I completely agree that Hoffman has some really biased ideas about Tim Leary and makes some pretty off-the wall comments for someone who considers himself to be a scientist, and therefore respectful of "facts". In __LSD My Problem Child__, he makes some startling claims that made me take a step back and wonder where his ideas were coming from. For example:
"Leary is one of the founding fathers of the hippie cult."
I almost feel like, because I didn't live through the 60s I can't argue with Hoffman, but I really dislike anyone sticking the term 'cult' to a group of people, mostly because the term has been hijacked by political agendas to immediately imply some sort of brain-washing or insanity.
Hoffman also says: "The last of these three precepts (turn on, tune in, drop out) "drop out", was the challenge to escape from bourgeois life, to turn one's back on society, to give up school, studies, and employment, and to dedicate oneself wholly to the inner universe..."
This statement is really misconstruing what Leary is saying. He is not saying don't work, don't learn, just sit around all day and drop acid. Like the Buddhist ideal of non-attachment, the idea is not that you give up social and familial responsibilities, but that you give up the attachment to such things. For Hoffman to make a point in his book to devote an entire section to remonstrating Leary makes me wonder why exactly Hoffman feels so strongly about Leary.