Death by Astonishment is unlike anything I typically reach for—but I’m glad I gave it a chance. Andrew Gallimore takes readers on a deeply cerebral, often poetic journey through the intersection of human consciousness, death, and the psychedelic experience. It’s part philosophy, part science, and part spiritual exploration, woven together with clarity and reverence.

Even as someone more grounded in fiction, I found myself drawn in by the author’s passion, his research, and the urgency of the questions he poses. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t give you all the answers, but invites you to think, and feel deeply.

An illuminating read for anyone curious about altered states, the boundaries of perception, and what it might mean to truly face the unknown.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of the compelling critical and investigative style of best-selling authors Graham Hancock and Brian Muraresku, the first detailed account of the history and science of the world’s strangest and most mysterious drug - DMT.

I requested this book because I have listened to Graham Hancock podcasts in the past, as well as Joe Rogan. I felt that this book would be interesting to read on a recent road trip.

I found myself skimming this book, enjoying the topic on a more surface level. My little brother has done DMT so I was looking for a deeper understanding. From the standpoint of a nurse, I felt informed. Not many people I work with have heard of DMT so I felt it was important to educate myself on the topic, and this book provided that insight.

I may pick up this book again in the future, as the topic is interesting, but it’s not an immediate desired read for me.

This was well written.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this book that is book a biography of a very powerful way to open the mind, and a possible guide to a new future, one that involves investigations of both inner and outer space.

I have never been much for pharmaceuticals of really any kind. I don't even like aspirin. Growing up in a family of Bronx Irish Catholics I know I have addiction written on my DNA, so I find it is best to just say no to many things. I also have dealt with crippling depression for most of my life, and have been fascinated by the books that have covered psychedelics and other natural ways of finding out what is going on in the brain. As most therapies and even the few times I have taken antidepressants have failed, leaving me feeling much worse than before, I wonder about this drugs, drugs that have been used in rituals since the earliest days of man. So while i might abstain I have done a lot of reading, which I know doesn't equal experience. Few books though have left me so interested, and so confused about what to think as this one. Though I do think I am a better person after reading it. Death by Astonishment: Confronting the Mystery of the World's Strangest Drug by Andrew R. Gallimore is a book I am sure will divide many people, giving both a history of DMT, and what people might be opening, not just the doors of perception, but the doors to encounters with things that might defy our understanding.

The book is both a biography about the substance Dimethyltryptamine, better known as DMT, and its discovery by Western culture, and the strange visions that seem to be shared by many who try the drug. The book begins with different passages about indigenous tribes and their ceremonies, ceremonies that were kept from outsiders for quite a while. There are mentions of William Burroughs and his quest for the yage as he knew it. Descriptions of the diffferent ways the drug is used, processed and ingested. What comes clear is that many people who try DMT, both in the wild and in controlled settings seem to have visions of the same thing. Spiders which would be common as spiders make people uncomfortable, but places that seem similar. Conversations that seem the opposite of good things, and seem to portend of bad things coming. The book travels from the past to the present day, looking at how the study of DMT has changed, but how these visions might be of something that no one has really thought of. Creatures from a higher dimension, or one that we can't see, unless one is under the influence of DMT.

The book is a mix of From Beyond from H.P. Lovecraft and the movie by the same name, mixed with Altered States. What makes much of this information so interesting it the research that Gallimore has conducted. When I first read the foreward by Graham Hancock my neighbors probably felt my eyes roll in my head. Upon reading I found much of this very interesting, with lots of information that was new to me, and even as its oddest, I found myself able to suspend my disbelief. This book I am sure will fall into two camps, possibly even three I will happily put myself in the hmm I kind of want to know more.

Readers of Rick Strassman and Terence McKenna will get a lot out of this. I am sure there will be a lot of college bound kids who will get excited also. Veteran psychonauts will get quite a lot from this, and maybe add to their knowledge in different ways. Not a book for everyone, but one that will fascinate those that know, and even those new to knowing.

I'm not really into the drug culture, but this was an interesting read. Well written and well organized to make people like me pay attention.