Jonathan Ott


Jonathan Ott is an ethnobotanist, writer, translator, publisher, natural products chemist and botanical researcher in the area of entheogens and their cultural and historical uses, and helped coin the term "entheogen".

Writings

Ott has written eight books, co-written five, and contributed to four others, and published many articles in the field of entheogens. He has collaborated with other researchers like Christian Rätsch, Jochen Gartz, and the late ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson. He translated Albert Hofmann's 1979 book LSD: My Problem Child, and On Aztec Botanical Names by Blas Pablo Reko, into English. His articles have appeared in many publications, including The Entheogen Review, The Entheogen Law Reporter, the Journal of Cognitive Liberties, the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, the MAPS Bulletin, Head, High Times, Curare, Eleusis, Integration, Lloydia, The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, and several Harvard Botanical Museum pamphlets. He is a co-editor of Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds, along with Giorgio Samorini.

Botanical research

Ott has experience of field collecting in Mexico, where he lives and manages a small natural-products laboratory and botanical garden of medicinal herbs. A number of his ethno-botanical products have been studied to determine their possible benefits to individuals suffering various mental aberrations. In his book Ayahuasca Analogues, he identifies numerous plants around the globe containing the harmala alkaloids of Banisteriopsis caapi, which are MAOIs, and plants containing dimethyltryptamine, which together are the chemical base of the South American Ayahuasca brew.

Arson

In March 2010, Ott's home in Mexico was destroyed by arson. While most of his books survived the fire, Ott's laboratory and personal effects were destroyed in the blaze. Books given to Ott by Albert Hofmann were reportedly used as fuel.

Works

Books