Yoga and Meditation

Andy Letcher’s 2006 book on the history of magic mushrooms is definitely a must read for anyone with an interest in shrooms; which is not to say that you will necessarily like it. In fact, the intellectual, scientific and clinical analysis provided by the author may actually annoy you. But you still need to read it!

Why? Because where else could you find a comprehensive summary of everything that has ever been written about magic mushrooms? I don’t know that I have ever read a book with such an exhaustive list of literary references. It would take me a decade to read all that source material on my own. Instead, Shroom… provides me with an easily digestible summation that I can read in a week or less.

A major section of the book is dedicated to the Fly agaric and its use in Siberia. But the most important part of the book relates to Gordon Wasson’s discovery of Psilocybe mushrooms in Mexico, and subsequent popularization of it in America.

Later on in the book, Letcher give a historic account of the immensely popular ‘free festivals’ in Britain during the late 1970’s and early 80’s. The no. 1 ‘drug’ of choice at these festivals was wild-harvested magic mushrooms. Margaret Thatcher successfully put a stop to these festivals, thereby ending the second wave of magic mushroom use. The third and still ongoing wave of shroom popularity began when simple methods of cultivating Psilocybe mushrooms in large quantities were developed by American Terence McKenna.

My main reservation when it comes to this book is that Letcher, at least in the beginning, seems overly prone to side with the critics and skeptics of the many various theories of historic use of magic mushrooms.

As an example, he makes the point that the famous ancient rock paintings in the Sahara Desert, which many believe depict mushroom wielding shamans, could easily be interpreted differently. As a reader, one is left with the sense that because the interpretation of the petroglyphs as mushrooms may be wrong, therefore it is wrong.

Critical evaluation of any unproven theory is a great thing but it needs to be balanced. Letcher often appears overly critical of the theories of historic mushroom usage, while being totally uncritical of the arguments of the detractors of said theories.

One example of this is how he uses a “changing environment” to argue that British druids did not use magic mushrooms (because the isles were too heavily forested back then), while at the same time not allowing for a “changing environment” scenario in Egypt, which could mean that Fly agaric related mushrooms may have grown there thousands of years ago even though they do not today.

In all fairness, though, Letcher does get more balanced in his presentation of different viewpoints towards the end of the book, acknowledging several times that there is no objective way to be sure which of the opposing claims are valid. He deserves kudos for that.

Overall, this book contains and astounding wealth of information on everything relating to the history of shrooms, in particular the discovery of magic mushrooms by western enthusiasts over the past century. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

In addition to magic mushrooms, Shroom is also an account of the history of psychedelics in general. Large portions of the book tell the stories of Aldous Huxley and mescaline, Timothy Leary and LSD, and the more recent use of ecstasy at rave fests.

So in spite of my reservations against Letcher’s somewhat unbalanced siding with the critics against various theories of the historic use of magic mushrooms, I insist that if you have a sincere interest in shrooms, you really do need to read this book. It’s a fascinating account of the history of shrooms.

Order Shroom by Andy Letcher now! Dr. Markho Rafael graduated from Chiropractic College in 1996. He now specializes in studying and writing about herbal medicine. You can find more of his reviews on mushroom books at mycelium-running.info.