It’s our pleasure to welcome Andrew Gallimore, author of Death by Astonishment: Confronting the Mystery of the World’s Strangest Drug. Andrew’s book presents the first detailed account of the discovery of DMT, as well as science’s ongoing struggle to explain how such a simple and common plant molecule can have such astonishing effects on the human mind. His book explores the contributions fascinating characters from the scientific and literary worlds have made to the DMT narrative, including the legendary ethnobotanist Dr. Richard Schultes, therenegade beat writer and drug aficionado William S. Burroughs, and the philosopher and raconteur Terence McKenna. In his article, Andrew delves into the profound realm of mystery and astonishment found in the DMT state, introducing the reader to the story of DMT, which begins in the Amazonian rainforests and ends somewhere beyond the stars, forcing us to reconsider our most basic assumptions about the nature of reality and our place within it.
