Finished Reading The Head Trip

Finished reading The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness by Jeff Warren. The Head Trip combines a wacky and rigorous self-experimentation in an entertaining guide to varying levels of mental awareness. Warren begins with the mild hallucinogenic state that comes just before true sleep; he tries to sharpen his skills at lucid dreaming by subjecting himself to hypnosis and joins a Buddhist meditation retreat. Warren begins to realize that dreaming and waking are equivalent states, and that we can learn how to induce the subtle gradations of consciousness within ourselves. During a three week experiment he goes to bed at sundown to recreate wakefulness before returning to sleep that used to be common before electric light transformed our sleep cycles. Warren’s mocking attitude toward his inability to achieve instant nirvana ensures that his ideas remain accessible.

Jeff Warren takes an interesting approach as he journeys into consciousness, mind, and sleep. His wit and humor create an entertaining book on a topic that could be dry and boring. Anyone looking to broaden their horizons on the theories of consciousness will find this book fascinating. I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading more from Jeff Warren.