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Average customer rating:

best book ever
Thought-provoking and amazingly well written
Disappointment
Exceptional Summary of the Oncoming Hippie/Acid Culture
IN THE TIME OF OUR TIME

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553380648
Release Date: 1999-10-05

Amazon.com

They say if you remember the '60s, you weren't there. But, fortunately, Tom Wolfe was there, notebook in hand, politely declining LSD while Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters fomented revolution, turning America on to a dangerously playful way of thinking as their Day-Glo conveyance, Further, made the most influential bus ride since Rosa Parks's. By taking On the Road's hero Neal Cassady as his driver on the cross-country revival tour and drawing on his own training as a magician, Kesey made Further into a bully pulpit, and linked the beat epoch with hippiedom. Paul McCartney's Many Years from Now cites Kesey as a key influence on his trippy Magical Mystery Tour film. Kesey temporarily renounced his literary magic for the cause of "tootling the multitudes"--making a spectacle of himself--and Prankster Robert Stone had to flee Kesey's wild party to get his life's work done. But in those years, Kesey's life was his work, and Wolfe infinitely multiplied the multitudes who got tootled by writing this major literary-journalistic monument to a resonant pop-culture moment.

Kesey's theatrical metamorphosis from the distinguished author of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest to the abominable shaman of the "Acid Test" soirees that launched The Grateful Dead required Wolfe's Day-Glo prose account to endure (though Kesey's own musings in Demon Box are no slouch either). Even now, Wolfe's book gives what Wolfe clearly got from Kesey: a contact high. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Tom Wolfe's much-discussed kaleidoscopic non-fiction novel chronicles the tale of novelist Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters. In the 1960s, Kesey led a group of psychedelic sympathizers around the country in a painted bus, presiding over LSD-induced "acid tests" all along the way. Long considered one of the greatest books about the history of the hippies, Wolfe's ability to research like a reporter and simultaneously evoke the hallucinogenic indulgence of the era ensures that this book, written in 1967, will live long in the counter-culture canon of American literature.

Customer Reviews:

best book ever.......2007-06-13

I read this book in college (as an assignment for history class) and it literally changed my life. I've read it three more times since then. It's the only book I have ever read more than once.It's interesting and thought provoking. And it's true. 'Nuff said.

Thought-provoking and amazingly well written.......2007-06-01

Wolfe masterfully examines the life and times of Kesey's "merry pranksters" by offering first hand experience in detail that I haven't read before. The scenes are vivid and made me really better understand this segment of a generation that I haven't been exposed to.

Disappointment.......2007-05-28

I read this book as a capstone to a class on the Beat Writers. It's touted as an American classic, and I suppose it may be if one is a hippie wannabe. I found the prose confusing, repetitive, and listless. Whole paragraphs composed of successions of incredibly similar images could be skimmed over briefly for the offered no emotive response for this reader. The book as a whole seemed largely derivative of Kerouac's On The Road, the prose of which is much more lucid and enjoyable -- stick with Kerouac if you want to understand the beat travel experience.

Exceptional Summary of the Oncoming Hippie/Acid Culture.......2007-02-17

Two chapters in I'm heading to Wikipedia to see if this is fiction like other Wolfe novels I have enjoyed or a true story. This is the quisistential book of the 60s, the influence of LSD and how America drastically changed from the conservative 50s to the forgettable 70s. This is not a quick read, and frankly, I could have stood about 50 pages fewer. But it is so bizarre, so unbelievable, and so well documented that it is a must read.

From a personal perspective, I list my minor LSD experiences of the early 70s as one of the top 10 most important experiences of my life. This book completes the story and shows the actual history of LSD and the glorious years before it was a crime and before the drug had been widely discovered. The crux of the book is that Ken Kesey, leader of the Merry Pranksters, chooses to turn on America including the Hells Angels, to an alternative lifestyle, the self discovery of LSD phase of mind enhancing. Such is the journey that Kesey attempts to introduce to his band and to America on a cross country journey aboard a 1939 International Harvester bus painted in neon colors. Yes, welcome back to the beginning of the hippie culture.

