The Ego Trip by Kimon de Greef review – a bizarre tale of psychedelic toads and hair-raising treatments

<p>A journalist investigates the unsettling world of a charismatic shaman and the people who trusted him</p><p>Which, in your opinion, is the&nbsp;worst current cultural trend: social media influencers; unregulated wellness practitioners; macho manosphere posturers; psychedelic bores; cultural appropriators? The good news is that, with Octavio Rettig, the central character in Kimon de Greef’s The Ego&nbsp;Trip, you don’t have to choose between them. He’s all five wrapped into one objectionable package, and&nbsp;so&nbsp;much more besides.</p><p>The tale begins with the Sonoran desert toad, an improbable amphibian that spends most of its life hiding underground in the baking badlands along the Mexico-Arizona border, and has done so blamelessly for millions of&nbsp;years. Whenever it rains, the toads emerge from their hiding places to mate, laying strings of eggs wherever water has pooled.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/aug/17/the-ego-trip-by-kimon-de-greef-review-a-bizarre-tale-of-psychedelic-toads-and-hair-raising-treatments">Continue reading...</a>