Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna

by Graham St John, Erik Davis (foreword)

An intellectual biography of one of the most celebrated and yet least understood figures of the late twentieth century, Terence McKenna.

A stand-up philosopher who made a unique contribution to science, humanism, and the hidden arts, Terence McKenna (1946–2000) was the twentieth century’s psychedelic Renaissance man. Perfecting his rugged philosophy on the role of psychedelics in evolution, consciousness, and time, McKenna was a riotous charmer who stalked the shadows, but also sought the iridescence. More than twenty years since his untimely passing, McKenna has an enduring magnetism across the virtual pop stream, in pervasive digitization, and within social media networks. In Strange Attractor, the first biography of this enigmatic figure, Graham St John detects the signal behind the noise.

This book is an engaging chronicle of the life, works, and legacy of this brazen adventurer of the inner and outer dimensions, whose weird intelligence has affected multitudes and whose spirit continues to haunt the present. It draws on original documents and letters, features fifty two rare photographs and artworks, and shares previously untold stories from over eighty people. Neither glorifying nor disparaging its subject, Strange Attractor will appeal to those interested in the evolution of a psychedelic intellectual, and to those for whom McKenna’s wisdom endures.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Graham St John, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian with a research interest in transformational events, movements and figures. Among his books are Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press 2025), Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015), Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance (Equinox 2012), Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures (Equinox 2009), and the edited collections Weekend Societies: Electronic Dance Music Festivals and Event-Cultures (Bloomsbury 2017), The Local Scenes and Global Culture of Psytrance (Routledge 2010), Victor Turner and Contemporary Cultural Performance (Berghahn 2008), Rave Culture and Religion (Routledge 2004) and FreeNRG: Notes From the Edge of the Dance Floor (Commonground 2001). He was recently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellow in the Dept of Arts, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield and is currently Senior Research Fellow in the department. He is Executive Editor of Dancecult journal.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, a big thank you to Graham St John for writing this book. This needed to happen. I needed to know that it's ok if I go through life and never do a heroic dose. After all, even though we know Terence practiced what he preached, he himself did have a bad trip on such a dose. I also needed to know that as much as Terence was an ethnobotanist, he probably could have benefited from learning the languages of, say, Tibet or the Witoto. This book paints a very balanced picture of the anti-guru guru many of us came to idolize. But his detractors only make him more relatable as a human being, such as the hidden pain buried in the Timewave theory of a son who never got to say goodbye to his dying mother. The experiment at La Chorrera managed to be presented in a novel and entertaining way, even though Dennis and Terence themselves have already covered it in previous work. At the same time, it is placed in greater context to the rest of Terence's adventures from the period of his life that were missing before. This book is well-researched, well-written, and an intellectual gateway to so many, if not all, of Terence's inspirations, writings, talks, and ideas. The chapter on rave culture could have been shortened for me, also considering Terence was never comfortable with being a figurehead in the rave world, but my understanding is that is how the author got to know Terence, and hey, he wrote the book so he can write what he wants.

[Paul Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arriving 25 years after Terence McKenna’s death comes a biography that truly does its subject justice. As a writer of numerous books and articles on DMT, transformational events, rave culture and religion, Graham St John brings academic rigour, exhaustive research and personal experience to bear on the life and ideas of a counter-cultural icon. Written while most of McKenna’s contemporaries were alive and contactable, this book is valuable and timely, jam-packed with rich description and deep analysis, yet even, balanced and sensitively critical.

The story cuts straight to the chase, documenting Terence’s famous first encounter with DMT, and an experience so profoundly Other that he spent the rest of his life in a quest for its implications. This search would lead him around the world, developing relationships with allies both plant and human, and amassing a vast library of often rare and valuable books. McKenna’s tale is a profound story of living on one’s own terms with purpose and a will to understand life and its meaning; and by the end of his own bodily existence he had, in his own words, “worked it out.” The account of Terence’s death is one of the most beautiful passages in the book.

McKenna’s childhood and formative years hint at an essential gift for storytelling passed down from his father and maternal grandfather, overlaid by a competitive and rebellious personality, with a need for approval and desire for escape. The boredom and conservatism of small-town life fuelled a flight inward and into the cognitive liberty offered by books and drugs, and outward to coastal California by the mid-1960s. In the heady milieu of the times, McKenna held court in smoke-drenched salons, quickly gaining a reputation as an intellectually sharp and entertaining raconteur, with a fearless, if occasionally exploitative, entrepreneurial flair in trading artworks and hashish. But the endgame was always the ongoing search for gnosis.

McKenna’s insatiable curiosity, anti-authoritarianism and monumental self-belief created the context for life as a brilliant outsider, never fitting any clear career path. Money initially comes from developing a method for growing psychedelic mushrooms, and selling spores and know-how to others. When this eventually becomes too hot for comfort, the Terence McKenna brand is started up and inhabited, drawing on well-honed oratorical skills, fusing the work of a huge range of philosophers, writers, explorers, alchemists, saints and mystics into his own messianic mission to turn on humanity.

In this brilliantly written biography, the Terence McKenna event is detailed and demystified. Possessing the enigmatic trickster persona that seems to go with the territory of paradox and the ineffable, Terence also emerges as a relatable figure, dealing with family problems, money worries and bad trips. Achieving wide-ranging popularity as a writer and speaker, the role of psychedelic guru seemed to sit uncomfortably for someone that was also self-deprecating and private. The many close friends interviewed report a fundamental compassion and decency, together with a reputation for punctuality and reliability.

But 'Strange Attractor' also deals in powerful ideas. Terence mixed with the leading radical thinkers of his time, at conferences and symposiums, who considered him stimulating and provocative, not to mention a great draw-card. With a dazzling intelligence that could fuse the latest breakthroughs in science with ancient philosophy, McKenna was not just entertaining but important. St John’s achievement in this book is ably wrestling with the myriad theories, literary references, historical influences and ethnobotancial knowledge that have gone into shaping the McKennaverse, in an a way that is both engaging and understandable.

If oracular divination and prophetic revelation have kick-started started mass movements that have changed the world, McKenna’s sustained communication with the mushroom “teacher” and hyperspace encounters may have a lot further to run. Indeed, McKenna’s raps and disembodied voice have a continued presence online and in music, fitting considering he specialised in those moments where eternity crosses with the temporality of the human body. There is so much in this book for anyone interested in the meaning of life, death, reality, consciousness, the human place in the cosmos or just their own psychedelic experiences. Like its subject, 'Strange Attractor' manages the remarkable feat of being stylishly erudite, immensely deep and hugely enjoyable.

[J. B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute masterpiece. Mr St John delivers an intimate look at McKennas life, very candid and honest. Reveals details that have never been explored about Terence’s complicated life. Picks up where Tao Lins “Trip” left off, explores the journey of Terence’s time wave theory, his tumultuous love affair with psychedelics, and gives a revealing and intimate look at his marriage to Kat Harrison. The amount of research done that had to be done on this topic is astonishing. When describing DMT, McKenna says if you “fear death by astonishment, it might not be for you. When was the last time you were truly astonished?” The answer to that is when I finished this book.

[Mason Dupuis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a really informative overview of TKM. I wanted to give it four stars because it was so dense and included a lot of info I didn’t care about, however, I think that’s on me and not the author.

Glad I read it, more glad to be finished with it🙏🏼