as a chemist, it's interesting and entertaining and definitely worth a read if you're interested in psychopharmacology.

The second half, written by Ann Shulgin I would rate 2 stars or possibly 1 star.
It's a painstaking account of her romantic conquest to woo Shulgin mixed with some accounts of psychedelic experiences. It's totally cringe. I was hoping it would move on from the romance and onto some more adventurous plotting related to Shulgin's renegade-chemist professional work. Instead the painstaking accounts of their unhappy love-triangle go on and on and the psychedelic experience accounts contain nothing profound, other than generic descriptions of the personal profundity of such experiences.

evert_homan's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.5

braydenpriebe's review against another edition

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informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

magichar's review against another edition

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4.0

A good, interesting story and collection of reports. The love drama part with Ursula seemed a bit too long for my taste, taking too big part of the book which is otherwise a great memoir.

adamkor's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

jodyjsperling's review against another edition

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5.0

Beautiful narrative and exceptional teaching. Part two was tough. So much I totally don’t understand.