LSD My Problem Child (4th Edition): Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and Science

by Albert Hofmann PhD

Overview

LSD My Problem Child is the story of LSD told by a concerned yet hopeful father and organic chemist, the late Albert Hofmann, PhD.

Credited with synthesizing and discovering the psychedelic effects of LSD, Hofmann traces the path of the drug from a promising psychiatric research medicine to a recreational drug sparking hysteria and prohibition. 

In LSD: My Problem Child, Dr. Hofmann documents his trek across Mexico to discover sacred plants related to LSD and shares correspondences with notable figures including Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley and Walter Vogt. The underlying current of this book is Dr. Hofmann’s powerful conclusion that mystical experiences may be our planet’s best hope for survival. Whether induced by LSD, meditation, or arising spontaneously, such experiences help us to comprehend, as Hofmann wrote, “the wonder, the mystery of the divine, in the microcosm of the atom, in the macrocosm of the spiral nebula, in the seeds of plants, in the body and soul of people.” 

More than sixty years after the birth of Albert Hofmann’s problem child, his vision of its true potential is reaching relevancy as psychedelics enjoy a new resurgence in popular discourse. In 2022, Hofmann’s pioneering work was featured in the Netflix documentary series, “How to Change Your Mind.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780979862229
Publisher:	SYNERGETIC PR
Publication date:	09/27/2017
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	379,985
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Albert Hofmann (1906 - 2008) was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child: Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and Science. In 2007, Hofmann was named #1 out of 100 in Telegraph magazine’s 2007 ‘Top 100 Living Geniuses’ list, and in 2022 his pioneering work with LSD was featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary series “How to Change Your Mind.”

Read an Excerpt

This fourth English-language edition of Albert Hofmann’s LSD: My Problem Child is being published after Albert’s death. On April 29, 2008, Albert Hofmann died at the age of 102. Anita Hofmann, Albert’s wife for over 72 years, died on December 20, 2007, at the age of 94. Their life-long love affair was an inspiration to all who knew them or knew of them.

            Before he died, Albert was fortunate to have the time, the health and the peace of mind to write a summary of his life to be read at his funeral by. His two surviving children, Andreas and Beatrix. Albert’s family has given us permission to publish a translation of that autobiography as the new introduction to this edition of LSD: My Problem Child.

            Both Albert and Anita lived long enough to see with their own eyes the renewal of LSD psychotherapy research. Shortly before Anita’s death, Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Peter Gasser obtained government approval for his MAPS-sponsored study of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with anxiety associated with end-of-life issues. Albert spoke about the renewal of LSD psychotherapy research as “the fulfillment of my heart’s desire.”

            Shortly before he died, Albert said that he’d continue to help support the renaissance in LSD psychotherapy research either from “this side or the other side.” Through the publication of this book, Albert continues to support the transformation of his “problem child” into a “wonder child.”

            The first LSD session in the Swiss study took place on Tuesday, May 13, 2008. This session is part of the first controlled, scientific study of the therapeutic potential of LSD in over 36 years. More information about the psychedelic research renaissance can be found at the end of this book in the “About the Publisher” section.

 

Shortly after his 100th birthday, Albert said:

            “In the future, I hope that LSD provides to the individual a new worldview, which is in harmony with nature and its laws.

            “I am hopeful about the future evolution of the human species. I am hopeful because I have the impression that more and more human individuals are becoming conscious, and that the creative spirit, which we call ‘God,’ speaks to us through his creation—through the endlessness of the starry sky, through the beauty and wonder of the living individuals of the plant, the animal, and the human kingdoms.

            “We human beings are able to understand this message because we possess the divine gift of consciousness. This connects us to the universal mind and gives us divine creativity. Any means that helps to expand our individual consciousness—by opening up and sharpening our inner and outer eyes, in order to understand the divine universal message—will help humanity to survive. An understanding of the divine message—in its universal language—would bring an end to the war between the religions of the world.”

 

Albert himself took LSD for the last time at age 97.

Table of Contents

Note from the Publisher

Live of Albert Hofmann

Foreword by Stanislav Grof, MD

Preface by the author

Translator’s preface

Introduction

How LSD Originated

LSD in Animal Experiments and Biological Research

Chemical Modifications of LSD

Use of LSD in Psychiatry

From Remedy to Inebriant

[Color plates follow page 88]

The Mexican Relatives of LSD

Radiance from Ernst Jünger

Meeting with Aldous Huxley

Correspondence with Walter Vogt

Various Visitors

LSD Experiences and Reality

Appendix: The Digital Hofmann Collection

Index

About the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

The discovery of the psychedelic properties of LSD was a milestone in the history of consciousness. Albert Hofmann’s personal story of that discovery and its consequences is one of my favorite books.” –Andrew Weil, MD

“Aldous wrote about LSD that ‘it is a gratuitous grace neither necessary nor sufficient for salvation.’ Probably The Doors of Perception might not have been written were it not for Albert’s ‘problem child.’” –Laura Huxley

“It is our good fortune that Dr. Albert Hofmann, a nature mystic and Nobel Prize-worthy scientist, made such an amazing discovery.” –Martin A. Lee

From the Publisher