Bookstore

"Alchemist" - by Paulo Coelho
This simple, yet eloquent parable celebrates the richness of the human spirit. A young Spanish shepherd seeking his destiny travels to Egypt where he learns many lessons, particularly from a wise old alchemist. The real alchemy here, however, is the transmuting of youthful idealism into mature wisdom. The blending of conventional ideas with an exotic setting makes old truths seem new again. This shepherd takes the advice Hamlet did not heed, learning to trust his heart and commune with it as a treasured friend. Enjoyable and easy to read, this timeless story validates the aspirations and dreams of any spiritual seeker.

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Paperback
Price: $8.99
"Animals & Psychedelics" - by Giorgio Samorini
Author Giorgio Samorini explores this little-known phenomenon and suggests that, far from being confined to humans, the desire to experience altered states of consciousness is a natural drive shared by all living beings and that animals engage in these behaviors deliberately. Rejecting the Western cultural assumption that using drugs is a negative action or the result of an illness, Samorini opens our eyes to the possibility that beings who consume psychedelics--whether humans or animals--contribute to the evolution of their species by creating entirely new patterns of behavior that eventually will be adopted by other members of that species. The author's fascinating accounts of mushroom-loving reindeer, intoxicated birds, and drunken elephants ensure that readers will never view the animal world in quite the same way again.
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Paperback
Price: $9.99
"Art of Dreaming" - by Carlos Castaneda
From Publishers WeeklyIn bestsellers like A Separate Reality and Journey to Ixtlan , Castaneda recounted his purported adventures with Mexican Yaqui Indian sorcerer don Juan Matus. Here he tells how, under don Juan's tutelage, he gained control over his dreams and used dreaming as a launching pad to a pervasive but unseen realm of ancestral spiritual forces, good and evil. He goes through tunnels, enters into the consciousness of trees, meets scouts, emissaries and form-changing blobs of energy. Aided by don Juan's companions and fellow apprentices, Castaneda penetrates a realm of "inorganic beings" who set traps for him and attack him, as if to illustrate don Juan's teaching that consciousness is compelled to grow through life-or-death confrontations. For believers, Castaneda's quest offers a tantalizing glimpse of alternate worlds beyond the rational parameters of our mundane reality.
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Paperback
Price: $9.99
"Ayahuasca: Visionary and Healing Powers" by Joan Parisi Wilcox
Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul is an autobiographical account of the author's work with ayahuasca, a potent and sacred plant brew of the Amazon region that is known for its extraordinary visionary and healing powers. As she learned from her experience, with the help of ayahuasca we are able to grasp our paradoxical nature, the first step to acceptance of ourselves in both our glorious and dark aspects. Ayahuasca teaches us how to release the illusions we hold about ourselves and makes it possible to integrate our many diverse aspects to acquire our true power.

This book reveals the ritual protocols that must be followed prior to partaking of ayahuasca, including the traditional preparatory "diet"--which requires enduring austere conditions, isolation, and only small amounts of bland food before receiving the powers of the plant spirit from an ayahuasquero, a healing master--and the sacred songs, icaros, that are sung when imbibing the substance. Although the use of ayahuasca is growing among "underground" spiritual seekers and through the burgeoning ayahuasca tourism trade in South America, few of its seekers understand how it is used traditionally and the importance of the rituals the indigenous people follow. With this book, the author hopes to restore the importance of these indigenous practices so that we may truly understand all the gifts of ayahuasca.
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Paperback
Price: $15.99
"Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss" by Dennis McKenna
SOFTCOVER NOW ON SALE! EVERYBODY SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!

When Dr. Timothy Leary escaped from Folsom prison in 1970, thus becoming an international fugitive, and Dr. Richard Alpert turned his attention towards a yogic path and became Baba Ram Dass, the world psychedelic movement was suddenly relieved of its two most prominent (and often controversial) spokesmen. Barely missing a beat Terence McKenna emerged around 1975 to carry the torch for consciousness-altering drugs, particularly psychedelic plants and mushrooms.

The publication of landmark works such as The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I-Ching, in 1975, and later, Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge, which finds intriguing common ground between psilocybin mushrooms and the emergence of consciousness in early humans, solidified McKenna as the next generation's most profoundly resonant voice to speak on behalf the psychedelic movement. McKenna, however, lacked the autobiographical bent of his predecessor, Leary, and many admirers of his work were left deeply curious to find out more of the man himself. When Terence died of cancer in 2000, many feared that this remarkable rogue scholar's personal history might never be told.

