Trippy Books to Expand Your Mind

There's nothing quite as satisfying as reading (or just flipping through) a good book when you've just smoked a joint, done some ketamine, or possibly had one too many martinis to drink. It's hard to explain why, too.

On one hand, grabbing the right trippy books to expand your mind can help you feel more grounded while you roll. On the other hand, the right book also really opens your mind to possibilities when you take it all in.

If you're like me and love to leaf through trippy, psychedelic books while you're baked, these titles will definitely make for a great time.

Among trippy books, few volumes are as well-known and mysterious as the Codex Seraphinianus. Made by artist Luigi Serafini in 1981, Codex Seraphinianus is regarded as one of the most trippy, bizarre, and otherworldly art books ever published.

The entire book is written in a language developed by Serafini, featuring extremely surreal, almost Dali-esque illustrations that make no sense, and also delves into the world of conspiracy theories due to its mysterious past.

If you love trippy books that involve a lot of surrealism and a heavy punch of fine art, then you absolutely have to read Codex Seraphinianus. We strongly suggest leafing through this while listening to your favorite stoner songs.

When it comes to finding dark trippy books that are always good to flip through regardless of sobriety, it's really hard to find a better pick than The Resurrectionist. The book is actually two books in one.

The first book is known for being an autobiography of Dr. Spencer Black, a medical man who lived in Philadelphia during the 1870s. The fictional story tells you about how he began to discover the anatomy of mythical creatures — and how he created his magnum opus.

The second book is called The Codex of Extinct Animalia, and as the name and the prior book suggest, has full detail illustrations of the mythical creatures' skeletons and anatomies.

Ever wondered what a mermaid's skeleton would look like? This book will show you. If you love gothic illustrations with dark steampunk plotlines, this is one of the best trippy books to expand your mind with.

Mr. Splitfoot is all about bringing you along the ride for a very supernatural road trip — as told by two young adventurers who end up seeing everything from cultists to ghosts together.

Part horror and part just plain weird, Mr. Splitfoot is one of those trippy books to expand your mind with if you just want a brand new look at the possibilities on the open road.

It's an instant classic filled with suspense, however, stoners should be aware that those who get scared easily while smoking might get jumpy while reading this. Even so, Mr. Splitfoot will have you hooked.

Amber Sparks is one of those writers who brings the art of the written world to live miraculous ways. The Unfinished World gives you a beautiful, thought-provoking trip in an alternate universe filled with complex, lovable characters and surrealism around every corner.

Just when you think something is going to be normal, The Unfinished World always comes with a surprise. Fever librarians and space janitors are what makes this one of the most beautiful yet trippy books on this list.

With a cover as psychedelic as that, you know you're looking at one of the most trippy books to expand your mind with in its genre. Hystopia has regularly been called a "dark acid trip" book by critics, and frankly, we'll agree to that wholeheartedly.

The entire idea behind Hystopia is an alternate historical fiction account of what happened after the Vietnam War. Soldiers have PTSD, the population is flooded with drugs, and American life as we know it is destabilized to the point of hysteria.

It's definitely a trippy world means built, and for fans of psychedelic books with a 60s twist, you can't get much better.

We can't talk about trippy books without mentioning Haruki Murakami's best work — Kafka on the Shore. This extremely trippy book definitely has a Kafka-esque twist thanks to the inclusion of talking cats, spirits that come out of peoples' bodies to kill, and rainfalls of fish.

Surreal but not necessarily psychedelic, Kafka on the Shore is one of those new classics that tends to pull you into a world where anything can happen, and leaves you feeling amazing once you put the book down.

Few of the best trippy books to expand your mind with involve so much introspection into the human conditions like The Master and Margarita. This book takes place in both Jerusalem and Russia, and only stars a strange figure known only as "The Master."

Surreally funny and at the same time, melancholic, this plot has a lot of Alice in Wonderland-like features, including a vodka-drinking cat and moments at a Satanic Ball. So, it's definitely trippy — and absolutely worth a read if you love Kafka-like stuff.

Mark Z. Danielewski seemed to have set out to create one of the darkest, most confusingly trippy books on this list... and he succeeded with House of Leaves. House of Leaves features chilling narration following strange occurrences happening to a family in a house on a normal suburban cul-de-sac.

This horror story involves unusual printing formats, strange narration styles, and surreal-realism that makes you wonder what really happened on Ash Lane... or if the book is actually made of real accounts.

If we're going to talk about classics that have a notoriously psychedelic twist, we really can't go without discussing Alice in Wonderland. For decades, this book (also called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) was used as a basis for stoner culture and hippie-like art inspiration.

There's allusions to opium smoking, giant mushrooms, and of course, plenty of Cheshire cat grins. Throughout the decades, people never were able to determine whether or not Lewis Carroll was on drugs when he wrote it. That alone should tell you how psychedlic it is.

You already know this story, so why are we telling you why it's trippy? It's already a given, and that's why it's one of the most famously trippy books to expand your mind with.

This is one of those books that showed people that drugs can be fun — or downright scary. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has long been called Hunter S. Thompson's best work, and he's written quite a few trippy books to expand your mind on.

Though this was written decades ago, the adventures in it still are as awesome as they were back then. Expect to have a newfound respect for gonzo journalism and the totally unhinged life that Thomspon lived.

As of right now, it's one of the greatest books ever written by a stoned author... and it's a must-read for anyone who wants to dig stoner culture.

You already probably love John Shirley, even though you probably never heard of him before. Why? Well, aside from being one of my favorite authors, John Shirley also has the accomplishment of being one of the co-writers of The Crow.

Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories is a collection of super-weird, surrealist short stories that involve drug deals gone awry, the world's shortest man getting married, and a guy who accidentally chokes a girl to death with his penis.

It's all insane, all urban-edgy work, and will be one of the most bizarre and trippy books to expand your mind with in your library. Once you start reading these stories, you can't go back to normal books.