Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves: Sushi, Psychedelics, Parallel Universes and the Quest for Transcendence

by Clifford A. Pickover

A smorgasbord of subjects designed to bend reality and stretch the reader's mind.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Essays, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Drugs

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Clifford Alan Pickover is an American author, editor, and columnist in the fields of science, mathematics, science fiction, innovation, and creativity. For many years, he was employed at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York, where he was editor-in-chief of the IBM Journal of Research and Development. He has been granted more than 700 U.S. patents, is an elected Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and is author of more than 50 books, translated into more than a dozen languages.

Reviews

[David Katzman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Drugs, me, me, me, Proust, me, me, I love me, and more me. Ps. Technology=God. Did I mention, me?

Like a homeless Alzheimer’s patient, Sex, Drugs, Einstein, & Elves meanders over so much terrain that writing a review is a bit like tracking the trajectory of every pellet in a shotgun blast. It’s filled with the kind of cocktail party chatter you might use to pick up a Mensa member at their convention after-party. He spends a paragraph on an idea and then moves on without staking out any true analytical critique. It feels much like an aging indie rocker going on about “Yeah, I dig Yo La Tengo’s cover of Speeding Motorcycle; no, not the version on Fake Book, the one they recorded live with Daniel Johnston who was patched over the phone when they were doing a show at WFMU, it’s on Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo, disk 1.” Puts me off lunch.

To be fair, I didn’t mind the meandering nature. Although numerous sections were uninteresting, he changes subjects so rapidly that something more intriguing comes up quickly. And a quick read is what I recommend…skim over the subjects that don’t do it for you. Computer generated poetry? I’d rather boil my hand.

The one chapter that did rivet me was the one on DMT. Like most of the book, it’s a survey of other people’s experiences with a bit of speculation mixed in. And yet, the epitome of this author’s naïveté is that he cheerily admits he’s never taken a psychedelic drug…but oooh, his novels and his art work are so psychedelic, he doesn’t need to! Even so, reading about the similarities between many of the drug experiences is fascinating. Pickover plays up the similarities so much that he thinks it’s possible that there really is a parallel dimension out there that DMT puts us in touch with. Unfortunately, he never considers the cultural similarities and influences that might be linking these experiences…nor does he contrast the modern tripper with the true tribal shamans who communed with Nature Gods rather than the Machine Elves of Timothy Leary fame. Regardless of the truth of the matter, just reading about these mind-bending experiences is quite a treat and worth the price of this book.

I’m also glad he brings up the history of Ibogaine (Iboga), a psychedelic substance that some users in the 60s found had completely eliminated their addiction to heroine, cocaine, and even alcohol. Unfortunately, the U.S. government declared it a controlled substance due to its psychedelic nature. It was not even permitted for laboratory testing purposes and still is not. A great example of moralistic suppression of a potentially life-saving medication. Pickover does a great service by highlighting this substance made from the bark of a tree.

Sadly, the book goes on 150 pages further.

It’s Pickover’s pomposity and blind optimism that really got to me. I was nauseated by his self-love. Oh, he’s so fascinating…clearly. He quite frequently mentions and recommends his other books throughout this book. Because they’re just so great too, you wouldn’t want to miss them. He’s really proud of how many books he’s written. In his chapter on publishing, he blithely tosses off the actual monetary advances he gets for his books. Some of his ideas on reality are so clever, you can read more about them in his clever sci fi novels. He spends a bit of time on his previous book dedications and drops how he’s been interviewed “countless times.” His love affair with his own quaint little town of Shrub Oak and its “mall” (seriously, he loves the mall) are embarrassingly parochial.

He spends a lot of time on Proust. Yeah, Proust is awesome. Too bad Pickover’s overindulgent references to Proust give the impression that he’s trying to create a halo around his own book by filling it with the romantic language of Swann’s Way—whether intentionally or not. The commentary on Proust is merely summarized criticism by more thoughtful reviewers. (Pickover attempts to cast a similarity between himself and Walter Benjamin, too). Here are some examples of how he indirectly attempts to associate himself with Proust’s greatness, “Thinking about Proust’s strange realities, I developed several novels that deal with what I call neorealities” and “Proust’s town of Combray, like my own Shrub Oak, is the kind of small town where…” and so on. He conveniently mentions how many times Proust’s novel was rejected and lo-and-behold, this very work by Pickover was rejected repeatedly as well! I wonder why?