While I do not consider the book in my Top 10 list as suggested by so many, this is a worthwhile read I recommend by anyone wanting to explore America culture and one of our greatest writers of the last 50 years.

IN THE TIME OF OUR TIME.......2007-02-09

Recently I reviewed novelist Robert Stone's memoir about his 1960's experiences with author (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Sometimes a Great Notion, etc.) Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, a classic counter-cultural phenomenon of the period. That review sent me back to the shelves to scan over Tom Wolfe's journalistic narrative written about the adventures of that same group. Unlike Stone and even more so, unlike Hunter Thompson, who episodically crossed Kesey's path as he chronicled the California Hell's Angels, Wolfe stands in the tradition of classic objective journalism. But with a lot more style, literary flair and wit than most of its champions. As far as I know he never got down in the mud with the Pranksters like Stone and Thompson who were more than happy to be the participants in their own stories. That, in any case, was the genesis of Thompson's`gonzo' journalism.

Nevertheless Wolfe offers some important, if detached, observations about what the Pranksters and their obsession with drugs and dropping out meant about the nature of society in the Sixties. Some of the reportage seems dated but as I stated in the Stone review, hell, that was a fun time to be alive. As I also mentioned there out of that whole countercultural mix called the Sixties I went the political route. Let Wolfe tell you about this other route. He tells that story well.

Fluids, Electrolytes, & Acid-Base Balance: Reviews & Rationales

Average customer rating:

Awesome for those who don't like a lot of extra reading
Ok but not great.

Fluids, Electrolytes, & Acid-Base Balance: Reviews & Rationales
Mary Ann Hogan , and Daryle Wane
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0130304549

Customer Reviews:

Awesome for those who don't like a lot of extra reading.......2005-04-29

If you don't have time to read the Made Incredibly Easy book on this topic, this is the BEST book to have. It gets straight to the point so you don't spend a lot of time reading extra stuff.

Ok but not great........2004-12-31

I found this before i found fluid and electrolytes made easy.It was ok but that is all...

High-Yield™ Acid-Base (High-Yield™ Series)

Average customer rating:

ease of understanding
Very nice presentation of a very difficult subject

High-Yield™ Acid-Base (High-Yield™ Series)
J. Craig Longenecker
Manufacturer: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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ASIN: 0683303937

Customer Reviews:

ease of understanding.......2002-11-30

The absolute best companion to medical students, residents and attending physicians, easy, quick, comprehensive, inclusive, and guides you step by step. It was very valuble for me in teaching.

Very nice presentation of a very difficult subject.......1998-12-24

As with most of books from the High-Yield series, this book gets to the core of the subject. The book is an easy and quick read and categorizes all the Acid-Base problems into an easily memorizable and understandable format

Average customer rating:

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Manufacturer: Bantam Books
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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

ASIN: 0553140949

The Electric kool-aid acid test: The kandy-kolored tangerine-flake streamline baby ; radical chic & mau-mauing the flak catchers

Average customer rating:

The Electric kool-aid acid test: The kandy-kolored tangerine-flake streamline baby ; radical chic & mau-mauing the flak catchers
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Quality Paperback Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Average customer rating:

The way it was

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: B000B9UWK8

Customer Reviews:

The way it was.......2005-10-30

If you want to understand today's drug culture, you must go back to the origins in the Sixties. Wolf's account of this era and its principal characters is a not to be missed read and a valuable reference for that period. In fact, if you want to understand society today, certain lifestyles and the associated values, read this book. From the painted buses to the flower children to Ken Kesey and more, it is all here in extraordinary detail. You won't put it down until you finish, once you start reading, so carve out a few hours one weekend and have food and beverage to hand. Pencil and paper, too, for you will want to get Wolf's other books for his social insights.

Average customer rating:

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F6RHP0

Product Description

1st paperback printing

Average customer rating:

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus And Giroux
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Binding: Hardcover
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Average customer rating:

Acid Test
John Simon
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Average customer rating:

Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GQHYHU

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