february 2022 – good to read

Brian Blomerth
This colorful graphic novel tells the story of R. Gordon Wasson, vice-president of public relations for J.P. Morgan Bank, and his wife, Valentina Pavlova, who liked to eat mushrooms. Their love led them to Mexico and to Maria Sabina Garcia, a Mazatecan healer. Gordon and Valentina participated in a nocturnal ceremony involving psilocybin, called a velada, or wake. Upon their return to the United States, Wasson wrote a detailed article about their experience published in Life Magazine in 1957, «In Search of the Magic Mushroom». It sparked widespread interest in psychedelic plants; Wasson became a renowned ethno-mycologist. Brian Blomerth is an illustrator, cartoonist and musician based in Brooklyn. His previous book was dedicated to Albert Hofmann, the sensational Bicycle Day. Both take us to happy, hippie-trippy cartoon universe. (sgs)
Anthology Books | November 21

Bear Heart
«I don’t make the medicine; it was here before me. I’ve been entrusted to be a caretaker of certain sacred ways.» Bear Heart (1918 – 2008), was a Muscogee Creek Native American Church Road Man with a talent for seeing people as individuals, and for making them feel seen and special in their own ways. The Bear Is My Father: Indigenous Wisdom of a Muscogee Creek Caretaker of Sacred Ways contains the final words Bear Heart wrote before his «going on» as well as contributions from friends and family whose lives were forever changed by Bear Heart’s presence and work. In this new book, Bear Heart uses stories of his youth and traditional medicine practices to convey lessons and knowledge about living in harmony and with respect for all. Offering a mix of history and spiritual wisdom, The Bear is My Father is co-authored by Reginah WaterSpirit, Bear Heart’s Medicine Helper and wife of 23 years.
Ingram Publishers | January 22 

Carl Erik Fisher
Carl Erik Fisher, an addiction physician and bioethicist, is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, where he works in the Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry. He also maintains a private psychiatry practice focusing on complementary and integrative approaches to treating addiction. His writing has appeared in Nautilus, Slate, and Scientific American MIND, among other outlets. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his partner and son. As a psychiatrist and a patient recovering from addiction, he wonders, «Is everyone somewhere on the addiction spectrum?» What factors — biological, psychological, social, cultural — play a role? Carl Erik Fisher draws on his own experience as a clinician, researcher, and alcoholic in recovery as he traces the history of a phenomenon that, centuries on, we hardly appear closer to understanding—let alone addressing effectively
Penguin Press | January 22

T. Jefferson Parker
Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment. Matt Anthony is just trying get by. Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom’s a stoner, his deadbeat dad a no-show, his brother’s fighting in Nam, and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she’s just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn’t believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach. In a town where the cops don’t trust the hippies and the hippies don’t trust the cops, uncovering what’s really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast. If it’s not already too late.
Audiobook | Forge Books | February 22

Annabel Streets
A revelatory and informative handbook for anyone stuck in a walking rut, 52 Ways to Walk is a love letter to walking. Walking strengthens our bodies, calms our minds and lifts our spirits. But it does so much more than this. Our vision, hearing, respiration, sleep, cognition, memory, blood pressure, sense of smell and balance (to name a few) are all enhanced by how we walk. For instance: Walking in cold weather burns extra fat and builds more muscle. Walking alone strengthens our memories. Walking in woodland helps us sleep. And there’s nothing more restorative than a romantic nighthike. Our choice of location, time, direction, duration, walking companion and gait, as well as the weather we opt to walk in, can transform our daily stroll. Annabel Streets explains the science behind each walking styles and provides practical tips for making more of your daily steps.
Bloomsbury | February 22