Stranger than fiction : essays / by Mike Jay.

"Stranger Than Fiction brings together, for the first time, Mike Jay's distinctive and immensely readable forays into the twilight zones of history, culture and the human mind. Among them are his trademark investigations into the hidden histories of drugs, from the lotus eaters of Homer's Odyssey to the laughing gas escapades of the Romantic poets and Sherlock Holmes' cocaine habit; his reports from the disputed territories of mesmerism, brainwashing and mind control; fantastic beliefs from the birth of the Illuminati conspiracy to futuristic scenarios of human evolution; and global travel tales from megalith cultures of Borneo to ancient temples of Peru, the 'cargo cult' ceremonies of Melanesia to Britain's most anarchic bonfire night"-- Publisher's description.