Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna

Author Graham St John introduces and reads from Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna, his long-anticipated chronicle of the 20th century’s psychedelic renaissance man. Accessing original documents and letters, featuring rare photographs and artworks, and sharing previously untold stories from over eighty people, Strange Attractor comprehensively documents one of the most celebrated and yet least understood figures of the 20th century.

Copies of the book will available for purchase at the venue for $35, signed by the author.

Praise for Strange Attractor

“The definitive biography of Terence… Indispensable!” — Dennis J. McKenna

“Wonderful… A perfect balance between historical accuracy and sympathetic engagement.” — Wouter J. Hanegraaff, professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy, University of Amsterdam

“Beautifully written and impossible to put down… A real triumph in the art of biography.” — Libbie Grant, bestselling author of The Prophet’s Wife, The Ragged Edge of Night (as Olivia Hawker), and other novels

“Enrapturing… Psychoactive in all the best ways.” — R. U. Sirius, co-founder of Mondo 2000

“With painstaking diligence, St John has put Humpty Dumpty back together again for the benefit of generations to come.” — Dr. Bruce Damer, astrobiologist and president of the Center for MINDS

“Required reading.” — Christopher Partridge, professor of Religious Studies, Lancaster University

“A monumental work of epic proportions.” — David Jay Brown, author of The Illustrated Field Guide to DMT Entities

“An immense accomplishment.” — Andrew R. Gallimore, author of Death by Astonishment

“A deeply human examination.” — William Leonard Pickard, author of The Rose of Paracelsus

“Brilliant.” — Michelle Lhooq, journalist and founder of Rave New World

Books available for preorder (paperback retail: 35.00 USD): https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049573/strange-attractor

Further details (excerpts, discount offers, launch events): https://www.edgecentral.net/terence-mckenna-biography

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Contact the author: [email protected]

Graham St John, PhD, is an anthropologist and biographer specialising in transformational events, movements, and figures. Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press, 30 Sep 2025) is the latest of his ten books, an output that includes Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015). Graham is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield, UK. He is Executive Editor of Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture. His website is: www.edgecentral.net

Host or Publisher The Berkeley Alembic Foundation