The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge is a 1998

1998 in literature

The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....

 non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

 book by Jeremy Narby

Jeremy Narby

Jeremy Narby is an anthropologist and writer. Narby grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury, and received a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University....

. Narby performed two years of field work in the Pichis Valley of the Peruvian Amazon

Peruvian Amazon

The Peruvian Amazon is the area of the Amazon jungle included in the territory of Peru, from the east of the Andes to borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises 60% of the country and is marked by a large degree of biodiversity...

 researching the ecology of the Asháninka

Asháninka

The Asháninka or Asháninca are an indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and in the State of Acre Brazil....

, an indigenous peoples in Peru

Indigenous peoples in Peru

Indigenous people in Peru comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country's present territory prior to its discovery by Europeans around 1500...

.

Investigating the connections between shamanism

Shamanism

Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...

 and molecular biology

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...

, Narby hypothesizes that shamans may be able to access information at the molecular level through the ingestion of entheogens, specifically ayahuasca

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...

. Biophysicist Jacques Dubochet criticized Narby for not testing his hypothesis. Narby and three molecular biologists revisited the Peruvian Amazon to try to test the hypothesis, and their work is featured in the documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

, Night of the Liana.

Further reading

• Posner, Michael. (Jul/Aug 2006). "Plants with Soul". The Walrus
  The Walrus
  The Walrus is a Canadian general interest magazine which publishes long form journalism on Canadian and international affairs, along with fiction and poetry by Canadian writers. It launched in September 2003, as an attempt to create a Canadian equivalent to American magazines such as Harper's, The...
  
  . Summer Reading Issue.
• Shanon, Benny
  Benny Shanon
  Benny Shanon is a professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds the Mandel Chair in Cognitive Psychology and Education....
  
  . (2002). Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199252920
• Stewart, Todd. "The Cosmic Serpent: An interview with Jeremy Narby". Ascent Magazine. 3: Body as a Spiritual Tool.