Trippy is a captivating blend of personal memoir and hard-hitting journalism that offers a comprehensive look into the world of psychedelic therapy. Ernesto Londoño's candid exploration of his own mental health struggles and subsequent journey with psychedelics is both poignant and inspiring.

What truly sets this book apart is its balanced approach. Londoño doesn't shy away from the potential risks and challenges associated with psychedelic use, while also highlighting the immense therapeutic benefits. His meticulous research and insightful analysis provide a much-needed perspective on this rapidly evolving field.

I'm grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this thought-provoking book. If you're interested in the intersection of science, spirituality, and mental health, Trippy is a must-read.

Trippy is a wildly engaging book that beautifully scratched my ever-present itch for a good piece of long-form first person journalism. A subject like the use of psychedelics to treat mental health issues really needs to be anchored by a great narrator and that's Ernesto Londoño for you as he lays bare the personal issues that led him to seek this kind of treatment. He meets fascinating (and terrible) people along the way and portrays it all with unflinching honesty.

It's a great read for anyone interested in psychedelic therapy, especially women as some chapters cover the bad actors in the industry who prey on women in particular. Londoño is gay, and as a queer person myself I appreciated how this influences his perspective on his own mental health. To be problematic for a moment, I think this book wouldn't have worked nearly as well had it been told by a straight white guy. You just imagined that and winced a little, didn't you? You know I'm right!

Highly recommended all around.

My thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Trippy by Ernesto Londoño was an absolute hit for me, especially as someone who’s a bit of a nerd re: psychedelic medicine and fascinated by fungi. The book dives deep into the growing field of psychedelic therapy, and Londoño weaves his own personal journey with it in such an engaging way. His experience at a Brazilian ayahuasca retreat had me hooked, and it was fascinating to see how the trips gave him a sense of relief from depression. But what really got me were the people he met along the way—Indigenous healers, veterans, and clinicians—all trying to make sense of how these substances can help heal deep traumas. The personal accounts given really rounded out the book and added perspective that was profound.

I loved how this book wasn’t just a clinical breakdown of psychedelics, it carried emotional weight as well. Londoño’s exploration of his own childhood trauma made the whole thing feel raw and real, and the blend of personal narrative with journalistic reporting was really great. From the crazy variety of psychedelics he explored (including psilocybin, but some even I have never heard of) to the spiritual, almost mystical side of it all, it was super thought provoking and gave me renewed fervor in regards to how much these therapies are changing the game for mental health. Thanks so much to Celadon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this, I loved it!

Having read Michael Pollan’s book, “how to change your mind”, I was curious what another book on this subject could add. While both books inject personal experiences with psychedelics, this book showed the journalistic chops of Mr. Londoño. I highly recommend, especially if you’re contemplating use of psychedelics. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you net gallery for the advanced copy of this book. The book ended where I thought it would start talking about the MAPS clinical trials. It started with a Bungy jump into the world of pseudo-science and shamans. Definitely a journey, i would recommend.

Trippy was a really interesting and engaging read. I appreciated the exploration of pros and cons of using psychedelics and would read more from this author.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I received free access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review. With that being said, let's talk about Trippy by Ernesto Londono.

This book is...interesting. I selected it to read partly because I loved the fictional novel Nine Perfect Strangers and wanted to learn more about the real-life versions of retreats of that nature, and partly because I and others in my life have discussed psychedelic treatment for mental health and wellness, and reading this book felt like it would be good research.

And in some ways, it was. But more than anything else, this book felt like a memoir to me. Which, having read the full thing, I can understand the importance that psychedelic retreats and treatments place on examining your life with a microscope, letting the medicine tease it apart and stitch it back together in ways that help you reframe and better understand it. I found many of the stories interesting, emotionally evocative, and, to be honest, triggering. If you had titled this book Heavy instead, the title would ring just as, if not even slightly more, true to me.

However, as someone who assumed by the title that we would receive a balanced take, laced with research, written by a New York Times reporter, I have to admit I was disappointed with just how sparsely it feels like we get the occasional conversation with an expert, mention of research, or other trustworthy source woven into the often pages-long narratives of the author's (and quite a few other retreat-goers') experiences.

That's not to say that this book isn't worth reading. You do learn quite a bit about the various kinds of retreat: the good, the bad, the cultish, the morally dubious money-grabs, and the outright awful things that can occur in many of these places. You just also learn what feels like the entire life story of the author with those lessons inserted into pockets along the way. More often than not, personal experiences from other retreat attendees feel disjointed and standalone, unless, of course, they somehow manage to weave into the author's story about himself, in which case verbosity abounds.

