10 of the Best Books About Cannabis
Grasslands’ office environment features a host of fabulous touches, from the vintage cannabis humidor to Un Abrazo. But one of our very favorites is the Grasslands Lending Library—a collection of books about cannabis, psychedelics and other topics relevant to our work here.
In the spirit of our Journalism-Minded™ ethos, the Grasslands team is free to borrow any of these books or add a new favorite so we all can learn together. Not that there’s ever a shortage of conversation during the occasional after-hours sesh, but the Grasslands Lending Library is always the perfect icebreaker. If you want to check out a few of the best books about cannabis from cooking to cultivation, from medical cannabis to 420 culture to the War on Drugs, read along with us! Here are ten of our recommendations:
There are more ways to enjoy edible cannabis than the traditional pot brownie or your favorite brand of gummies. Trained chef Laurie Wolf, who The New Yorker dubbed “the Martha Stewart of Marijuana Edibles,” offers up 70 possibilities in these easy-to-follow recipes. She also breaks down dosing, storage, how to pick the right strain, how to infuse base ingredients, and other fundamentals and frequently asked questions for aspiring cannabis cooks.
- Marijuana Horticulture Fundamentals: A Comprehensive Guide to Cannabis Cultivation and Hashish by K of Trichome Technologies
Kenneth Morrow, aka K, has spent decades cultivating his reputation as a cannabis breeder and commercial grow expert. Here, he shares the fruits of that labor in a comprehensive cultivation guide that’s accessible for beginners, but in-depth enough for more seasoned growers. From selecting your growing media to turning a harvest into hash, K sets readers up for success.
- How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High by David Bienenstock
VICE weed columnist, former High Times editor, pot author—David Bienenstock knows his cannabis, and he’s ready to chat all things Mary Jane in this wide-ranging volume. Whether you’re wondering how to roll a joint, what to do when a budtender offers you a jar of weed for the sniff test, when to eat a pot brownie before air travel or what on earth a goo ball is, Bienenstock has answers.
- Getting High: Marijuana through the Ages by John Charles Chasteen
People have been consuming cannabis since Neolithic times, and historian John Charles Chasteen charts the evolution of domesticated ganja from the Stone Age to the Age of Sail to the Summer of Love, from its origins in what is now Asia to its journey across the Atlantic and into American cultural consciousness. A former University of North Carolina professor and Latin American specialist, Chasteen blends scholastic rigor and a readable sense of humor in a book as educational as it is entertaining.
- The Complete Guide to CBD: Everything There is to Know About the Healing Powers of Cannabis by Craig Tomashoff
Writer and producer Craig Tomashoff has covered a wide variety of topics over the course of his career, including Alanis Morissette, B-movies, Queen Latifah and presidential politics. Here, Tomashoff turns his eye to cannabidiol, better known as CBD, digging deep into why CBD is seemingly everywhere, the history of its use, research into its medicinal possibilities, and its legal status in a fast-changing regulatory landscape.
What happens when you approach cannabis like a glass of good wine, a well-prepared meal or part of your wellness routine? As editor-in-chief of High Times Magazine, Ellen Holland knows better than most. She elucidates the unique flavors, cultivars, terpenes and terroir of cannabis, and how those qualities give this plant a wide, luxe range of utility in everything from cocktails to cuisine to floral displays. Come for the explanation of cultivation techniques, stay for the gorgeous, glossy photos that show off how beautiful weed can be.
- Bong Appétit: Mastering the Art of Cooking with Weed by the Editors of MUNCHIES
Whether you’re an avid fan of the VICE food vertical MUNCHIES or more traditional food publications like Bon Appétit, Food & Wine or the defunct Gourmet, this sophisticated guide to weed in the kitchen will hit your sweet spot. With a savvy overview of infusion science, recipes that feel more Saveur than Shakedown Street, and a discussion of drug policy, pairings, dosages and pot history that feels like easy dinner table conversation, Bong Appétit is a must-read.
- Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000 by Martin Torgoff
Long-time journalist and writer Martin Torgoff parlays his background as a pop culture scribe into this buzzy history of weed in the United States in the last half of the 20th century, from the Beats to Belushi, from the war in Vietnam to the War on Drugs. Though it was released nearly 20 years ago, Can’t Find My Way Home remains an informative, intimate read—and a leaping-off point for the 2006 TV docu-series The Drug Years, an adaptation of Torgoff’s work that delves into the drug culture of the 1960s and ‘70s.
- Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide Paperback by Shirley Halperin
Speaking of cannamedia, Shirley Halperin’s Reefer Movie Madness is the ultimate compendium for stonerflicks. This anthology features writing by Margaret Cho, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Q&As with Cheech, Chong, Cypress Hill and documentary picks from Melissa Etheridge, adding up to 420 films (natch) that cannabis fans definitely want to view, revisit and reconsider.
Winner of the 2022 Global Book Awards, Tom Wegner chronicles his own experience navigating a family member’s cancer diagnosis, and parlaying that narrative into an exploration of the medical cannabis movement. Wegener digs into the history of medical cannabis activism and the patients’ rights movement, as well as how the legislative and bureaucratic landscape has shifted as parents, patients, partners and community members have fought for change.