Psychedelic Information Theory

Book excerpt: Psychedelic Information Theory is a formal analysis of the physical mechanisms underlying hallucination, shamanic ritual, and expanded states of consciousness. Written by James L. Kent, this text was researched for over 20 years and includes over 200 references and 31 images related to the latest science in the diverse fields of pharmacology, shamanism, and perception. As a succinct yet comprehensive formal analysis of the nonlinear dynamics of hallucination and shamanic ritual, Psychedelic Information Theory is destined to become the modern textbook on psychedelic phenomena. Chapters include information on the physiology of perception, types of visual hallucination, psychedelic pharmacology, psychedelic neuroplasticity, chaos theory, shamanic therapy, shamanic sorcery, and group mind phenomena related to psychedelic consciousness. "Psychedelic Information Theory will prove, no doubt, to be an important work primarily because it provides researchers, in both the sciences and humanities, with numerous new avenues down which to investigate. PIT provides us with a serious, and in many respects successful, recalibration of the different psychedelic knowledge bases. In great respect to the author, I believe PIT will attract both plaudits and criticism with equal fervour and, in doing so, help proliferate serious psychedelic research for some time to come." - Rob Dickens, PsyPressUK.com Review, December 2010 "In his new book, Psychedelic Information Theory: Shamanism in the Age of Reason, James Kent has attempted to describe both the experience and underlying mechanisms of consciousness, in the language of classical wave mechanics, with terms like neural oscillators, periodic drivers, wave entrainment, resonance and coherence. His book offers the first steps in developing a more refined and quantifiable theory and terminology of psychedelic action. It suggests many rich opportunities for further research that are bound to reveal some pragmatic and novel applications. Not since "The Invisible Landscape," by the McKenna brothers, have I found a book so original and propitious." - Jedi Mind Traveler, Evolver.net Interview, January 2011 "James L. Kent has proven himself to be the 'Mythbuster' of the New Psychedelic Age. His book, Psychedelic Information Theory is the everyman's guide to inner consciousness, unraveling the scientific foundations of altered states. PIT challenged my views on the psychedelic experience: I might not agree with some of the conclusions, but I have a firmer grip on the basics because of it. Kent helps outline the mechanics of the mind, but his reductionist approach also leaves room for further mysteries to grow." - Rak Razam, author of Aya: A Shamanic Odyssey, November 2010 "Kent's clear trail through volumes of research gave me a solid understanding of how rod and cone vision, phosphenes, the visual information processing rate, and the brain's pattern-recognition function all come together or come apart to modulate hallucinatory states. Kent deserves a place next to Grof on the psychonaut's, scientist's, and psychologist's bookshelf." - Sheldon Norberg, author of Healing Houses, Erowid.org Review, October 2010