Genre: Book
Grade: A
Notable People: TC Boyle
Title: Outside
Looking In
Review: Fascinating! One of the great writers of the late 20th century takes on the origins of the LSD explosion in this country. Set at Harvard in the early 60s, the story follows Fitz, pursuing his PhD in Psychology and living in student poverty with his wife Joanie and young son. …….until, he meets his department colleague Timothy Leary. What follows is an utterly engaging, often trippy look at the nature of reality and consciousness. The group eventually follow Leary, and his partner, Richard Alpert (later to become the amazing Baba Ram Dass, who just passed this week)…with 30 adult and children acolytes participating in the “alleged” scientific study of, first, Psilocybin, and then LSD, as a new treatment for mental illness and trauma. The original scientific experiment becomes one long trip and debauch, as the commune moves from Newton, Mass. (after they are all thrown out of Harvard) to the beaches of central Mexico, and finally to the infamous Millbrook, a 64-room estate in upstate New York -owned by rich socialite devotees of the burgeoning acid tests. Along the way, we run into Alan Ginsburg, Maynard Ferguson and the Merry Pranksters. This is an absolutely memorizing book about the quest for knowledge and exploration that turn into a long running, drug fueled orgy. And, Boyle, who is a master…nails it! In the last scene of the book, Fitz is pleading with Leary to take the “sacrament” , as he feels he is close to seeing God….after vacillating due to Fitz’s clearly deteriorating mental health, Leary gives him the dose…and states….”Fuck God……Let’s get high.”
