Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World: An Identification Guide

This lavishly photo-illustrated and smoothly-written book details all of the psilocybin-containing mushrooms generally known up to the date of publication, including those outside of the species Psilocybe and some extremely rare ones known only from a single location or from a single event (sometimes mysterious magic mushrooms crop up after storms but are never seen again unless spores are taken from them and grown under controlled conditions). Stamets explains the often-conflicting taxonomy of Psilocybe mushrooms (one species, for example, received two different names because two writing teams who had travelled together wrote it up separately -- one published first and *their* name has "priority," even though some people use the name given by the other team; despite the name difference the mushroom described is the same species). Stamets is no prude. He writes quite bluntly about psilocybin-containing mushrooms (including his own tripping on them), and he is EXTREMELY (and justly) critical of other mycologists who not only refuse to describe such mushrooms, but, in one case Stamets cites, have said that it is better for people to die from eating poisonous mushrooms than for people to be able to safely identify psilocybin-containing mushrooms! Stamets gives descriptions and photos of poisonous look-alike mushrooms and gives a step-by-step identification procedure for the psilocybin 'shrooms. In most cases identification is straightforward and can be done within a few minutes; in other cases look-alikes can be lethal and suspect mushrooms have to be carefully gone over to avoid poisoning. One extemely curious phenomenon which Stamets describes are cases in which people have "tripped" on mushrooms which are generally considered non-poisonous and which were from species which are not supposed to contain *any* psychoactive chemicals; Stamets speculates that if these cases are genuine, they may represent instances in which the biochemistry of one individual reacted in a completely unpredictable and near-unique way to a "normal" mushroom. (I have heard of some people whose bodies can *naturally* manufacture ethanol from the ordinary sugars in food in sufficient quantites to become drunk without ever having consumed liquid alcohol; these freak instances of people tripping on non-pyshoactive mushrooms may represent something similar -- rare individuals whose bodies can convert innocuous chemicals into psychoactive ones; since the reported cases have been people who didn't intend to eat a magic mushroom in the first place, and who have probably sworn off mushroom eating forever as a result of their experience, the likelihood of a repeat occurence with a given individual is probably close to zero. Still, the fact that such an unexpected event has occurred at all underscores a couple of points which Stamets makes again and again: don't eat any wild mushroom which you have not positively identified, and don't gorge yourself on a species which yo

"Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World" is a first-rate reference on psilocybes, and one that I would enthusiastically recommend to anybody with an interest. That said, however, I'd like to weigh in with a bit of personal advice on the subject: PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU EAT ANY WILD MUSHROOM WITHOUT POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION-- EVEN MUSHROOMS WHICH SUPERFICIALLY RESEMBLE THE SPECIMENS PICTURED IN THIS BOOK-- YOU MAY DIE!!! Even for experienced mycologists, mushroom identification can be a difficult process. Would you be willing to stake your life on whether a mushroom's spores are rust-brown, as opposed to a rusty purplish-brown? That's a pretty subjective call, and the only way to be 100% certain is to throw spore and tissue samples on the microscope. Many edible mushrooms have deadly look-alikes, and to make matters worse, every known mushroom has variant strains. By following the guidelines in this book, an inexperienced enthusiast can be reasonably certain that he or she has correctly identified a field specimen, but even the best field guide is no substitute for experience and good judgment (as Stamets himself states repeatedly in this book!). This is a great reference work for anybody with an interest in mycology, but it shouldn't be mistaken for a "green light" to pick wild mushrooms for personal consumption. That said, this book is a real gem, with detailed summary descriptions of several dozen known and suspected psilocybes. Each description is accompanied by at least one color photograph. Stamets uses very scientific terminology in describing each psilocybe-- considering the consequences of a false identification, it's important for the author to be as precise in his descriptions as possible-- but there are also several helpful pages of charts at the end of the book which explain what all of this technical jargon means. This is far and away the best field guide to psilocybe mushrooms that I've seen so far. I can truly recommend this work without reservation!

This is by far the most descriptive and complete guide to psychoactive mushrooms and their deadly look-alikes I have ever read. LOTS of cool, detailed color pictures to help with both identification and leisure entertainment.The book is comprised of the following:-5 pages on the history of them-6 pages on their distribution around the world-8 pages on general places they like to grow (e.g. under a bush or something)-12 pages on tips for good trips-20 pages on identification & collection techniques-123 pages on just about every species of psychoactive mushrooms known to man (pics, description, habitat, etc.) both highly active and relatives that have low chemical content-10 pages on deadly look-alikes-includes a glossary, recommended reading, bibliography, and indexThis is the best all-around book on this subject! Buy it now!

This book is a must for any enthusiest of Magic Mushrooms. The Photographs and detailed descriptions of the various species make this book a definite must for anyone wanting to identify Magic mushrooms, including deadly look alikes. The book is a complete guide, from history, experiences and all relative information that you could want. Paul Stamet's is "The Man" of mushrooms and a lot of his time and effort has gone into making this book factual and interesting. Hope you enjoy this book a much a I have.

The first 5 chapters of this book had me glued to the pages. The book starts off with some fascinating history and personal information about psilocybin mushrooms. The rest of the book gives some very detailed information for hunting them. Some of the pictures are rather small, but for the most part identification is very helpfull with this book, but I would get at least one other field guide to go with it.