His chapter on “writing tips” is absolutely embarrassing and guarantees beyond any prayer of a doubt that I will never read his fiction. “Avoid using an omniscient narrator” “Short better than long for dialogue.” “Buy a National Geographic. Page through it and select a setting for your novel. Look at the photos to help you create a vivid description.” HURL!!!!

I could have handled the la-di-dah arrogance, but what really made me angry bubbled up in the last fourth of the book: his techno-apologism. He foresees all of society’s problems as being solved in the future by technology and science. This Wired-enamor minus the rah-rah capitalism (in fact, he seems oblivious to almost all economic issues) is dangerously naïve at best and criminally ignorant at worst. We still have war and torture and rape and murder and starvation. And global warming (caused by technology) which he conveniently never mentions. But somehow being able to “download our consciousness into a computer” or robot is going to solve the world's problems. Not only do I not believe this technology is possible, but his optimism is not born out by history. Better technology just means better ways to kill and maim. More efficient, more brutal war. Is an iPhone 3Gs really worth it? Does it make us happier? Who is the “we” made happier by technology? The rich continue to be privileged and live easier lives. The shanty towns in Sao Paolo continue to overflow. The homeless refugees in Iraq. The genocide in Darfur. These folks don’t give a shit about your goddamn AI program that frankly will NOT become conscious like a Terminator despite your confidence it will. All we really need are a very few tangible things. Fresh water. Food. Some shelter. Companionship and community. Technology is just what we crave because we’re alienated. We’ve constructed a society that requires it. In order to keep growth going. Economics depends on growth. Too bad growth is also cancer. I read somewhere that the Mayan’s may have killed themselves off by overpopulating/overusing the environment where they lived. Who says that can’t happen to our species as a whole?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Luddite. I desire product as much as the next joe. But I don’t believe in its value. I know it’s because I’m culturally brainwashed. I think every time I exchange money for product it steals a piece of me. Whether it be my safety or my soul. But I do it anyway. Until I get bored with product and buy next product. Or want better, more advanced product.

Pickover is a sort of spiritualist materialist, without ever reconciling the two. (God is a mathematician.) Unfortunately, his materialist view is typically reductionist: biological or psychological phenomena, can be reduced to physical phenomena and can thus be programmed into a computer. This assertion isn’t much more than a religious belief. There is no accepted reductionist theory of consciousness. DNA replication can’t be explained by subatomic properties. Even subatomic properties only lend themselves to probabilities NOT programming. How do numbers capture the feeling of a breeze? The phenomenon itself, not the neurons that trigger the feeling. There is no subroutine for self-awareness. Do androids dream of electric sheep? “Nature is mathematics,” he says. Somewhere in the infinitely repeating digits of Pi, for example, is a representation of you. I assert against his assertion that a living thing cannot be capture in numbers. Living is a process, not a thing. It can’t be frozen in digits. The universe just IS. Math is a human way to interpret the universe. Pickover’s universe is like The Matrix, if a good one instead of an evil one. Is a breath of air math? Is a dream mathematical? Or is it just what it is?

“The Internet will dissolve away nations as we know them today. Humanity becomes a single hive mind, with a group intelligence, as geography becomes putty in the hands of the Internet sculptor.” You don’t think that it might be more likely that we find new and better ways to enslave each other for wealth? “Some researchers have even suggested that humans are at less risk for extinction now than at any other time in history, and that this risk decreases proportionately to advances made in technology…in this century we will probably become immortal from our understanding of the biological basis of aging and our merging with computers.” (italics mine)

To me the quintessence of technology is the nuclear bomb. We should have stopped at dental floss and the bicycle. But unfortunately, humans have a really hard time applying breaks. “…at this time in history…” there exists a way that humanity could make this planet uninhabitable. Sorry, technology doesn’t seem like my savior.

I’m sure in person, Pickover is a sweet guy. Too bad he’s a narcissist as a writer.