Now, Dennis McKenna, Terence's younger brother and an ethnopharmacologist who co-authored two books with Terence-- The Invisible Landscape and Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide (under pseudonyms)--has brought forth a much-anticipated literary gift, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna.

This work, which was aided by the most successful book-oriented Kickstarter campaign to date, tells the tale of growing up, traveling, and working with one of the most prominent and intriguing counterculture figures in recent history. Within its pages we hear of the McKenna family history, the adventures of two brothers growing up in small-town America in the fifties, coming of age during the turbulent sixties, undertaking grand adventures, both terrestrial and otherworldly, in the seventies, and traveling down the winding river of adult life in the eighties and nineties. Also given is a detailed account, at times quite poignant, of the last days of Terence’s life here on Earth.

Full of observations and insights on everything from Terence’s work to politics, history, chemistry, family, and love, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss is sure to enrapture both those who already are admirers of Terence and his work, and those who have only just discovered him. Part biography, part autobiography, with plenty of side roads to psychedelic adventure and reflections on life, this is a must-read book for anyone interested in the works of Dennis and Terence McKenna, or simply interested in psychedelics in general. Highly recommended.
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Paperback
Regular Price: $19.99
On Sale For: $15.99
"Consciousness & the Absolute" by Nisargadatta
The Final Talks were written shortly before Nisargadatta's death in 1981 and translated directly to English with no changes. In a question and answer format the visitors and devotees accompanied this great master during his final teachings. His message uncompromisingly remained the same to the end, to dwell only on our beingness, giving it no attributes, dwelling prior to our thoughts.
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Paperback
Price: $11.99
"DMT: The Spirit Molecule" - by Rick Strassman, MD
Covering a groundbreaking psychedelic substance that is actually found in human cerebrospinal fluid, Rick Strassman tells a first-person story of his research on the profoundly mysterious substance dimethltryptamine (DMT). We learn the political, medical, and ethical obstacles that surround the creation of Strassman's research program in 1990's America. Also explored are a far-ranging array of puzzling questions: foremost, WHY does this tryptamine compound exist naturally within the brain? Is DMT flooded into serotonin receptors to help mediate trauma, meditation, and near-death experiences? If so, why? And could DMT yield a framework for defining consciousness? The topics are explored through the vivid experiences of research volunteers at the University of New Mexico and the sincere, contemplative hypotheses of the author. This is a nicely crafted book which nimbly treads a thin line between restraint and enthusiasm, between cold objectivity and speculation. At the end, the reader is left with many intriguing puzzle pieces. "The Spirit Molecule" is perhaps the first title to break ground on what might be a Pandora's Box of the upcoming century.
- Reviewer: A reader from Norman, OK

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Paperback
Price: $16.99
"Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants" - by Christian Ratsch
The most comprehensive guide to the botany, history, distribution, and cultivation of all known psychoactive plants.

• Examines 414 psychoactive plants and related substances.
• Explores how using psychoactive plants in a culturally sanctioned context can produce important insights into the nature of reality.

• Contains 800 color photographs and 670 black-and-white illustrations.

In the traditions of every culture, plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and transformative properties. The most powerful plants--those known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness--have traditionally been regarded as sacred. In The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants Christian Ratsch details the botany, history, distribution, cultivation, and preparation and dosage of more than 400 psychoactive plants. He discusses their ritual and medicinal usage, cultural artifacts made from these plants, and works of art that either represent or have been inspired by them. The author begins with 168 of the most well-known psychoactives--such as cannabis, datura, and papaver--then presents 133 lesser known substances as well as additional plants known as "legal highs," plants known only from mythological contexts and literature, and plant products that include substances such as ayahuasca, incense, and soma. The text is lavishly illustrated with 800 color photographs--many of which are from the author's extensive fieldwork around the world--showing the people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactives.

Christian Ratsch, Ph.D., is a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants. He is the author of Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, and Witchcraft Medicine. He lives in Hamburg, Germany, and lectures around the world.
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Hardcover
Price: $124.99
"Entheogens & the Future of Religion" by Eric Sterling
Includes essays by Albert Hofmann, R. Gordon Wasson, Jack Kornfield, Ann Shulgin, Alexander Shulgin, Robert Jesse, Thomas Riedlinger, Eric Sterling, Rick Strassman, Thomas Roberts, Dale Pendell, Terence McKenna, David Steindl-Rast, and more.

