Virtual Book Club: "Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience" by Eugenia Bone

North American Mycological Association - Online
01/23/2025
8:00pm- 9:30pm
Online

NAMA Virtual Mushroom Book Club

January 23rd, 2024

8 PM Eastern | 7 PM Central | 6 PM Mountain | 5 PM Pacific

$5 non-member tickets. Free for NAMA Members. 1 year membership is $30/year to access all book clubs and online events though out the year.  

"Have a Good Trip" describes all the ways we use Psilocybin mushrooms today, from collection to preparation, from harms to trip types, and the self-organized groups whose experiments are leading the science. It covers mycology and

neuroscience, but in great part this book synthesizes the vast trove of anecdotal experiences that constitutes most of what we know about the "magic" in these mushrooms. Have a Good Trip is not a guide, but it does address all the questions the mushroom curious might have.

From a much-loved expert and popular science writer comes this straight-from-the-trenches report on how and why folks from all walks of life are using magic mushrooms to enhance their lives.

Interest in psychedelic mushrooms has never been greater – or the science less definitive. Popular science writer and amateur mycologist Eugenia Bone reports on the state of psychedelics today, from microdosing to heroic trips, illustrating how "citizen science" and anecdotal accounts of the mushrooms' benefits are leading the new wave of scientific inquiry into psilocybin.

With her signature blend of first-person narrative and scientific rigor, Bone breaks down just how the complicated cocktail of psychoactive compounds is thought to interact with our brain chemistry. She explains how mindset and setting can impact a trip – whether therapeutic, spiritual/mystical, or simply pleasure seeking – and vividly evokes the personalities and protocols that populate the tripping scene, from the renegade "'Noccers" of Washington who merrily disperse magic mushroom spores around Seattle, to the indigenous curanderas who conduct traditional ceremonies in remote Mexican villages.

Throughout she shares her journey through the world of mushrooms, cultivating her own stash, grappling with personal challenges, and offering the insights she gleaned from her experiences. For both seasoned trippers and the merely mushroom curious, Have a Good Trip offers a balanced, entertaining, and provocative look at this rapidly evolving cultural phenomenon.

Bio:
Eugenia Bone is an internationally known food and nature writer whose work has appeared in many anthologies, magazines, and newspapers. She is a member of the faculty at the New York Botanical Garden where she teaches classes on mycophagy and psychedelic mushrooms. She is the author or co-author of nine books on food and biology, including the category staple Mycophilia, and most recently, Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience (October, 2024). She has been nominated for or won a variety of awards, including a James Beard Award. Eugenia is featured in the documentary directed by Louie Schwartzberg, Fantastic Fungi (2019), and in the Netflix children’s show about food, Waffles + Mochi (the mushroom episode) produced by Michele Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.