Too Much of Nothing Can Make a Man Ill at Ease

Reviews the book, On Hashish by Walter Benjamin (see record 2006-09326-000). This is an interesting book for those really curious about the impact of hashish on how we experience life and reality. It provides insight in how taking this drug alters our perception and our experience but also how it distorts our dreams and hopes and how it transforms our ambition. In other words, reading this book will bring you as close to the drug experience as you will get without taking the drug. Benjamin writes in the tradition of European writers practicing introspection, a tradition made famous by the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. By observing one's own reactions to the stimuli of life, we can learn about what it is to be human, and we can learn about the laws of psychology, or so they say. Benjamin writes in this tradition, and he writes without too much editorial or scientific correction. This is not a book that provides the reader with scientific insight into the impact of hashish on the human brain; no biochemistry here, no focus on neurons, and so on. This is raw human experience and written during the experience, with hardly any postexperience correction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)