A compelling, radical exploration of psychedelics’ healing potential.
Goldpaugh offers a personal account, anchored in history and science, of the benefits of psychedelic use.
The author, a psychotherapist with 17 years of experience treating patients and a special expertise in somatically oriented trauma therapies, here delves into the ways in which psychedelic drugs can heal a stilted sexuality and enhance pleasure. The book represents a culmination of Goldpaugh’s own 20-year healing journey (“nothing has ever been capable of helping me feel, express, move through, and ultimately reconnect to pleasure in the way psychedelic medicines have”), combining the raw vulnerability of a memoir with well-researched historical and scientific information while demonstrating a strong understanding of how the author’s experience with psychedelics fits into a broader narrative of Indigenous and Western uses. Goldpaugh skillfully locates personal histories—their own, and that of their patients—within a sacred ancient tradition, combining cutting-edge trauma research with individual case studies. The book offers novel and easy-to-understand insights into how substances like psilocybin, MDMA, and LSD can aid in sexual healing and relationship satisfaction. Goldpaugh illustrates the potential of these substances—which were long stigmatized and criminalized by the American government—to foster deeper connections, mend strained relationships, and promote a more pleasurable outlook on life. (“They all start as tools in the hands of therapists and psychiatrists with tremendous promise…But when people started using these very same substances as vehicles for personal spiritual growth, sexual enhancement, pleasure, and even political revolution…they were recast by the authorities as threats to the public good.”) The author recommends working with a professional therapist to ensure a safe and thoughtfully paced exploration of psychedelics. They also address systemic barriers to pleasure under capitalism, adding empathy and insight. Finally, Goldpaugh addresses the pleasurable aspect of using these substances, bravely rejecting Western scientists’ prioritization of measurable, productivity-maximizing results. The result is a book that feels personal and scientifically sound.
A compelling, radical exploration of psychedelics’ healing potential.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9798888500583
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Park Street Press
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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