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December 12, 2023 65 mins

Covering Part 3: Chapters 6-12. Slothrop is reborn as "Rocketman," steals some hash, and meets Mickey Rooney, The John E. Badass appears, and does battle using a hot new drug named Oneirine Thiophosphate (or is it Theo-phosphate???).

This episode: we talk with documentarian and chemist Hamilton Morris about the novel's use of drugs, and chemistry, both technically and metaphorically. Is Oneirine real? Could it be?!

Other topics include: The BoDeans, William S. Burroughs, Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin, alternate histories and uchronies, the feeling of an elf sitting on your chest, S&M sex (again), chemophobia, plasticity, and the weak, pitiable nature of the covalent bond.

Read Proverbs For Paranoids,⁠ John's guide to Gravity's Rainbow.

Read "(Unfinished) Review of PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story" attributed to one "Tyrone Slothrop."

E-mail us your questions, queries, and crackpot theories: slowlearnerspod@gmail.com

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