[The Incredible Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clifford Pickover is the guy at the dinner party who would be so much more interesting if he would just stop making everything about himself. He seems like an absolutely insufferable shit. There's a lot of really interesting subject matter here, but he will not shut the fuck up about he's the most prolific author in America or how great his own books are. He quotes liberally from some shitty sci-fi book he wrote. He says he's his own favorite author. He constantly rambles about the Japanese delicacy of Fugu sushi, and then at the very end tells you he's never tried it. WHAT THE FUCK DUDE.

But I'm still giving this book 4 stars because it's a great jumping off point for a lot of different subjects. If you can get past his maniacal narcissism and pathological levels of self-absorption, you will find something in this book that you want to learn more about. It's way too broad to give any in-depth information on any of the widely varied subject matter it tackles, but he always points you in a direction if you want more. This book is what introduced me to the wild genius of Philip K. Dick. It got me reading a lot of better books about psychedelia, like Pinchbeck's Breaking Open the Head. It introduced me to Terrence McKenna. It made me think about things I'd never thought about before.

[Dirk Broenink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had fun reading this book. It was a quick, easy read. During reading I went 'wow!' many times and it left me feeling that life is a fun, mysterious adventure meant to be discovered little by little every day. Much like a good psychedelic trip can do, this book can put things in perspective.

The book dissapoints if you are expecting to read about these topics in depth. It does not go very deep. That's its strength and weakness. This book is more like light entertainment, or reading a succession of short articles on the internet.

This is my first book I read of this author and I am very curious now what his other books are like! If he is able to entertain to the same degree but achieve depth in his science books, they could be very educational indeed.

[Allen Gignac · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not wait to really get into this book after reading the introduction. It absolutely amazed me that there was a book that explored so many of the things that I am interested in, in an integrative way that I thought I'd never see -- modern physics, parallel universes, philosophy and existentialism, psychedelic experience...

Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my high hopes. Although it delved into all of these areas, I found that it tried to discuss so many different and disparate things, that nothing really got treated with any kind of depth -- everything seemed very superficial, with very little substance.

I also found the author to be very egocentric, and it really got on my nerves after a while. Although the book is, admittedly, supposed to be a personal stream-of-consciousness sort of experience, I found the constant self-reference, and especially the frequent mentioning of all of his previous books to be very tiresome. It seemed like he was more interested in showing us all how clever he was, and how many obscure things he could talk about in quick succession than he was about constructing a decent book that actually really explored the topics he introduces.

[Jon Paprocki · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was initially impressed, the format of the book got to be too much for me. The author's favorite topic is himself, and while he is certainly an interesting guy, the way he goes about writing about himself rubs me the wrong way. For example, he frequently mentions his other books with barely any justification and comes across as advertisement. If you ignore that aspect, most of what he wrote about was interesting stuff, and there are some really memorable passages and lines. The title makes the book sound like some new age hippie bullshit (which was initially why I bought it because those books make great toilet reading), but he is mostly fairly serious and not-crazy about the topics he writes about. He likes kooky ideas and investigating what people think about them, rather than believing in the kooky idea himself. I'm not totally against buying another one of his books someday, but I'll need to let my tolerance meter on self-aggrandizing literature reset first.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the various topics covered, I really, really wanted to enjoy this book. But, in all honesty, I found it a horribly tedious task to get through it, despite many interesting segments. For starters, there is really no overarching theme or structure to what is going on here; Pickover, in my estimation, has simply thrown an entirely random collection of observations and facts together and called it a book. Second, Pickover can not go an entire chapter without mentioning another one of his books; after about the fourth time this happens, I began to feel like I wasn't really reading a book, but more of an extended advertisement for his other novels, with some random information thrown in to sweeten the deal. Perhaps his other books are not quite as jumbled and fragmentary, but reading this doesn't really give me much motivation to find out, unfortunately.

