Looking for some reefer-related reading material to finish off your summer reading list? Here are 15 of the best cannabis-centric book recommendations for those who love mary jane.
‘Beyond Buds: Marijuana Extracts – Hash, Vaping, Dabbing, Edibles and Medicines’
By Ed Rosenthal
Ed Rosenthal, expert marijuana grower and a leading authority on weed, created this book that has been considered the ultimate guide to creating concentrates. Creating extracts without any prior knowledge can be dangerous, and this book delves into the safest, cleanest ways to produce them.
This book provides insight on making kief, water hash, tinctures, topicals, edibles, and other extracts from the leaves, trim, and bud bits of weed.
‘Cannabis: A History’
By Martin Booth
This book chronicles the process through which marijuana became outlawed in the Western world, and the effect that legislation has had on the global economy. Booth goes into the smear campaign against weed in the early 20th century and the seemingly never-ending war on drugs.
‘The Cannabis Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to Cultivation & Consumption of Medical Marijuana’
By Jorge Cerventes
This award-winning book contains basically everything you could ever want to know about marijuana cultivation and consumption. It delves into the techniques needed to grow indoors, outdoors, and within a greenhouse. The techniques are well-researched and illustrated with step-by-step instructions.
Each stage of plant growth is explained: seed, seedling, vegetative growth, clones and mother plants, and flowering. Information on harvesting, drying, and curing in a way that preserves the cannabinoids is explained.
Case studies about two different indoor garden setups, a big garden in Humboldt County, CA, and Cerventes’ backyard garden is included. Every aspect of cultivating cannabis is explained in detail.
‘The Cannabis Manifesto: A New Paradigm for Wellness’
By Steve DeAngelo
Steve DeAngelo is an activist and the founder of Harborside Health Center, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the world. This book serves as both a vision and a call-to-action.
DeAngelo answers important questions about cannabis while asking his readers to challenge all they know about the plant. He discusses cannabis law and science, and the plant’s physical, spiritual, and psychological effects.
DeAngelo creates an argument around health and social justice for why cannabis should be legal. He claims there is no such thing as recreational weed, that any use of the plant can be therapeutic.
‘The Emperor Wears No Clothes: Hemp and the Marijuana Conspiracy’
By Jack Herer
Chances are you’ve smoked down on some Jack Herer, the sativa strain that was named after this activist. A cannabis classic, this book was first published in 1985. Herer spent years collecting and compiling data before publishing, and it remains to be one of the most accurately informative books about cannabis.
In this book, Herer discusses the plethora of uses for hemp and the war against the marijuana plant. He also delves into the lies surrounding cannabis, the petroleum industry’s attempts to keep legalization from occurring, and the history of the plant. He additionally digs into the racial implications of prohibition.
‘The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Cannabis: Concentrated Advice From 25 Industry Leaders’
By Michael Zaytsev
Interested in starting a cannabusiness? Let your motivation, creativity, and drive be kick-started with this book. This guide provides interviews with some of the most knowledgeable minds in the marijuana industry. Experts include CEO Scott Reach (multiple Cannabis Cup winner), CEO Steve Angelo (owner of the world’s largest dispensary), Cy Scott (Leafly co-founder), and more.
If you are considering opening your own dispensary or otherwise entering the cannabis industry, this is a must-read. It offers advice from 25 of the industry’s most notable innovators and investors, like Ethan Nadelmann, the Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who ‘Rolling Stone’ once referred to as the “real drug czar.”
‘Green: A Field Guide to Marijuana’
By Dan Michaels, photographs by Erik Christiansen
A book with hyperdetailed photography, this field guide provides the lineage, flavor, and characteristics about some of your favorite strains.
Whether you’re a seasoned stoner or general pot enthusiast, this book will teach you more about what you’re smoking so you can better enhance your high.
You’ll learn about the variations of lineage, flavor, and mental/physical high that accompany 170 different strains.
‘How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High’
By David Bienenstock
David Bienenstock is the cannabis journalist (former editor of ‘High Times’ and ‘Vice’ columnist) who wrote this entertaining guide to all things weed. This book will teach you the history of marijuana, the difference between wax and shatter, and how to properly roll a joint. This guide is perfect for both newbies and veteran enthusiasts.
This book includes insider advice from Willie Nelson, Melissa Ethridge, and Dave Chapelle. It answers questions like “How can I land a legal pot job?” and “Should I eat a weed cookie before boarding the plane?” It will take you through the plant’s lifecycle from farm to bowl, explore cannabis customs, culture, and travel.
‘Just Say Yes: A Marijuana Memoir’
By Catherine Hiller
In possibly the first marijuana memoir ever published, author Catherine Hiller recalls her positive relationship with cannabis over a fifty-year period, how it has affected all aspects of her life, from motherhood, work, sex, friendship, and marriage. Hiller describes her experience with weed at Woodstock and during her time in New York City in the ‘60s. This book proves that it is possible to live a normal life while being a regular marijuana consumer.
‘The Little Black Book of Marijuana: The Essential Guide to the World of Cannabis’
By Steve Elliott
This concise cannabis guide explores weed culture and history. It covers the essentials in terms of using, cultivating, cooking with cannabis, identifying strains, and understanding the legal and health issues that can accompany use.
‘Marijuana for Everybody!: The Definitive Guide to Getting High, Feeling Good, and Having Fun’
By Elise McDonough
Presented by ‘High Times,’ this illustrated handbook is a comprehensive, accessible guide to marijuana, the culture behind it, and its uses. Subjects include: what pot is and how it works, tips to manage your high, cooking with cannabis, FAQs and a section titled “I’m High, Now What?” with activities for the freshly baked.
‘Marijuana Grower’s Handbook: Your Complete Guide for Medical and Personal Marijuana Cultivation’
By Ed Rosenthal
Another work from Ed Rosenthal, this prepares beginner to advanced level readers with the knowledge, skills, and techniques necessary to grow great ganja both indoors and outdoors. Rosenthal has over 30 years of experience growing marijuana, and this book can teach you the most efficient ways to save time, labor, and energy, resulting in lots of bountiful buds.
‘The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook: More Than 50 Irresistible Recipes That Will Get You High’
By Elise McDonough and the editors of ‘High Times’ magazine
This cookbook is the first from ‘High Times’ magazine. It includes easy, accessible recipes and tips to make cooking with cannabis easier. You’ll find an array of recipes for any occasion, like appetizers, entrees, stoner sweets, cannabis cocktails, and holiday feasts. Recipes include Time Warp Tamales, Sativa Shrimp Spring Rolls, Pico de Ganja Nachos, and Pineapple Express Upside-Down Cake.
‘The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis’
By Julie Holland
A complete educational guide to weed, this book can teach you about marijuana’s psychological and physiological effects, along with its place in policy, parenting, creativity, spirituality, and business. Julie Holland is well-known psychiatrist, and this includes contributions from Andrew Weil, Lester Grinspoon Tommy Chong, Allen St. Pierre from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and more.
This book delves into the top ten marijuana myths and encompasses a broad spectrum of information from stoner customers to scientific research. This guide provides necessary facts and authoritative opinions on a subject full of myths, misconceptions, and stereotypes.
‘Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational and Scientific’
By Martin Lee
Martin Lee, an award-winning investigative journalist, observes a complex landscape where legal ambiguity and scientific breakthrough meet. Lee sheds light on underreported scientific breakthroughs that have been reshaping the therapeutic landscape. He discusses how treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, chronic pain, and lots of other conditions have been developed using the marijuana plant.
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