420 Part 2

“The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook”
By David Beinenstock and the editors of High Times magazine
ISBN No. 978-0-8118-6205-9
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/

First of all although I’m reviewing this book I nor this website in any way shape or form condone the use of marijuana except in the medicinal sense and only when the patient is near death.
Pity the pothead. His heyday was in the 1960s and just when it seemed like he was thisclose to legalization the militant anti-smokers came to town. He’s 40 years old and still no one understands him. So like that classic of satire from a few decades back, “The Official Preppy Handbook,” comes this reference guide to his slacker sibling, the pothead.
You don’t have to be high to get this new handbook. It’s a wise, witty piece of work that has a real affection for its subject. It’s a laugh-riot with a heart and a head. But again, I must remind you that although I’m reviewing this book I nor this website in any way shape or form condone the use of marijuana except in the medicinal sense and only when the patient is near death.
That said, “The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook” is more like a tome. It’s all in here: the origins, history, and cultural and social context (and consequences) of pot culture. There’s even lots of cool pictures if you’re really high. Even better, none of the above stuff is dry enough to merit skimming. It’s a consistently good and entertaining read whether you like weed or not. Yes, some of the stuff is borderline ‘duh…’ For instance, the book’s 420 things to do when you’re stoned reaches and I mean REALLY reaches: “burn some incense (Just don’t expect it to disguise your smoky smells. Everybody knows about incense.).”
But for every half-hearted-hah-hah there’s some phone-a-friend-worthy zingers. In a section on “How to Smoke-Proof Your Dorm Room” the authors recommend – again - incense because it has a “nice smell [and] can be stolen from church.” Some stuff in here fits the pothead profile so perfectly it’s as if the authors themselves smoke it. But again, I must remind you that although I’m reviewing this book I nor this website in any way shape or form condone the use of marijuana except in the medicinal sense and only when the patient is near death.
It’s in the section titled “living nightmares (five pests that plague pot production” that the book really soars. Here it so perfectly captures not only that feeling of entitlement singular to the stoner but also the inner businessman and gardener that they all seem to fancy themselves no matter how high they get: “F***ing spider mites! Nature’s ultimate weed mooch, eating up your plants and kicking down nothing in return but an infestation nightmare.” Now THAT really sounds like a pothead!