Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna - autobiographical reflections on psychedelic experimentation

Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna is Dennis McKenna’s autobiographical account of his childhood, his relationship with his brother Terence McKenna, and his reflections on psychedelics, philosophy, and scientific innovation. The book chronicles the McKenna brothers growing up in western Colorado during the 1950s and 1960s, including Dennis’s early encounters with alcohol and drugs, many facilitated by Terence, and the people and ideas that shaped them. A major focus is “The Experiment at La Chorrera,” referenced as the brothers’ psychedelic mushroom work documented by Terence in True Hallucinations, including predictions about the future and visions that connect mushroom psychedelics to human DNA. Dennis also connects these experiences to an intellectual understanding of high dose hallucinogenic effects, while weaving personal narrative with accounts of science and myth.