Chapel of Extreme Experience: A Short History of Stroboscopic Light and the Dream Machine
Brooklyn, New York: Soft Skull Press, 2003.
Paperback.
John Geiger traces the history of the study of stroboscopic light from its discovery two hundred years ago by physiologist Jan Purkinje through modern scientific studies into how the visual brain works to its applications for contemporary artists and musicians like Brion Gysin, William S. Burroughs, Genesis P-Orridge and Allen Ginsberg.
From the publisher’s description: The true story of how the discovery of flicker potentials, and scientific observations about strange patterns, organized hallucinations, and even the displacement of time derived from stroboscopic light, very nearly resulted in a Dream Machine in every suburban living room. William S. Burroughs said: “Flicker administered under large dosage and repeated later could well lead to overflow of brain areas…Anything that can be done chemically can be done in other ways.” Aldous Huxley called it “an aid to visionary experience.”
Item #901472ISBN: 1932360018
5-1/2 x 8-1/4”, stiff pictorial wrappers, 120pp, illus.
A little bumping to extreme edges, bright, tight, square, unread, near fine.
Price: $60.00