Book Recommendations

The Edge Chronicles

The Edge Chronicles is the first series of books I've ever read, and still stands as my favorite.

The first trilogy of books follows Twig, a human boy adopted by woodtrolls. Woodtrolls, and all of the races living on The Edge, have the niche that they fill in the world. The woodtrolls are expert fellers of all of the types of trees that make up the dangerous deepwoods; keeping that danger at bay by learning from a young age to never stray from the path...

This series has instantly compelling charachters and an endlesly fascinating world with all manner of creatures, places, and contraptions.

The Cosmic Serpent

This is a book that I've read much more recently. The cosmic serpent sits at the intersection of many concepts. It's written much like a mystery, where Jeremy talks about his experience with Amazonian Shamans and the hallucinogenic ayahuasca that they brew.

Ayahuasca is no simple brew to make (or ingest), requiring a root and a vine from opposite ends of the forest, and when asked how they came across that knowledge the Shamans relay that the plants themselves gave them the knowledge.

This strange knowledge, and the effect of ayahuasca on the brain, are what Jeremy investigates in this book. The Cosmic Serpent, held as a goddess to the Shamans, is often represented as a pair of twin helixed snakes. These representations aren't simply artistic renderings, but they are the visions that the brew ayahuasca seems to give to many that partake, even without prompting. The twin snakes association with health all over the world, and their apparent similarity to the double helix of DNA leads Jeremy down a strange path of inquiring just how knowledge is imparted to us from our own brains, and if we hold on to some ancient understanding that certain substances may unlock