I have read other investigative-adjacent nonfiction, and while I found this topic among the most interesting of the ones I've read, I also found this book among the ones I had to actively motivate myself to finish reading.

Ultimately, I found the book an interesting mix of enjoyable and effortful to get through. If half-stars were possible on Goodreads, I'd end up leaving this book a 3.5 and suggest to potential readers that you give yourself time and space to read through it. Much of this book is, as I've said above, Heavy. It can feel like emotional labor on your part to read, but there are things in this book that make it worthwhile and interesting. However, if you're looking for a book that more directly lays out a nuanced, research-heavy look into the world of psychedelic retreats, you won't find that here. What you'll find instead is a journalistic memoir and human interest story. So, like psychedelics, come into it with the proper expectations, and you'll likely get exactly what you need from it.

Thanks so much Celadon Books & NetGalley for the arc.
I really enjoyed this book. It was quite the trip! 😉
It felt like reading a VICE style documentary and was very informative about the good and bad of psychedelics.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in mental wellness but also anyone who wants to read about an interesting subject by a very talented writer!

*There is description of abuse, trauma and PTSD, so that could potentially be triggering for some people.

This book was truly enlightening during the current moment of heightened discussion and opinion surrounding the recent uprising of psychedelics. I learened a great deal from this book and will recommend it to others. Thank you for granting me access to it!

This was a fascinating read. The way Londono shares the experiences of others and himself throughout kept me engaged. This was an excellent read and did a great job diving into medicinal psychedelics.

This topic touches a lot in mental health, specifically depression and suicide. Pleas be mindful and protect your mental health.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced ecopy in exchange for my honest review.

"Tippy" by Ernesto Londoño is the perfect blend of research and personal experience on medicinal psychedelics. Londoño doesn't just tell readers about medicinal psychedelics but experiences them. His writing is a balancing act of vulnerable writing and how medicine plants can play a trivial role in mental health.

I would absolutely recommend this book to folks interested in medicinal plants, or because this was slightly part memoir-ish (investigative journalism) to readers who are looking for an easy-to-read non-fiction. I really enjoyed Londoño's wiring because it wasn't pretentious and it remained informative while also being accessible to a reader who may not have a lot of background knowledge in psychedelic medicine-- I think this is largely due to Londoño journalism background.

I can't wait to stock this title, I wish the price was a little lower for the hardcover, 30.00$ is steep. Lastly for future readers, there are discussions of sexual assault, physical assault, emotional abuse, and suicide.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Ernesto Londoño and Celadon Books for bringing this title to us readers.

I will not be finishing this book because, although it's a great read, there are graphic descriptions of sexual assault and I am unable to read books with that type of content. But it's a really interesting topic and we carry it in my store!

This book follows the author on a journey through researching and trying different psychedelic therapies for mental illness. The story was heartbreaking to read through the hopeless and trying thoughts of the author and the other people he follows. Those sad and honest stories help give perspective to why this field of study is so important and why many patients are turning to it in desperation when more traditional methods haven't worked for them. The writing kept me interested and the author did a good job of balancing the human experiences with what research is or isn't there. If you have been curious about why a patient may use a substance like ayahuasca, peyote, ketamine, or MDMA, this book explores the question in an informative, yet entertaining way.

This book blew me away. Ernesto Londoño is such a strong writer, and I loved how he combined his personal life with his research. It felt so natural and effortless. He poured so much of himself into this book, and it felt like an honor to read it. I was also impressed by how he threw himself into researching this book. He has had so many interesting experiences that were fascinating to read about.

His years of experience as a journalist really shine through as he presents the promising potential and opportunities for abuse when it comes to psychedelics. I appreciated the way he thoroughly investigated the many different points of view on this subject.

