| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Matthews makes two important contributions to the debate on Cannabis. First, as befits a wine writer (Matthews is author of the award- winning wine book The Wild Bunch: Great Wines from Small Producers), he introduces the notion of cannabis connoisseurship. Cannabis has a "set of expectations, a way of talking about the experience, the rituals of sharing joints and an idea of how to get stoned and how to behave when stoned, all of which matter," he writes.
The difference from wine is that there connoisseurship is about taste because that is where the chemical complexity lies. With cannabis the opportunity for discernment lies in the effect because it contains over 60 different psycho-active compounds. He also argues that we should develop cannabis culture, not repress it. His point being that the best way to control abuse and overuse of any drug is through ritual and the evolution of social norms, not through legislation. He points to the way that alcohol damaged American Indian culture because it had no social context. And he slates drinks firms who are "aggressively keen to demystify what they sell--stripping it in effect of the ritual which helps limit its potential for harm. "
Although this is obviously a book for enthusiasts, it will also make an invaluable and informative read for worried parents, agents of the law and legislators, all of whom tend to be hopelessly ignorant when it comes to what cockneys call "Bob Hope" (dope). --Alex Benady
Product Description
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A breath of fresh air in a smoky room,
By Daniel Hofinger (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cannabis Culture: A Journey Through Disputed Territory (Paperback)
This is a work in keeping with the best traditions of travel writing, objective, unbiased and fascinating in its simplicity. The reader is guided through the world of marijuana and allowed to arrive at his or her own conclusions, there are refreshingly few value judgements, and no school of thought is judged to be beyond the pail. Patrick Mathews deserves much credit for attempting to remain impartial, and it is that objectivity which is most engaging. Not all dope smokers are part of the murky sub class of criminals that might deserve imprisonment, equally not all those opposed to the legalisation lobby are foaming at the mouth reactionaries. The reason then that so many are able to disagree so fundamentally has more to do with a lack of informed and dispassionate discussion than it does peoples intrinsic ability to disagree, for that reason if for no other Mathews attempt to present facts over opinions is to be commended. I wonder how many from each camp were forced to reconsider their pre-conceptions as a result, I'm sure I was. I found his handling of the various conspiracy theories, which allege that hemp was prohibited due to its competing with the other industries of the day, to be concise enough. Moreover they showed a flair for historic analysis of texts which would put many mainstream historians to shame. Mathews meets and introduces the readers to a whole host of fascinating characters, and tries to demystify a subject which is so commonly too charged by opinion to discuss properly, and does a thoroughly entertaining job of it. I enjoyed it immensely and can only recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A seemingly unbiased and realistic view from a relitive outsider of cannibis.,
By
This review is from: Cannabis Culture: A Journey Through Disputed Territory (Paperback)
I've personally read a number of good books on this subject, i must say that i found this book to be the best. Patrick Matthews has produced a piece that further extended my view on modern cannibis culture and it's place beside mainstream culture, he talked to people from many areas of the culture throughout the world, including people against cannibis. His unbiased view is evident throughout and his narration led by how he percieved his journey was, at times, highly entertaining and amusing. i found myself reading this book at every free moment, i even read it on my breaks at work. It was great to learn something new of a subject i felt i knew so much of already.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something for everybody, but hard going in places.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cannabis Culture: A Journey Through Disputed Territory (Paperback)
I have heard much of this book, and was intrigued to find out for myself what all the hype was about. I have to say that the information contained within the book appears very comprehensive and meticulously researched, however without already possessing an in depth knowledge of the subject at hand it would be hard to quantify what is said without much further research, hence my use of the word appears. A lot of the books content comes from interviews and takes the form of direct quotation from the interviewee. On the language of the writing I would say that this book doesn't exactly flow, the grammar is in places quite difficult to follow. I found myself reading and rereading sentences to fully understand and take them in. If you are accustomed to study and find yourself able to easily digest educational text then you will have no trouble reading this book. If on the other hand you are a reader mainly of novels you may find this book quite hard going. The book contains a huge amount of factual information that doesn't exactly inspire, but the subject matter at hand more than makes up for it. I have to say that besides the broken nature of the book, with its factual quotations and jumpy subject matter, I was unable to put the book down and do something else if reading the book was possible at the time. I found myself reading it in queues, traffic jams and even the toilet!! To summarise, it is my opinion that this book has a something for everybody, requires a bit of devoted reading to fully comprehend it, but gives a lot in return for the effort needed to read it properly. The book stays for the best part neutral, although to stay neutral in such a subject is damn near impossible, so it is probably better to say the book sticks to the facts and the facts speak for themselves. Lastly this book also gives a lot of references to further essential reading for anybody who would like to extend their knowledge of this subject, and or speak on it's behalf with authority and credibility.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Pathological Psychology
- Books > History > Social & Economic History > Health & Welfare
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Social Issues > Illness & Addiction > Drug Addiction
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Social Issues > Social Welfare & Services
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
