Doors of perception Review Over winter break I was lucky enough to randomly choose to read Door’s of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley. I say I was lucky because I happened to stumble upon this great book by chance, almost solely choosing the book based off the title. Not a very proven way of choosing a book, but I got lucky this time and found a gem. This story is one of new worlds and new perceptions of life. Aldous Huxley happens to find himself in the middle of a peyote, and more specifically Mescaline experiment; attempting to further our understanding of the effects and more literally the way Mescaline works within the human brain. Over the course of many random trails and many different spiritual journeys the reader is thrown into the world of Huxley while “tripping” Mescaline. He describes to the reader the numerous effects and feelings he has while on Mescaline, all the while painting a vivid picture for the reader to get a better grasp of what is happening to him while he is on Mescaline. For example he explains to the reader the “glowing” of objects and the new profound understanding he has of objects. Huxley takes the drug in a number of different environments, leading to a number of different experiences. Each one giving the reader a new understanding of Mescaline and the effects it has in someone; and giving the reader a better understanding of the life changing experiences the can happen to a person while on Mescaline. By doing this Huxley allows the reader to see through his “door of perception” and into the world of Mescaline and beyond. This writing of this book is very eloquent and laid together in a fluid and cohesive form. Huxley uses his deep vocabulary to give the reader a better grasp of what is happening to him while he is on Mescaline. Huxley uses a number of different writing techniques, such as vastly extended analogies and an extensive use of other authors writings in order to clearly describe and more importantly make it possible for the reader to understand what the hell he is talking about, because much of what Huxley is talking about and much of what he is experiencing the majority of readers have never experienced and most likely never will. So it really is quite a feat that he is able to bring the reader into his Mescaline tripping world in a way that doesn’t leave the reader lost after every sentence. So I applaud Huxley for the work he has done, and really appreciate his ability to dive into such complex ideas while still keeping his writing simple and easy to read. I very much enjoyed reading this book. It was actually very fun to read, and I enjoyed the ideas and concepts the Huxley dives into. As a reader I never found myself board reading this book and instead was constantly engaged in the reading. Huxley really got my attention when he began to talk about the greater meaning of things he found while on Mescaline. It forced me as a reader to look at life in a different way and really question the perceptions and ideas I have within my own life. It also got me very curious about the workings of the brain and certain ideas, such as: If our brain is filtering out so much of our reality, what are all the other things we are not perceiving? What ways can we bypass this filter? Are there ways to get past this filter without drugs? Is the Mescaline reality “more real” than our normal reality? All of these questions I continually was asking myself through out the course of reading this book. And this was really cool to me that he could make me question my reality so much by just talking about his reality on Mescaline. I would most definitely recommend this book to almost every reader. However if you are the type of person who I uncomfortable with challenging the reality that we have become so familiar with then this is not the book for you. This book is constantly pushing through the boundaries of what is familiar to us and forces the reader to question his reality and contemplate what other realities could and do exist. But if those types of ideas interest you as a reader then this is a great book for you. Huxley takes the reader into a new a fresh world that forces you to question your reality, and look into new realities through the doors of perception.