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Outside Looking In
Outside Looking In: A Novel | T.C. Boyle
7 posts | 4 read | 1 reading | 5 to read
A provocative new novel from bestselling author T.C. Boyle exploring the first scientific and recreational forays into LSD and its mind-altering possibilities In this stirring and insightful novel, T.C. Boyle takes us back to the 1960s and to the early days of a drug whose effects have reverberated widely throughout our culture: LSD. In 1943, LSD is synthesized in Basel. Two decades later, a coterie of grad students at Harvard are gradually drawn into the inner circle of renowned psychologist and psychedelic drug enthusiast Timothy Leary. Fitzhugh Loney, a psychology Ph.D. student and his wife, Joanie, become entranced by the drugs possibilities such that their research becomes less a matter of clinical trials and academic papers and instead turns into a free-wheeling exploration of mind expansion, group dynamics, and communal living. With his trademark humor and pathos, Boyle moves us through the Loneys initiation at one of Learys parties to his notorious summer seminars in Zihuatanejo until the Loneys eventual expulsion from Harvard and their introduction to a communal arrangement of thirty devoteesstudents, wives, and childrenliving together in a sixty-four room mansion and devoting themselves to all kinds of experimentation and questioning. Is LSD a belief system? Does it allow you to see God? Can the Loneys marriageor any marriage, for that mattersurvive the chaotic and sometimes orgiastic use of psychedelic drugs? Wry, witty, and wise, Outside Looking In is an ideal subject for this American master, and highlights Boyles acrobatic prose, detailed plots, and big ideas. Its an utterly engaging and occasionally trippy look at the nature of reality, identity, and consciousness, as well as our seemingly infinite capacities for creativity, re-invention, and self-discovery.
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blurb
tokorowilliamwallace
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Supporting an indie bookish merch business someone I follow on Instagram runs independently. If you're on bookstagram, I can refer you over to the account! I guess I'm all about them froggies, gnomes, mushrooms, and boho! 👀😆 Makes sense, I look like an aging hair band rocker!...

RaeLovesToRead Aww! Cute! 12mo
JamieArc Yes please! I‘m always trying to find great bookmarks, and have a minor obsession with mushrooms. 12mo
tokorowilliamwallace @JamieArc What's your Instagram handle? I'd also have another mycology account you could follow! 12mo
JamieArc @tokorowilliamwallace That would be great! I‘m Jamie.the.archer. JUST starting using Instagram, so if the account looks suspect, that‘s why 😂 12mo
tokorowilliamwallace @JamieArc I just followed what I found from @tokorokansai. Let me know if that's you. Looking forward to what content you come up with! 12mo
18 likes5 comments
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TheNerdyProfessor
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Pickpick

It's officially summer break! Spent time snuggling with Leo cat and finished this book today. TC Boyle is a master storyteller. He is so skilled at writing about the ways in which we become our own worst enemies. In this book, good intentions and a quest for enlightenment lead to an unsustainable reality. This book explores addiction, family, science, and what it means to be free of oneself and societal obligation. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

77 likes1 stack add
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TheNerdyProfessor
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I've been waiting for the semester to end so that I could really take the time to absorb this new book by TC Boyle. I'm quite certain this one is going to be a "trip". ?

kaysworld1 I do that with series put them off till I can give them my full attention 📚🤗 5y
56 likes1 comment
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HardcoverHearts
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I love my library holds! There is something almost mystical about how it delivers me the right book for my mood. I was just wanting something historical, sweeping and a little fun. Well done, library gods! Well done.

27 likes1 stack add
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jillrhudy
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Mehso-so

With great regret I declare it only so-so. Very derivative of his earlier and much superior works, right down to the feces-smearing monkey, the girl in a tree, the commune, and the guru. Entirely predictable. None of Boyle‘s trademark black humor—straight up tragedy except for when the midsixties changes to the hippie era. Maybe I would like it if it was the first of his books I‘d read. As it is, it just made me sad. #addiction #sixties

Aimeesue Aw, too bad. Disappointing books from favorite authors just make me sad. 5y
jillrhudy I will say this: the portrayal of parents of a child slipping into addiction, one compromise at a time, is genius. (edited) 5y
jillrhudy This is my 17th Boyle! 5y
Aimeesue @jillrhudy You're Boyling over. 5y
TheNerdyProfessor I just started this one... About 30 pages in and I'm feeling pretty engrossed. I actually think many of Boyle's books paint a bleak portrait for humanity. 5y
16 likes5 comments
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TheNerdyProfessor
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I'm so honored to have been able to meet TC Boyle tonight in Washington DC. He is a master of wordsmithing and prose. He's also a genuinely nice guy #bucketlist #favoriteauthor #politicsandprose

EmilyM Definitely a great storyteller... 5y
73 likes1 comment
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TheNerdyProfessor
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You guys, I'm freaking out. For over a year I have been stalking this book and TC Boyle's website and it has finally been released! Even better, I'm heading to Washington DC tonight for a book signing.

We all know that my work day is basically wasted as I try to count down the hours 🙈🙈

tammysue Yay!! 🙌🏻 5y
jpmcwisemorgan Yay!!! 5y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled 👏👏👏👏 Go get ‘em!!! 5y
63 likes3 comments