The Book of Highs: 255 Ways to Alter Your Consciousness without Drugs

I like list books - a genre that has probably expanded as people have become accustomed to web-delivered content purporting to name the best 10 or worst 25 of this or that - and requiring the user to click over and over to see each item in the list and another set of ads. Here, on the other hand, is a revision of a book written in the 1970s, so it wasn’t developed to elicit clicks. I like books like this one - written by a writer rather than by a “content creator.”What’s interesting here is that not all of the highs are stereotypically “good.” For example, self-flagellation causes altered consciousness through the infliction of pain. There are also many practical self-help suggestions, such as self-hypnosis. (The process is explained in adequate detail with instructions that can be followed easily.) No one suggests that any certain person try everything in the book, but reading through each activity can open your mind to possibilities you may not have considered. If you find a handful of ideas here that you like and can use, your money was well spent on this book. If you have a friend around, there are also quite a few cool activities that would be excellent to try with another person.

This book is made of basic description or concepts for potentially altering your consciousness followed by a "recommended resource". If you're looking for topics that get you started exploring such things this is a good place to start. If you're looking for more of a how to book most of this book won't be it. I liked that in the descriptions it does state potential cons or downsides. Here is an example regarding Rolfing, "A frequent complaint associated with Rolfing is the procedures cause great pain. In the beginning this is so. The manipulation of the muscle facia is painful, but when the hands are removed the pain subsides." The look of the book is fun with 70's style illustrations here and there and I will keep it just for that.

I probably should not have expected any more.Parts can have interesting tidbits and facts that sort of helped the whole Sauna and Polar Plunge stuff make more sense to me in terms of spiritual effects. "Ah, it has been measured to change the brain waves. mkay." I would have liked MORE of that sort of thing, I think. Perhaps a more descriptive title would be "Activities to supplement or replace meditation." Meditation IS in this book as a thing to do.It's sort of like an idea list for things you may want to build the choreography of a spiritual ritual with.It's okay. Mostly a paperweight to me.

The media could not be loaded.  Doesn't have that book smell, but it is beautiful and and very interesting!

It’s a cool book I just got bored of it. I’ll prob try to sell it

My mind has been to so many places since I purchased this book, and I love it dearly.

This book quietly made the rounds in the 1970's, and is now back in an updated version for our era. It comes equipped with a new introduction by Andrew Weill, and contains earnest accounts of changing consciousness through (among other things) stained glass, corybantic dancing, and "prolonged radar-screen observation." As Weill notes in his introduction, we humans seem to be wired from infancy on to alter our consciousness -- and Rosenfeld has amassed a treasure-trove of information for how to do so -- more or less safely -- without chemical means. This highly original book is also quite beautifully illustrated, and if (like me) you kind of miss the 70's, you'll find it very enjoyable to browse through -- in between appointments for Agni Yoga and negative ionization.

The girls LOVED the book, but I don't think I dissuaded them

Very interesting book!