Start Your Own Religion Timothy Leary - From Harvard to High Priest

I’ll admit, I approached this expecting another nostalgic trip through the psychedelic ‘60s, but *Start Your Own Religion* surprised me by being far more personal—and far messier. Giuliano’s narration is *the* selling point here: he doesn’t just read the text, he *channels* it, his voice shifting between awestruck disciple and weary eyewitness. When he describes Leary’s Harvard firing or the LSD-fueled communes, you can hear the smirk in his voice, like he’s daring you to judge. The pacing is uneven by design—some sections rush through years in a breathless haze, while others linger on a single acid-fueled conversation, which can feel indulgent. That said, the raw audio clips (a snatch of Leary’s voice here, a news report there) add a layer of immediacy most biographies lack. My biggest critique? Giuliano’s adoration sometimes blurs into mythmaking. He glosses over Leary’s less savory traits (the ego, the abandoned collaborators) with a shrug, as if genius absolves all sins. And the production’s rough edges—occasional volume spikes, a few clunky edits—hint at a shoestring budget. But these flaws weirdly *work* for the material. This isn’t a polished PBS documentary; it’s a bootleg tape from the front lines of the consciousness wars. If you want a sanitized history, look elsewhere. If you want to feel the static electricity of Leary’s chaos? Press play and hold on.