Imagine sitting around a table with three of the leading intellectual and philosophical thinkers of today…you may not understand half of what they are talking about, but you get excited and inspired nonetheless. That’s how I felt reading The Evolutionary Mind, a pretty mind-blowing conversation between such visionaries as biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake, chaos theory pioneer Ralph Abraham, and the late psychedelic researcher and shamanism expert, Terence McKenna.

The book is basically a roundtable discussion between the three great minds, covering the mind and consciousness and the evolution of thought, the use of psychedelics in exploring inner space, the nature of time and of God, the future of the human species, and other hefty topics. This sharing of intelligence, intuition and wisdom gained from experience offers the reader a rare glimpse into the realms of consciousness and how the human mind has evolved, and continues to evolve.

Both scientific and spiritual matters get the roundabout treatment, with all three men giving their input on chaos theory and modern quantum physics as the potential resting place of the long-sought union between physics and metaphysics. They talk about transformative cycles that have literally changed the human landscape, inner and outer, including events that occurred 12,000 years ago, and, even more intriguing, events that are predicted to occur around December 21, 2012, when the Mayan calendar ends and astrological charts detail a powerful shift in our existence.

I found this book totally engrossing, even if at times I couldn’t quite grasp the concepts of physics and had to bend my own mind around many a new idea. The back-and-forth between the authors is engaging, thrilling, and once in a while, disturbing, as when they discuss the possible 2012 date as being a sort of “end time,” but whether that means an end to our species or an end to our current level of consciousness is left up in the air.

Readers intrigued by spirituality, science, quantum physics, consciousness and personal growth will all find a lot of food for thought in this powerhouse conversation that dares to boldly go where few other minds have gone before. It’s a visionary book, backed up by scientific theories and concepts still being formulated. But however you look at it, it will bend your mind.