Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience

Journalist Bone (Microbia) serves up an eye-opening examination of the science and benefits of psilocybin mushrooms. She explains that after the mushrooms are ingested, stomach acid metabolizes the chemical compound psilocybin into psilocin, which travels through the bloodstream to the brain where it activates neural circuits “associated with adaptability, learning, cognition, and perception,” producing the sensation of tripping. While Bone discusses formal studies when available (she notes several that found microdosing doesn’t affect users’ mood much more than a placebo), she often relies on anecdotal evidence, reasoning that the lived experiences of users can fill gaps in the scientific record. For instance, she describes how a young man’s trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) evaporated after he took psilocybin, and how a woman successfully used magic mushrooms to work through her grief after her daughter died by suicide. Elsewhere, Bone recounts going on a “psychedelic retreat” in Costa Rica in hopes of discovering “a new and improved me” and participating in a Mazatec “mushroom ceremony” in Mexico aimed at healing spiritual wounds. The elegant blend of scientific research, stories of individual mushroom users, and Bone’s own experiences with the drug make for a study that’s as eclectic as it is stimulating. This will expand readers’ minds. Agent: Angela Miller, Folio Literary Management. (Oct.)