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Death by Astonishment

Confronting the Mystery of the World's Strangest Drug (The DMT Book)

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Death by Astonishment

By: Andrew R. Gallimore, Graham Hancock
Narrated by: Andrew R. Gallimore, Graham Hancock
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About this listen

For fans of the compelling critical and investigative style of best-selling authors Graham Hancock and Brian Muraresku, the first detailed account of the history and science of the world’s strangest and most mysterious drug: DMT. This program is read by the author and features a foreword written and read by British journalist and author Graham Hancock.

DMT is the world’s strangest and most mysterious drug, inducing one of the most remarkable and yet least understood of all states of consciousness. This common plant molecule has, from ancient times to the modern day, been used as a tool to gain access to a bizarre alien reality of inordinate complexity and unimaginable strangeness, populated by a panoply of highly advanced, intelligent, and communicative beings entirely not of this world.

In a story that begins in the Amazonian rainforests and ends somewhere beyond the stars, Andrew Gallimore presents the first detailed account of the discovery of DMT and science’s continuing struggle to explain how such a simple and common plant molecule can have such astonishing effects on the human mind. The history of the drug involves many fascinating characters from the scientific and literary worlds — including legendary ethnobotanist Dr. Richard Schultes; renegade beat writer and drug aficionado William S. Burroughs; philosopher and raconteur Terence McKenna; and the high priest of the 1960s psychedelic revolution, Dr. Timothy Leary. In the end, the story of DMT forces us to reconsider our most basic assumptions about the nature of reality and our place within it.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

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Critic reviews

<p>"DMT is unique among all the psychedelics in that it affords access to an alternate reality that seems every bit as real as our 'ordinary reality' and yet is utterly alien. With the possible exception of Terence McKenna, Andrew Gallimore has been investigating this longer and more thoroughly than anyone else. I believe he may have cracked the code. His conclusions are astonishing. And to some they will be horrifying. This book is not to be missed." - Dennis McKenna, PhD <br><br>"An exhilarating, yet rigorously grounded, account of DMT's rapidly increasing influence on human consciousness. What if an unimaginably powerful psychedelic molecule, made in the human brain, could be harnessed to reliably provide contact with super intelligent beings from other dimensions of time and space? Gallimore's project provides an essential understanding of this nascent field, and its implications for our species' evolution." - Rick Strassman MD, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine and author of <i>DMT: The Spirit Molecule and My Altered States.</i><br><br>"Compulsively readable and impossible to put down, <i>Death by Astonishment</i> is a page-turning odyssey into the enigmatic history of the world’s strangest drug. Bringing together many of the most pivotal stories in psychedelic history, Gallimore not only connects the dots but also fills in the missing pieces, shedding new light on the mysteries of this extraordinary molecule." - David Jay Brown, author of <i>The Illustrated Field Guide to DMT Entities<br></i><br>"Peeling away the many layers of one of our greatest mysteries while leaving intact the enigma at its core, combining the erudition of a scholar and the precision of a scientist, Andrew Gallimore leads a fascinating inquiry into the heart of the unknown." - Graham St John, author of <i>Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna</i> (MIT Press, 2025 )</p>
All stars
Most relevant
Super interesting book, Andrew G is a true visionary and pioneer in this field. I must read for anyone interested on this topic

Thank you Andrew!

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Such a great book. If this does not make you wanna try DMT, you must be reading it backwatds.

10/10

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I find Dr. Andrew Gallimore extremely compelling and I never experienced DMT! A great listen!!

Wow

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Although I've never had a breakthrough NN-DMT experience, I have had breakthroughs on 5-MEO-DMT and profound experiences with ayahuasca, so I know how potent and strange these molecules are. The author starts by giving us a history of the Western discovery of DMT as the active ingredient in preparations used by many indigenous people, including, of course, ayahuasca. He then moves on to the experiences of people using DMT, pointing out the commonalities across cultures, routes of administration and time. It is truly impossible to overstate the strangeness of these experiences, where users of DMT seemingly interact and communicate with extremely intelligent entities. He then looks at the possible explanations for these using our conventional understanding of neurochemistry and psychology.

I don't want to give anything more away, because the book is like a detective story, and I don't want to spoil the experience for you. What I will say is that I found it completely gripping throughout. It is extremely well written with flashes of the author's humour that made me laugh out loud at times. He reads the book himself and does a superb job of that, too.

It is hard to think of a more important topic than this, not just for people interested in psychedelics, but for the whole of humanity. I thoroughly recommend this excellent book.

Gripping and Important

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Great book. Despite my short “visit” and experience of the world uncomprehendingly foreign to us I can tell that I saw what is described in this book and this is not some fairy tale stuff like many so called experts (including scholars) - which never experienced any psychedelics - saying or denying. Couldn’t recommend enough. Thank you Andrew for this profound book! And Graham of course. Keep up the pace of enlightening people, I’m on board.

Fantastic and for all who do not know what DMT is.

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