This is a work of responsible advocacy. Forte and his dozen principal contributors seek the wide acceptance, including legalization and mature practice, of "entheogens" -- "god spawning" psychoactive substances (LSD, mescalin [sic], etc.) that are deemed especially suited for use on designated or readily identifiable sacramental occasions. Ample lists of references accompany most of the individual chapters. The book should prove to be a welcome complement to other serious studies in mysticism.
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Paperback
Price: $16.99
"From the Bodies of the Gods" - by Earl Lee
The origins of modern religion in human sacrifice, ritual cannibalism, visionary intoxication, and the Cult of the Dead.

• Explores ancient practices of producing sacred hallucinogenic foods and oils from the bodies of the dead for ritual consumption and religious anointing

• Explains how these practices are deeply embedded in the symbolism, theology, and sacraments of modern religion, specifically Christianity and the Eucharist

• Documents the rites of Cults of the Dead from the prehistoric Minoans on Crete to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Hebrews to early and medieval Christian sects such as the Cathars 

Long before the beginnings of civilization, humans have been sacrificed and their flesh used to produce sacred foods and oils for use in religious rites. Originating with the sacred harvest of hallucinogenic mushrooms from the corpses of shamans and other holy men, these acts of ritual cannibalism and visionary intoxication are part of the history of all cultures, including Judeo-Christian ones, and provided a way to commune with the dead. These practices continued openly into the Dark Ages, when they were suppressed and adapted into the worship of saintly bones--or continued in secret by a few “heretical” sects, such as the Cathars and the Knights Templar. While little known today, these rites remain deeply embedded in the symbolism, theology, and sacraments of modern religion and bring a much more literal meaning to the church’s “Holy Communion” or symbolic consumption of the body and blood of Christ.

Documenting the sacrificial, cannibalistic, and psychoactive sacramental practices associated with the Cult of the Dead from the prehistoric Minoans on Crete to the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews and onward to early and medieval Christian sects, Earl Lee shows how these religious rites influenced the development of Western religion. In particular, he reveals how Christianity originated with Jesus’s effort to restore the sacred rites of Moses, including the Marzeah, or Feast for the Dead. Examining the connections between these rites and the mysterious funeral of Father Sauniere in Rennes-le-Château, the author explains why the prehistoric Cult of the Dead has held such power over Western civilization, so much so that its echoes are still heard today in our literature, film, and arts.

About the author:

EARL LEE is a professor at Pittsburg State University and the author of several books, including "Raptured," "Drakulya," and "Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity." He lives in Pittsburg, Kansas. 
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Paperback
Price: $16.99
"Great Book of Hemp" - by Rowan Robinson

Hemp, Cannabis sativa, has been called the world's most versatile plant. Materials made from hemp fiber have been discovered in tombs dating back to 7000 B.C. During the Middle Ages hemp was used to treat fevers, insomnia, and malaria. Columbus's ships had sails of hemp, and during colonial times it was universally grown because its strong fibers made superior ropes, sails, cloth, and paper. In fact, hemp was used for money in most of the Americas from 1631 until the early 1800s, and the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written on hemp paper.

As a food, the oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lowest percentage of saturated fats. Britain and Canada have recently lifted bans on growing industrial hemp and today it is reappearing in the marketplace in an amazing array of products: from lip-salve, jeans, salad oil, and cheese to paper products, composite fiberboard, and biomass fuel.

This illustrated, easy-to-read guide covers all aspects of hemp:

•  The history of its cultivation worldwide

•  Its role as a source of renewable energy and as an alternative for paper manufacturing and fossil fuels

•  Its versatility as a fiber

•  Its many nutritional and medicinal uses

•  Examines the physiological and psychological effects of marijuana use in recreation and therapy

•  A comprehensive resource section includes information on organizations involved in legalizing hemp, product suppliers, and an annotated bibliography.

About the Author(s) of The Great Book of Hemp

Rowan Robinson is the pen name of an author who chooses to remain anonymous. 
Praise for The Great Book of Hemp

"The Great Book of Hemp brings together a vast amount of information on all aspects of this remarkable plant in an illustrated, entertaining, easily accessible format. Readers will learn the history of hemp cultivation worldwide and its role as a source of renewable energy and as a raw material for paper manufacturing. Lost in the political discussions about marijuana usage is hemp's versatility as a fiber and its many nutritional and medicinal uses. The Great Book of Hemp provides a comprehensive resource section with information on organizations involved in legalizing hemp, product suppliers, and an annotated bibliography."

