by ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1977
It is dismaying to find a medical doctor writing a book as irresponsible, anti-intellectual, casuistical, and frenzied as this. For 23 years, Lilly has been working to refine ""the tank isolation technique,"" in which the subject floats in a saturated water solution (with or without ingesting LSD), the tank achieving ""99 percent attenuation of all external stimulus input."" But scientific considerations of ""profound relaxation"" or the psycho- and biological consequences of extreme isolation are quickly abandoned, giving way to decidedly unscientific pronouncements about new levels of awareness, based on self-validating experience--not the scientific method and reasonably corroborated experimentation. Grandiose in his claims-""The basic belief that one could leave the body and explore new universes was successfully programmed""--he proceeds by rhetorical elaboration and inflation rather than by development and evidence. His prose, like his case, is a dismal confection of computerese (""Self-metaprogramming,"" ""sets,"" etc.) with drugculture argot and gnostic visions (of the mind's limits transcended, of new domains and universes), before it yields to opaque, would-be-technical gibberish (""cognitional multidimensional projection spaces""), and finally--pathetically--to extended pages of paranoid rant (""Today. . . I cannot discuss certain experiments"" because it means having ""to face the onerous burden of. . . an unreceptive. . . hostile or coercive world,"" in which ""Many of my former colleagues disavowed me. . . former friends [have ceased] maintaining contact with me""; etc. etc.). The reader does learn how to construct and maintain an isolation tank, but nothing credible about its effects; and that information, in isolation, could be dangerous.
Pub Date: June 1, 1977
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1977
Categories: NONFICTION
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.