Soma: The Divine Hallucinogen

Before purchasing this book (from amazon.com), I did, in fact, read what the other reviewers said. As everyone can see, the assessments range from one star to five.I might be somewhere at three and a half, but to tell the truth, I stopped reading at page 86 when Spess leaves India for the West.As others have said, Spess is repetitive and sometimes one gets the feeling that he made copious notes on 3 x 5 cards and didn't bother to discard the duplicates. This said, if one is seriously interested in the subject matter, and this might be a big "if" for many readers, Spess does, in fact, have enough in his footnotes to make further exploration easier. This, however, is not his only claim to fame, but it would warrant purchase "if" one met the aforementioned criterion.The real issue, however, is whether or not the conclusions of the author are credible and this seems to account for the spread from one to five stars. Some reviewers seem to favor the thesis that soma was made with Amanita muscaria, but personally I reject this theory on numerous grounds, not the least of which is that consumption of mushrooms was not condoned by either priestly castes in India or Taoists. Besides, as Spess says, the Rg Veda refers to leaves.Those who are still "arguing" might want to read this short essay by David Frawley:[...]I have known David Frawley for decades and feel that the view he expresses here is valid, but what is weak about the Spess book is perhaps the title itself. In this book, Spess is really concerned with the soma of the Rg Veda and not the specific longevity strategies of the East. His conclusion is that soma was an entheogen so the book ought perhaps to be defined as an attempt to define soma as a psychoactive plant preparation. I believe the book has a niche but is far from the last word on any of the issues that might prompt someone to read it, i.e., a desire to read a scholarly history of soma, a desire for correct botanical identification of the plant, and a desire for immortality.Finally, in deference to the other reviewers, I would like to say that I was able to sum up this book in one succinct paragraph when writing an Ayurvedic doctor who shares my interest in this subject. Spess could therefore have made his points in far fewer words and much more integration of his referenced material. This, however, would have been a massive undertaking since the subject is vast and complex.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I found it very redundant. The author seemed to be making the same point over and over again so it became very dry and boring.

In this book the Author David Spess, makes the suggestion that reports of extended life spans achieved by the ancients, were not mistakes of time calculation, translation mistakes or myth, but a true record. He suggests that in the not too distant past humanity had access to a powerful plant or plants which they were able to use to heal or to rejeuvenate. One reviewer, Willard Johnson, refers to this as a daring thesis, and well it may seem to some. Prior to reading this book I had encountered enough references of like nature to enable me to have formed similar conclusions. This is one of the reasons I purchased the book. unfortunately some of the references I came across, and which particularly interested me, are not quoted in the book. Anyone who is curious as a result of reading this book can be assured that there is certainly more information to be found. Mr Spess seems to be of the opinion that the psychoactive qualities of the plant are instrumental in increasing the power of the mind, therefore enabling spontaneous healing and rejeuvenation to occur. Mr Spess does, I feel, get overly euphoric about his conclusions in this regard and rambles on, sometimes for pages at a time, during which he has the unfortunate tendency to proffer his personal conclusions as fact. That he should be excited by this topic is understandable, but the lack of objectivity is sometimes annoying. I feel he would do better to provide more examples of the original materials from which he is quoting. From the reading I have done I have formed the conclusion that the soma rejeuvenation procedure was a somewhat more radical experience than the three day Soma Holiday described by Mr Spess. The accounts that I found describe and period of preparatory fasting and special diet, Collection of the plant at a particular time of year, the construction of a special sterile,light proof isolation chamber, dramatic physical consequences, and the need for months of intensive care for the process to be complete. Under these conditions death would not seem an unlikely outcome. In seems to me that advanced powers of mind control would be required to overcome the fear of the procedure. If the drug produced frightening hallucinations then it may have been important to have become accustomed to this before undertaking the full procedure. I've had a good rave but believe me there is more to say. Please read the book, and the sequel. I will definitely be giving this book to my daughter to read as an accompaniment to her studies of "Brave New World".

Great.