PiHKAL
A Chemical Love Story
by Alexander T. Shulgin, Ann Shulgin, Juan Carlos Ruiz Franco · first published 1991
35% recommend63% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
The first half is an autobiographical love story and account of the Shulgins' experiences with phenethylamines; the second gives detailed synthesis and dosage notes. Suits readers curious about psychedelics.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
By Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin. Tells the tale of a psychopharmacologist and his wife/research partner, and recounts decades devoted to the creation and investigation of psychedelic drugs as tools for the study of the human mind. Altered state experiences are explored in the context of intimacy.
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you might also enjoy: PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story by Dr. Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin It's an autobiographic story from the creator of MDMA and 2C-B — an amazing account of scientific approach and original thinking — in addition…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗PiHKAL by Alexander and Ann Shulgin is on its face a book about love and chemistry. Taken together it becomes more of a treatise on how psychopharmacology is a method of personal and sociological analysis. Drug…
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗I bought new copies of PiHKAL and TiHKAL when Shulgin passed away a couple years ago. Not reading for the faint of heart, but damn those 2 were dedicated to their science. Just knowing their lab was the shed in the back yard makes…
on “British Airways announces immediate retirement of 747 fleet” ↗…which will only increase in importance as MDMA is given more attention in mainstream psychological research. As a psychologist myself, I suspect Shulgin's gentle subversion (a spirit that persists through PiHKAL and TiHKAL) will ultimately be viewed as a heroic act that brought attention to an important therapeutic tool.
on “Alexander Shulgin has died” ↗"do you have a link to something Shulgin definitively wrote on this?" Read the first part of PiHKAL (ie. the part that's deliberately not published on the website the parent HN post links to). It's all there. He goes in to great detail about exactly how he did what he did and why.
on “Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved (1991)” ↗…objective ways to explain what would have previously been my "negative opinion". Coming to grips with the reality that bad design is rampant reinforced my growing interest in product design. "PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story" by Dr. Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin The Phenethylamine Bible. As a kid I was fascinated by Shulgin and his work advancing science for all of these genuinely good and positive…
on “Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?” ↗The STPIHKAL reference to the Shulgin's PIHKAL / TIHKAL books is what sold me. https://stpihkal.docs.buttplug.io/
on “Buttplug: An open-source software suite for teledildonics” ↗Shulgin’s Book PIHKAL, the biographical one is excellent. What Albert Hoffman wrote about LSD is also worth reading (LSD my problem child)
on “Mescaline’s Bio, Soberly Considered” ↗And, of course, we have the excellent first-hand accounts of Alexander and Ann Shulgin in PiHKAL; which covers many psychedelic drugs and notes their effects at varying dosages. (It also covers synthesis.) Widipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiHKAL Electronic copies of the book…
on “Magic mushrooms are changing the lives of terminal cancer patients” ↗…activity). LSD is interesting because it contains both the amphetamine skeleton and tryptamine skeleton, which may be related to its incredible potency. For more information, I highly recommend the books PIHKAL and TIHKAL by Alexander and Ann Shulgin.
on “LSD, Psilocybin, and DMT in Depression Treatment: A Systematic Review” ↗The first part of PiHKAL, written by Ann Shulgin, is also completely non-technical and is a spellbinding story. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject matter of the book, whether they know chemistry or not.
on “Phenethylamines I have feared and loathed (2020)” ↗You've said everything I could ever say about PiHKAL; it's a masterpiece. TiHKAL, published three years after the Shulgin's lab was raided by the DEA, is also a fantastic read.
on “Ask HN: Which book can attract anyone towards your field of study?” ↗From the page: ORDERING INFORMATION: The first half of PiHKAL is an excellent commentary on the Shulgin's personal experiences with phenethylamines. It is highly recommended and well worth purchasing the book. Purchasing the book also gets you a far more complete…
on “Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved (1991)” ↗For anyone interested, I highly recommend these two books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiHKAL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiHKAL It's a fascinating read about the chemist Alexander Shulgin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Shulgin
on “US could soon approve MDMA therapy – opening an era of psychedelic medicine” ↗And PiHKAL (Phenethylamines I Have Known and Loved): A Chemical Love Story by Drs. Alexander & Ann Shulgin
on “‘Psychonauts’ by Mike Jay Review” ↗