Altered States: Creativity Under the Influence

by Jim Hughes

This provocative study takes readers on the ultimate creative trip, exploring in depth the heightened states of mind that give rise to art.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Art

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ray Savarda · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title was very misleading.
A lot of far-out ideas presented in a "authoritative" mishmash of technical-sounding language, I was not impressed.
I made it thru the whole thing, it helped there were many pictures.
I was not impressed. The only section on actual discussion of "recreational" drugs and creativity was at the very end of the book, and was not very informative.
With all the great music from the 60's and 70's, and the prevalence of drugs during that time, I thought there might be some links or information, but not really.

[Nela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the book sounded very interesting – the actual book content not so much. Also, the left-brain right-brain junk "science" is so 90s.

[MM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought this would be a fun, light, inspiring read to jumpstart the year but there’s a lot of baloney about men here.

[Mickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written in the style of a textbook in that it gives an overview of the different views and processes of creativity without championing a certain view (well, for the most part) and without personal authorial input. It's definitely interesting and a good introduction to the ideas surrounding creativity, particularly in a historical or psychological context.

[A.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unsurprisingly, I don't remember much of this book except for Sartre on mescaline. And the crabs—the crabs.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A look at creativity through the lens of altered states, chemical and otherwise. A pretty fair examination of the negative and positive effects of such methods and techniques.

[Tiago · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book... but it's just not a good book.