I would recommend this to readers interested in learning more about psychedelics and those who love non-fiction in general. I think this could also appeal to people who like moving memoirs. I look forward to reading more from Londoño in the future! Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the free advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting book about some new ways that mental health can be treated in different ways with drugs that were once used only for getting high and “seeing” things. In this age of trying things in a new ways, mental health professionals are taking a new look at how drugs from the past can help people break through the stigma of mental health and look at things through a new lens,. Psychedelics Are now being looked at as a way to help people with mental illness to break through the traditional modes of help and make things better for those people.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Publishers for sharing this book with me. I was a little surprised to find an email with the opportunity to read this book, but I am glad that I was able to read it. Initially, I thought this might be in the same vein as Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind. And in some ways it was- Londono explores some medicinal and traditional or ceremonial uses of psychedelics, specifically ayahuasca. However, Londono also takes a more personal and humanizing approach by exploring his own past and experiences with dealing with trauma, shame and depression, and how psychedelics helped him confront these powerful emotions in his life. He also explores the experiences of others—soldiers experiencing PTSD, queer participants in an LGBTQ only psychedelic ceremony, as well as addicts and others looking to regain a sense of self in the grip of past traumas. I also appreciated that this book looked at the history and current state of Ayahuasca, the sacred vine of the Amazon that has been growing as both a psychedelic therapy and a recreational trip that adventurous psychonauts seek out. It was fascinating to learn more about its use in Brazil and other Amazon areas. I remember reading William S. Burroughs’s The Yage Letters about his quest for Ayahuasca in the 1960s, not realizing that it was the same plant. I think that Burroughs came away somewhat disappointed, but Londono shares both the benefits and harms in this increasingly popular plant therapy. While it was heartening to learn more about the increasing awareness of this plant’s powers, it was also sad to see how many grifters are out there looking to take advantage of our desire to feel better and find a quick fix to negative emotional states like depression or past trauma. I was really surprised to learn how expensive some of the retreats were, considering that they are in the middle of the jungle and are a means to connect with nature. It was also shocking to learn more about how some of the curanderos, or healers, have also taken advantage of women. Londono had some uncomfortable experiences with a healer in one retreat and shares the experiences of other women who experienced sexual assault/harassment from another curandero. It seemed like a theme that these curanderos are treated with empathy and seen as fallible yet are still able to engage in the same kinds of behaviors. Londono’s journalistic background helped to uncover this unsavory side of the Ayahuasca scene. Londono also shared his own experience as a war correspondent, as well as his own family trauma. While I loved the investigative reporting of the Ayahuasca retreats, I also was enthralled by his fearless recounting of his family’s history of mental illness and his own experiences with past trauma and family of origin issues. Sharing his stories also allowed us to see how Ayahuasca allowed him to confront some of these feelings and come to grips with the unresolved issues that have plagued him. His experiences as a war correspondent were also part of the need to escape and not have strong ties, yet also left him with some incredibly traumatic experiences of violence and death that it seems like were impossible to process in a war zone as a reporter. This was also a common theme of the soldiers, who frequently felt like they undeserving of a PTSD diagnosis or were concerned about the baggage that label might bring. Londono’s own experiences, as well as those of the soldiers were gripping, yet somewhat graphic. Be warned that while the book often recounts stories of those who overcame mental health and illness struggles, it also depicts some of the past traumas and issues they confronted. The book ends with the exploration of two other psychedelic therapies—ketamine infusion and MDMA (or ecstasy). I liked how this part of the book ended on a high note, sharing the positive development of these alternative therapies and the soldiers that the MDMA treatments are helping. It leaves us with a slightly more hopeful look at the potential for psychedelic therapies, and I also think that with sharing some of the bad actors and grifters looking to capitalize on others seeking relief from traumatic emotional issues, the future regulation and clinical use of psychedelics seems necessary as a means to bring about change in both people and society. I really enjoyed Londono’s book, especially his reporting and use of individuals and his own experiences to present this new and amazing field. This book is such a wonderful combination of many different genres—part investigative journalism, part history, part memoir, and social commentary. Highly recommended read that will hopefully change a lot of minds.

Thank you Netgalley and Celadon Books for access to this arc.

Londono’s journey into this world is personal as well as professional. He details his own family history of mental health illness, his journalistic job that took him to frontline battlefields, his damaged relationships, and how close he came to suicide. He discusses his first trip to a center using ayahuasca and how he arrived skeptical and sure he was in a cult then left a changed man. He deep dives into the burgeoning world of psychedelic centers in various Central and South American countries that run the gamut from small and intimate to a corporate experience for the 1%. But note that all of them will require people to sign legal papers acknowledging that anything could happen and you can’t sue if it goes badly.

“when you’re administering psychoactive drugs to people in distress, a lot can go terribly wrong.”

And things can go badly since we’re talking about people (often foreigners) traveling deep into remote areas, then taking mind altering substances. In some cases this has led to sexual assault or to people in a happy state of bliss – or still seeking a happy state of bliss – who spend or are enticed to spend enormous amounts of money. The expected side effects of some psychedelics sound vastly unpleasant as well with (copious) vomiting almost a given as well as diarrhea. One drug requires the toxic secretions of poisonous frogs to be daubed onto (the patient’s) burnt skin and that’s after how the practitioners (horribly) treat the frogs to increase the potency.