[Federico Mengozzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never had to abandon a book before, I’m generally careful about the books I pick and I was so excited to finally read something by Pickover.
This felt like a rambling of random ideas, with no connections between them. Proust “In search of lost time” is used to give the impression that a common theme exists between the chapters, but it failed poorly in that purpose.
The most valuable takeaway are probably the notes and mentions of other interesting works.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoying and meandering read. The author deftly maneuvers between seemingly unrelated topics, yet is able to build on those topics to a crescendo of thought by the end of the book. What do Einstein, DMT, Proust, and long walks have in common? For the answer to that, you must read this book and become a psychonaught in your own mind.

[Misha Behersky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice psychedelics book)

[Eye Summers · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is extremely misleading but it is sort of about DMT, sort of about Einstein & sort of about Proust. I forced myself to finish it.

[Dragan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start is impressive, the rest so-so

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun sort of steam off consciousness book from Pickover.

[Rach · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book with a tremendous amount of interesting facts and stories, which unfortunately end up being smothered under the author's hubris. What Clifford A. Pickover wants you to know first is he is a prolific author, and has lots of readers, and is very important. Unfortunately, the tone and style of this book left me with a bad taste in my mouth. This book is obviously well-researched (>20% of the book is footnotes, books for further reading, and an index), and some of the topics covered are really thought-provoking and interesting, but the author injected himself into the book so much, giving his own opinion equal billing along side Einstein and Proust, which I don't feel he deserved.

So, what, if anything, saves this book? Some of the topics really were interesting. I really enjoying the chapter on linguistics and the effect language and thinking have on one another, as well as the lists of favorite words (excluding the author's own, which felt superfluous). Also interesting were the habits of famous authors, as well as facts, both historical and current, about the publishing industry.

In all honesty, though, I can't recommend this book to anyone, unless you are prepared to dig through to find the gems I mentioned above. Despite the interesting facts, it was difficult to read, and the breadth of information Pickover tried to include was simply too wide. If any of the topics I mentioned sounds interesting, I would recommend looking up a book of those specifically. Or perhaps flipping to the back of Pickover's book, looking at his well-documented sources, and getting your info first-hand. My happiest moment reading this book was when I got to 78% and realized the actual book was finished, and I didn't have to read anymore. :) Plus, we did end up having a great discussion at our book club.

[Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had my attention captivated from time to time. I'm fascinated by fringe science and Pickover seems to have a firm handle on center mass science so he keeps me inside the cart with the scientific issues. However he insists upon injecting personal anecdotes about sushi and his picturesque hometown (it's still America, dude) and I don't find him to be an intriguing personality. He tries to borrow much from Robert Anton Wilson but RAW was a genius, pioneer, and genuine character. Pickover is just some guy with respectable science degrees who seems bored with academia. Only boring people get bored. The book kept me focused until I felt betrayed by the increasing references to God and the bible. There's the rub. The guy knows his science but his brain is hijacked by religion and so we keep getting this Christian filter slid over the information. I mean, trying to write a legitimate book about our minds reaching other realms and planes is a tough enough sell without pulling a Westboro and trying to make meals out of morsels in the Bible. So... Essentially he lost me, but he did hold me tight for fascinating portions.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter, but an author that is too full of himself to make anything really stick.

It's like having a Professor giving you the text book @ the beginning of the semester that *he wrote*, then he leaves you to fend for yourself while he helps himself to his LSD stash.

I took some really awesome points, but was left with a bitter taste in my mouth when Pickover would, literally pick over everything I just read and put his spin on it.

Props to our Book Club for wanting to think outside the box this selection. Wish more people would have read it thou! Yay for those of us that stuck through it. (Even thou, I will admit I skipped around, easy to do, it read like a text book)

[Brandon Commiskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been about 5 or 6 years since I've read this book and it's still one of my favorite books... Ever. I let someone borrow it one day and never saw it again. Now when I go to bookstores I fantasize about it being on the shelf. Clifford Pickover will leave you wondering how he's going to end his roller coaster ride of non-related topics. He may begin with the evolution of AI then onto the future of publishing houses and something about Alien brains and 1950's movies about nuclear war before using Marcel Proust and lemon cookies to reveal how they all connect and why it's important. Give your significant other some earphones so you don[t talk their ear off about every topic under the sun.