Wisconsin Bookwatch

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Paperback
Price: $19.99
"Hemp Manifesto" - by Rowan Robinson
The hemp revolution is happening, despite the efforts of politicians and law-enforcement agencies to stop it. Medical marijuana initiatives on the ballots in California and Arizona passed with overwhelming support. All around the globe this miracle plant is creating industries for food, fuel, clothing, housing, and paper that are beneficial to both humanity and the environment. Designed to fit into the back pocket of your hemp jeans, The Hemp Manifesto offers 101 ways that hemp is making a positive impact on society, and explains why in brief summaries simple enough for even congressional representatives to understand.
 
Included are all the most surprising facts about the plant--how the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper; how the U.S. government grows marijuana and supplies it to eight people free of charge; how hemp seeds are the most complete source of protein and essential fatty acids known in the vegetable kingdom; and many more. The Hemp Manifesto gives the people their most important weapon in the fight for a healthy future: the truth. 
 
Small and affordable--a perfect small gift.
 
Wars of disinformation are still being waged against this useful plant and its industries, and the real facts can be difficult to find. The Hemp Manifesto prints the simple truth.

Praise for The Hemp Manifesto

"A light and amusing collection of facts."

N2 Herald, August 25, 2001

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Paperback
Price: $8.49
"Holotropic Mind" - by Stanislav Grof
Grof offers this book in which he unravels the complexities of the human mind through the assessment of observations of "non-ordinary" states of consciousness (such as LSD-induced, etc.) at a time before it was labeled as "evil" by the West. The mind, according to Grof, is essentially "holotropic," that is, like a hologram wherein the whole can be reconstructed from a tiny part. After analyzing life in the womb and the painful process of birth, he moves onto a controversial theory of our "infinite transpersonal consciousness," wherein he feels we can transcend not only the time-space continuum, but visit other dimensions and parallel universes as well.
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Paperback
Price: $14.99
"Hundred Year Lie" - by Randall Fitzgerald
One hundred years ago, the promise of "better living through chemistry" was given to consumers, setting us on a slippery slope that introduced thousands of man-made chemicals into our food, water, medicine, and environment.

In HUNDRED YEAR LIE, investigative journalist Randall Fitzgerald shatters dozens of myths being perpetuated by the chemical, pharmaceutical, and processed foods industries. He shows how early advances led to a build up of industry, and how the profit motive then led companies and government regulators to ignore troubling signs of widespread illness and disease.

Are we paying too high a price in our rush for progress? What happens when we blindly rely on the government to keep us safe? What does the future hold if we continue down this path? With a firm grasp on the latest scientific findings, Fitzgerald offers a clear-eyed view of a building crisis in public health.

Like SILENT SPRING and FAST FOOD NATION, this is a book that demands change. Fitzgerald not only sheds light on the problems we face from this unprecedented chemical onslaught, he tells us how we can turn the tide.
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Hardcover
Price: $19.99
"Intoxication" - by Ronald K. Siegel, PhD

A scientific and cultural exploration of the pursuit of altered states of consciousness in both humans and animals:

• Contains studies and examples from the author's 20 years of research
• THE authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use

History shows that people have always used intoxicants. In every age, in every part of the world, people have pursued intoxication with plants, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. In fact, this behavior has so much force and persistence that it functions much like our drives for food, sleep, and sex. This "fourth drive," says psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel, is a natural part of our biology, creating the irrepressible demand for intoxicating substances.

In Intoxication Siegel draws upon his 20 years of groundbreaking research to provide countless examples of the intoxication urge in humans, animals, and even insects. The detailed observations of his so-called psychonauts--study participants trained to explicitly describe their drug experiences--as well as numerous studies with animals have helped him to identify the behavior patterns induced by different intoxicants. Presenting his conclusions on the biological as well as cultural reasons for the pursuit of intoxication and showing that personality and guidance often define the outcome of a drug experience, Siegel offers a broad understanding of the intoxication phenomenon as well as recommendations for curbing the negative aspects of drug use in Western culture by designing safe intoxicants.

About the Author(s) of Intoxication

Ronald K. Siegel, Ph.D., is a psychopharmacologist on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine and is a leading authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use. The author of Fire in the Brain and Whispers: The Voices of Paranoia, his research has also appeared in Psychology Today, Scientific American, and Omni as well as the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He lives in Los Angeles.

