A journey is some of the Earth's most endangered people in the remote Upper Amazon...a look at the rituals of the Bwiti cults of Gabon & Zaire...a field watch on the easting habits of 'stoned' apes & chimpanzees--these adventures are all a part of ethnobotanist Terence McKenna's extraordinary quest to discover the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. He wonders why, as a species, we are so fascinated by altered states of consciousness. Can you reveal something about our origins as human beings & our place in nature? As an odyssey of mind, body & spirit, Food of the Gods is one of the most fascinating & suprising histories of consciousness ever written & as a daring work of scholarship & exploration, it offers an inspiring vision for individual fulfilment & a humane basis for our interaction which each other & with the natural world. 'Brilliant, provocative, opinionated, poetic & inspiring...Essential reading for anyone who ever wondered why people take drugs.--Rupert Sheldrake