Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience

by Eugenia Bone

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250885654
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	10/22/2024
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	185,200
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Eugenia Bone is a food and nature writer whose work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BBC Science. A former president of the NY Mycological Society and the author of Mycophilia, she appeared as an expert in the documentary Fantastic Fungi and has deep ties throughout the mushroom community. Bone is also an award-winning cookbook author and chef. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Beautifully composed, Eugenia Bone’s book is a trip in itself.”

—Suzanne Simard, PhD, forest ecologist and author of Finding the Mother Tree

“Eugenia Bone does it again! She takes the reader on a deep dive into the rapidly emerging practice of psilocybin use with a balanced view toward benefits, potential pitfalls, and ever-expanding applications. I unabashedly recommend this book for all those contemplating or currently engaged with psilocybin mushrooms.”

—Paul Stamets, author of Mycelium Running

“Finally a book that offers more answers than questions about the contemporary relationship between humans and ancient sacred mushrooms. Whether you’re an experienced traveler or new to the journey, Eugenia takes us on a fun and fantastic much-needed trip.”

—Giuliana Furci, founding director of the Fungi Foundation

“Eugenia Bone provides excellent and sage insights on every step of the psychedelic journey, from sourcing mushrooms through to dosing and even integrating the experiences afterward, all illustrated with some excellent trippers’ tales. Everyone from seasoned freaks to the newly psy-curious will find something of interest here.”

—Andy Letcher, PhD, author of Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom and senior lecturer at the University of Exeter

“As someone who has had an uncountable number of glorious trips and also has lost their damn mind, I’ve been waiting for a more balanced articulation of this psychedelic renaissance. With Have a Good Trip’s focus on accuracy over hype or hysteria, we might not only avoid a trip to the psych ward but even make the most out of our experiences.”

—Shane Mauss, comedian and host of the Here We Are podcast

"The sixties were a marvelous opening for those of us who survived tuning in to magic mushrooms, turning on and dropping out for a good chunk of our youth. But there were casualties along the way who never reintegrated. With the current psychedelic renaissance, Eugenia Bone's wise, witty, and scientifically grounded Have a Good Trip is a much-needed analysis of how some people open that illuminating door and not just survive but thrive."

—Art Goodtimes, five-term Green Party county commissioner in Colorado and poet-in-residence of the Telluride Mushroom Festival

From the Publisher