Praise for Intoxication

“Reading Intoxication one becomes conscious of the many different aspects of the drug problem, of the usefulness and dangers of psychoactive substances, and of their role and importance in medicine, in religious rituals, and in daily life. . . . Impressive . . . fascinating . . . ” - Albert Hofmann, Ph.D., author of Plants of the Gods

“Compelling . . . fact-packed. . . . The author carefully surrounds any potential pro-drug interpretation with ample (and graphic) examples of the dangers of drug abuse. . . . thought-provoking.” - Booklist

"[Ronald K. Siegal] knows more about how drugs work than anyone else alive. . .an intrepid researcher [and] cartographer of consciousness." - Omni Magazine
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Paperback
Price: $18.99
"Ishmael" - by Daniel Quinn
Ishmael is such a novel, it is filled with ideals and discussion that truly leaves you feeling enlightened about the true state of our apparently advanced civilization. Once the silliness of the psychic gorilla has been disregarded, you are left with a truly astounding book that takes you on a mental journey, challenging your pre-conceived ideas and comforts that society is the great savoir of mankind when really it is a slowly acting poison, ultimately leading to oblivion. The one overriding idea in the book is that "Why should mankind claim the right to separate itself from nature?" You may find yourself with a different opinion after reading these reasoned arguments. I found myself drawn into this book and finished it with a strong feeling that I had read something important, something different.
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Paperback
Price: $17.99
"Jesus Mysteries" - by Timothy Freke
What if...
- there was no evidence for the existence of a historical Jesus?
- for thousands of years Pagans had also followed a Son of God?
- this Pagan savior was also born of a virgin on December 25 before three shepherds?
- turned water into wine at a wedding?
- died and was resurrected, and offered his body and blood as a Holy Communion?
- these Pagan myths had been rewritten as the gospel of Jesus Christ?
- the earliest Gnostic Christians knew that the Jesus story was a myth?
- Christianity turned out to be a continuation of Paganism by another name?

This is a provocative and incredible story by a well-informed religious historian.
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Paperback
Price: $16.99
"Journey to Ixtlan" - by Carlos Castaneda
This book is really a story about a journey through the human spirit as Carlos went searching for answers to his questions about peyote, but ended up receiving much much more. Don Juan, throughout the entire story never really gets into showing Carlos where or what the peyote is, but instead teaches him about himself and how he belongs to nature, and that nature does not belong to him. Through Don Juan's teaching about death, it helped Carlos learn what he needed to live a life with peace and harmony in his soul.
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Paperback
Price: $13.99
"Kava: The Pacific Elixir" - by Vincent Lebot
To those in the Oceanic Islands, Kava Kava (known by at least 80 additional names in the region) is a towering, unquestionable presence. On the majority of those islands, Kava still is a major facet of religious, political, social, and economic life. Its effects as an intoxicant are singular and unique; its ability to bring a sense of peace, calm, comfort, empathy, and easy sociability to users, while simultaneously leaving their thinking clear, sharp and lucid is unsurpassed in the entire world of plant inebriants. And yet, compared with many other substances, such as alcohol and cannabis, little study of Kava has been done, few books written about this remarkable plant, its significant place in indigenous Oceanic cultures, and its potential for worldwide acceptance and use.

With Kava: The Pacific Elixir, geneticist Vincent Lebot, ethnobotanist Mark Merlin, and anthropologist Lamont Lindstrom let us in on Oceania’s best-kept secret. This thorough-yet-highly-readable text summarizes almost all major research on Kava, and will answer every question one is likely to have about Piper Mythesticum and its place in traditional Pacific Island cultures. Written with a combination of scientific precision and easy accessibility, Kava covers everything from the origin of the Kava species, to its cultural and social significance, its preparation, effects, religious and medicinal use, and its impact on the world as a whole.

As Kava Kava becomes more and more popular as an intoxicant -- and a safer, better substitute for alcohol -- in the Western world, those who hear of it are bound to have numerous questions, to wish to acquire a deeper, more complete knowledge of this extraordinary plant. No book is better equipped to answer those questions than Kava: The Pacific Elixir. For those who already are familiar with Kava, it will provide very detailed information that will enhance their knowledge; and for those who have little or no knowledge of Piper Mythesticum, well, I can think of no better place to start.
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Paperback
Price: $19.99
"Magic Mushrooms in Religion & Alchemy" - by Clark Heinrich
An illustrated foray into the hidden truth about the use of psychoactive mushrooms to connect with the divine. *Draws parallels between Vedic beliefs and Judeo-Christian sects, showing the existence of a mushroom cult that crossed cultural boundaries. Contends that the famed philosophers' stone of the alchemist was a metaphor for the mushroom. Confirms and extends Robert Gordon Wasson's hypothesis of the role of the fly agaric mushroom in generating religious visions. An incredibly insightful, fascinating, and informative read.
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Paperback
Price: $29.99