In this seminal work, anthropologist Jeremy Narby investigates Amazonian shamanic knowledge through the lens of molecular biology. During his fieldwork with Asháninka shamans, he discovers striking parallels between their visionary descriptions of serpents of light and the double-helix structure of DNA. Narby proposes that shamanic visions may represent a direct communication with the biomolecular level of life — a form of ancient bio-information exchange between human consciousness and the living code of nature. The book weaves together anthropology, myth, and genetics into a radical hypothesis: that knowledge itself is a dialogue between consciousness and DNA.

Food of the Gods explores the idea that psychoactive plants played a central role in shaping human consciousness, culture, language, religion, and creativity. McKenna argues that early humans encountered visionary plants such as psilocybin mushrooms, which acted as catalysts for neural expansion, perception shifts, symbolic thinking, and the mystical impulse.

The book proposes psychedelics as ancient tools of initiation — dissolving the ego, revealing the deeper field of awareness, and opening access to archetypes of death, rebirth, and divine communion.

Rather than portraying these substances as escapes, McKenna frames them as technologies of evolution — part of the human dialogue with nature and the invisible world.