Jeremy Narby (born 1959 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian anthropologist and author.
In his books, Narby examines shamanism, molecular biology, and shamans' knowledge of botanics and biology through the use of entheogens across many cultures.
Early life and education
Narby was born in 1959 and grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and Switzerland. He studied history at the University of Kent at Canterbury. and spent time in the Peruvian Amazon undertaking his PhD research starting in 1984. During those years living with the Ashaninca, Narby catalogued indigenous uses of rainforest resources to help combat ecological destruction.
From 1989 to 2024, Narby was working as the Amazonian projects director for the Swiss Non-governmental organization, Nouvelle Planète.
Books
thumb|Cosmic Serpent book cover
The Cosmic Serpent
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, published in 1998 documents Narby's time researching, as part of his doctoral studies in the Pichis Valley of the Peruvian Amazon, the ecology of the Asháninka, an indigenous peoples in Peru that started in 1984. He writes that his own ayahuasca ingestion was followed by hallucination and visions of two snakes, which he associates with DNA.
Biophysicist Jacques Dubochet criticized Narby for not testing his hypothesis.
Intelligence in Nature
Intelligence in Nature: An Inquiry into Knowledge is Narby's 2005 sequel to The Cosmic Serpent and presents his hypotheses about intelligence in flora and fauna, and the ability of different species to communicate, including at the molecular level.
Works
- The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge (1995)
- Intelligence in Nature (2005)
- Psychotropic Mind: The World According to Ayahuasca, Iboga, and Shamanism (2010)
- Plant Teachers: Ayahuasca, Tobacco, and the Pursuit of Knowledge (2021)
See also
- Collapse
- Comparative psychology
- Consilience
- List of psychedelic literature
- Serpent (symbolism)