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by Rick Strassman, M.D.
Review by Cate Montana
The subtitle to this book "A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences" fails to capture the dynamic story of Rick Strassman's research, and the richly diverse experiences of the 60 volunteers who participated in the DMT study he conducted at the University of New Mexico between 1990 and 1995.
Considering that DMT is one of the most powerful psychedelics known to science, very little - let alone a subtitle - could capture the essence of its impact on human beings and encapsulate the extraordinary journeys of Strassman's volunteers who were injected with varying doses of clinically pure DMT during the New Mexico study. Even though DMT, known in clinical circles as N,N-dimethyltryptamine, is a naturally occurring substance manufactured by the pineal gland of our brains, and even though it is also produced by many plants in this world, very little is known about its properties. Even less is known about DMT's psychological and physiological effects. Absolutely nothing, up until Strassman's research, has been understood about its presence and purpose in our bodies and our lives.
