Page 45 Review by Jonathan
"Fire up the Bunsen burner, Susi!
"We're gonna try something unorthodox… revisit an old friend…
""Usually we strike experimental substances from the research program if they lack pharmacological interest…" Those are your words, not mine!"
"You're right… however… this compound LSD-25 has bugged me…"
Good old Albert Hoffman, for if it weren't for him and his curious cerebral itch of some five years, we might not have had the opportunity to turn on, tune in and drop out in quite so colourful fashion with the delights of Lysergic acid diethylamide...
Though as Dennis McKenna posits in his excellent four page foreword, "… does one create, or discover a compound like LSD? I think it is more the case that one incarnates such a molecule."
Maybe... I do know it was certainly an interesting set of circumstances which first allowed Albert to experience the 'delights' of an LSD trip, initially astride his trusty velocipedal steed, hence the book's title.
Thus for those in the know, April 19th has long been celebrated as 'Bicycle Day'. In fact, Albert was actually accidentally exposed to a much, much smaller amount of LSD-25 three days earlier, the mild effects of which sufficiently piqued his curiosity to go against all established common sense for those working in the pharmaceutical industry and consciously ingest what, shall we say, would be an extremely sizeable dose three days later. Thus taking the first ever deliberate acid trip…
Oh boy, was he in for a wild ride! Which is portrayed in all its glorious insanity here for us to safely and a little, but only a little mind you, more sedately enjoy…
If you've ever imagined what early 20th century animation master Max Fleischer would have been able to do with infinite colour in his majestic pomp, under the influence of LSD or otherwise, well then this might just be the book for you!
A truly psychedelic riot of colour combined with rubber-limbed antics, and believe you me, it's very tricky to ride a bike with rubbery legs. If you have any interest whatsoever in this most marvellous of molecules, I think this will truly hit the proverbial spot. Right in the hypothalamus…