Then Londono begins to examine how two Brazilian religions have traveled via converts to the US which ended up changing DEA laws about the allowed use of ayahuasca. New “religions” have since sprung up although what they advertise and promise is more medicinal than religious mysticism. Several military veterans suffering from PTSD who in desperation tried psychedelics talk about how these have drastically changed their lives and outlook on life. Clinical trials and experiments are now being conducted by the VA.

Londono covers everything wearing both his patient and reporter hats. He wonders how this might have influenced what he thinks but he goes into great detail about how his own use of psychedelics has allowed him to visit past trauma and events and (he thinks) emerge with a different perspective on them and that this – looking at past traumatic things with compassion and dissociation – might allow a turning point for people to accept and forgive their past selves and others. I had hoped that the information would be more scientific than it is but it’s early days in clinical trials. The hype might end up outpacing reality or these substances could be game changers for those whom conventional therapy has failed. Londono urges people to realize that none of this is a silver bullet that will cure everything quickly. I am curious to see what will happen moving forward. B

As a mental health therapist, I found "Trippy" to be an informative read at the intersection of psychedelics and healing. Ernesto Londoño shares his own personal experience at Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center and shares insights into the potential of psychedelics to reduce symptoms of depression and support personal transformation.

By introducing us to a diverse cast of characters, including Indigenous elders, religious leaders, and war veterans, Londoño showcases the multifaceted ways in which psychedelics are reshaping our understanding of trauma healing. His research and nuanced reporting as a journalist shed light on the resurgence of psychedelic medicine, which was once abandoned amidst the War on Drugs. "Trippy" is a vital resource for both policymakers and readers seeking to learn more about the complex landscape of psychedelic therapy and offers a balanced exploration of its dangers and potential for healing.

I went into this expecting a deep dive into the burgeoning world of psychedelic-assisted therapy and while I did get that (and I learned so much from it), this is also a very poignant and unsparing exploration of the author's own mental health and his family's history of mental health struggles, the treatments they've endured, and how that long epigenetic history has informed the author's entire life. There were times reading this book that I recognized my own family and myself. I've already told every friend I have who works in mental healthcare to get their hands on a copy of this book immediately, and I look forward to reading more from Ernesto Londoño. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

When I grabbed the ARC of this, I figured I’d skim to get the gist on a subject I find interesting, guided by either a jaded skeptic or true believer.

Instead, I got neither. Or both. Both, and so much more. I read it cover to cover, and while it’s ostensibly about the wild world of psychedelics and the medicinal application thereof, it’s really about trauma and healing and faith and abuse and the universal need for belonging. Londoño is by turn both the skeptic and believer, sometimes within the same page. A skepticism full of empathy; a belief full of nuance and doubt.

It struck me how much all these individual experiences of psychedelics reflect the individual experiences of religion. On one hand, you can have powerful transformation and deep healing; on the other, it’s a field rife with abusive and predatory behavior, full of quacks and craven capitalism, exploiting the most vulnerable. A tool that’s neutral in itself, but wielded for great good or great harm.

Londoño keeps himself on the page, an active participant in the story as he peels back the layers of damage in his own life. Everything from childhood trauma and violence (growing up in war-torn Colombia in the 80’s and 90’s; coming out as a gay man), to mental illness and depression (inherited and otherwise), to battlefield PTSD (a war correspondent on the ground in Baghdad during the height of the invasion).

In fact, he’s uniquely positioned to question the ethics of the “silver bullet” fix, such as the grotesque moral equation of DARPA funding research to “cure” PTSD and depression just so it can basically have soldiers immune to it, able to march off and wreak more destruction and trauma on the world. Is this really the goal we want? How can that ever bring true healing and hope?

Those are the best parts of the book, where he wrestles with the conundrums, refusing to fall prey to easy answers. That, and the slow path of healing, watching Londoño forgive and embrace his younger self. His compassion for the war vets, for the queer kids, for the abuse victims, for the weirdos, for the lost and seeking, finally has to also extend to himself. It’s not egocentric, nor does it pull focus from the journalism. Rather, it’s powerful to watch him choose to be vulnerable through the pain and the joy.

Because I don’t think the magic fix is ever going to be any one thing, be it psychedelics or religion or medication or therapy. What works is whatever makes you face your unmet needs, and meet them. Whatever brings you radical compassion and acceptance. That’s the recurring theme here, between the lines—whatever makes you stop running, whatever brings you connection, whatever blows the doors wide open, whatever bears witness to the pain, whatever makes you experience the transcendent kind of love.