[Scott Merrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this very promising at the beginning, but quickly began to lose that infatuation after being repeatedly off-put by the author's self-promotion and clearly high opinion of himself. There is a section toward the middle that does not belong in this book, almost as if he's pulled an article on how to write and get published out of a file, broken it up into chapters, and slapped it in the middle to flesh out the page numbers. As my banjo player (rest his surly soul) used to say when we flubbed the ending of an otherwise nicely performed song, "he had it going up but lost it going down." I may actually give his fiction a run. If it's as good as he says it is, it should be fun.

[Chris Meger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never experienced a hallucinogenic adventure. (Not for lack of trying, curse my brain chemistry!) So it's pretty easy for me to disregard his praise of DMT, which is apparently a chemical key to an alternate universe.Which is fine? I guess? The real fun of this book has more to do with his discussions of Proust, and riffing on modern neurophysiology. Lots of neural pathologies aping transcendental experiences. Or maybe the other way around?
The writing is funny and light, this isn't science, but it's delightful.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an intriguing book. Some of the essays aren't terribly captivating, but most are very good and are very thought provoking. It sounds like the biggest problem that a lot of people had with this book was his constant references to Proust and Proust's books. That didn't bother me -- in fact, I thought it was interesting. The equally ubiquitous references to DMT and DMT elves started to wear me down, though. Worth a read.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was some neat stuff in the book, particularly the bit about the psychedelic effects of darkness. Lots of other stuff felt like fluff, and the whole astral traveling thing got tiresome after awhile. I really don't care if some people see munchkins, and I just didn't quite understand why he put so much significance on it.

Not a bad read, not a good read, just okay. Dunno if Goldilocks would have eaten this bowl of porridge, but I did.

[Shannon Harger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend introduced me to this book. Everytime I looked at him reading it his eyes were wide-open with amazement and he'd put the book down and walk out of the room shaking his head in astonishment.
I decided to read it because me and him would always exchange favorite books and I loved it and it blew me away just like it did to him. I can relate to DMT from the past and it was just enjoying to read about.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting read if you enjoy questioning the rationale of our society. The informal tone Clifford uses makes the book seem like you are sitting down at a table conversing with friends about exotic ideas which is perfect for making this information heavy book easy to digest. If you've ever imagined why there is such a thing as the Golden ratio and how it came about, this is a book for you.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

filled with interesting ideas and musings. i pull from this book constantly and will continue to pick it up and browze through for tiny gems of understanding that i've either overlooked the first time around or have forgotten. it's like an encyclopedia of philosophies and ideas. great stuff here. the only downside is that when you read it cover to cover, it can get a bit boring while the author drones on and on. think proust. still, very worth it, in my opinion. i recommend it constantly.

[Cameron Dayton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating and brave, but in the end a tiring read. Like listening to a dozen brilliant experts speak on a variety of topics simultaneously, this book cultivates exciting and unexpected mental connections -- but should only be experienced in short sprints.

This is a difficult one to recommend via a simple star rating system.

[Kari]

Maybe should have been called Proust, Drugs, Einstein and Elves. "Sex" is I suppose more effective for moving units (pun intended). I read it primarily to get the Proustian content, so no issues here.

CP does tend to ramble on random topics, some of which are interesting and some are forgettable. I did note some of the sources and may refer to those at a later date.

[John Caulfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't fault this book. Yes, he punts his other books a fair amount, yes, he glosses over a number of topics, but then this is book does not pretend to be anything more than an introduction to just about every interesting topic under the sun - from, well - Sex, Drugs and Einstein, through to well - everyone's favourite, the DMT clockwork elves.

[Christopher Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining for a variety of reasons, makes one consider a variety of notions that many might not ever come across. I thought it was a thought-provoking read with some philosophical value. I'd recommend this to anyone wanting to explore DMT and similar shamanic technologies.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

overall, this book was highly interesting; however, it does at times get somewhat tedious (with the ineffable number of Proust references and all...) but even that aside- it's a pretty good read.

[Lisbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deoxy.org in bookish form.

[Pep · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have the attention of a five years old and this book jumps subjects alot. It talks about everything from launguage to phychedelics. Its one of my favorite books