Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom

I bought this for a couple of friends who have recently become interested in Magic Mushrooms.This is a very informative and entertaining review of Magic Mushrooms through history and gives an even-handed account of all things shroom. It debunks some of the Soma myths and injects some much needed scepticism into the writings of Terence McKenna, John Allegro et al.If you're interested in these fungi, this as good a book as any to be starting with.

An incisive, clear minded history of magic mushroom use right up to the present day. I devoured this book though it wasn't what I was expecting from the garish cover and new-age hippie sounding title. Letcher clearly loves his subject and has distilled a huge amount of research into this brilliant tome. If you thought there was no more to learn about magic mushrooms, then this book will throw up some real surprises. No bemushroomed philosophising here, just sound, rational application to the subject. A valuable addition to any mycological book collection. Oh yes, I forgot to say that Letcher writes really well too. An eloquent flowing style which is very funny in places... Made me laugh out loud.

Unfortunately, there are two common conflicting ways of thinking about psychedelic drugs; either a snooty biomedical scientific approach which ignores or denies the profound and meaningful experiences 'shrooms can give, or a vague new-agey approach which makes all sorts of mystical and magical claims and doesn't take seriously the need for evidence. This book shows that a third way is possible, where scientific and historical research and critical thinking are central, but the subjective value of the drugs is never undermined. The book shows that we do not need to give up on rationality in order to discuss psychedelic drugs, but that rationality need not be the enemy of enchantment and mystery. It has definitely influenced my own way of thinking about mushrooms.

While the author is not quite as clever as perhaps he imagines, and falls to the same traps he so gleefully points out others having fallen victim to, this book is, at its core, pretty good.He is mostly fair in his assessment of the authors he discusses, though he does insist on declaring arguments as having been "demolished", which is pretty unattractive.I would also advise the author that he might re-assess his devotion to "post-modernism" which, a bit like day-glo headbands, is getting a bit too meta-retro-ironic for comfort.But all-in-all, a good read, and a good expose of some stirling mumbo-jumbo that's been long overdue a good purge.

This is such an interesting book. I got into shrooms listening to Joe rogan and Paul stamets. I've gone deep into the McKenna's and this book just adds another brilliant layer.

This is a well written and comprehensive guide to magic mushrooms from their earliest known use to the present day. Though it focusses principally on Britain, it includes fascinating information on the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, and their place in society, from Mexico to Siberia.Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in altered states of consciousness and for those who have a healthy interest in broadening their range of knowledge.

Want to learn about a plausible cultural evoluyion of the shrooms...?

Having studied psychotropic drugs and medicines for my doctorate I found this very interesting indeed, I own many unusual books like this, I really can't get enough of them.

You’ll learn a lot!

Muy bien escrito, ameno, claro, profundo, completo, objetivo, una lectura deliciosa para repasar la historia de estos hongos que siguen siendo un misterio

Bought this book for a friend. Very well written and researched.

I borrowed this book from the Rochester Public Library, and liked it so much that I incurred some library fines. I had to buy it, and Im still not finished reading it. I love books like this. Definitely recommend it for anyone interested in mushrooms.

Interesting read, in a historical sense, but a lot drier than I expected.A lot of side notes and scientific factoids, which are intersting in their own way, but I was hoping for something more on the observational level. I had expected, from the reviews I read, a book with more relevance to the counter-culture interest in mushrooms, their discovery and use during the sixties and beyond, and the impact they had during that era.What I got was a much more scientific look at the foundation of mushroom discovery throughout history, and a long, drawn out look at the scientific side of the nomenclature and who did what to whom in the argument about what a mushroom was, and who's theories or taxonomy was more correct.Amongst all of this was a fair amount of historical lore and recent history, but it felt like the writer added this information in more for filling than as an integral part of the book.As I stated above, a quite interesting read if you want to know the science of mushrooms, but not the social and cultural history I was looking for.