Managing editor: Spoon
Contributing writer: David Arnson

The Erowid Review is a multi-contributor blog that publishes original book reviews on a regular basis on the topic of psychoactives, and provides links to topical reviews published elsewhere. Books about every aspect of psychoactive plants, chemicals, and related topics are discussed – cultural, spiritual, legal, medical, pharmacological and more. While books about psychoactives are the primary area we cover, selections are not always “drug” books. Reviews for books about certain trends in philosophy, science, medicine, religion or art that are not overtly drug-related pop up every now and then. And we do not limit the scope to recently published works; we also publish recent reviews of older works that help characterize those works for modern readers.

Even though the rise of the World Wide Web has created an explosion of information available at a person’s fingertips, the book remains a powerful form for conveying ideas, and great psychoactive-oriented books are coming out all the time. It’s fairly easy to go to Amazon on a book by book basis and find reader reviews that provide good reactions to books about psychoactives. Many media outlets will very occasionally publish reviews about the most major of new releases in this topic area. But The Erowid Review is the first place to aggregate and publish reviews primarily about the topic of psychoactives; we intend for The Erowid Review to be a primary stop for those wishing to learn more about the many varied works published in this field on an ongoing basis and throughout history.

We currently publish new reviews once or twice a month. Reviews you see in the archives from February 2005 and earlier are reviews that Erowid had already accumulated prior to the launch of this blog; we’re making them available here so that they are easily searchable alongside the new content we’re publishing. And of course, we are always on the lookout for reviewers – people who are willing to identify, read, and review a relevant book or publication once every 1-2 months; interested parties should email review at erowid.org for more information.

The Erowid Review is a resource for those wishing to dig deep into this subject matter, deep in a direction inherently different than what the World Wide Web might allow. We welcome your feedback about our efforts; for the most part, comments will be open on our posts to allow your reactions, encouragement and/or criticism.