"These wondrous mushrooms are notable in that they, a) are easily identifiable, b) spring up quite naturally across many segments of both the Old and New Worlds, and c) are gentle in action (in contrast to the 'coercive' nature of other major psychedelics, which tend to emphasize 'ego-death,' for instance). "Here John W. Allen describes the rather long and strangely convoluted incursion of mind-altering mushrooms via historical vignettes, by snapshots of the principle players, and by the most extensive annotated bibliography of relevant papers and books…that brings this entire field of knowledge into the 21st century. "J. W.., mycologist extraordinaire, I salute you!" - Peter Stafford, author of The Psychedelic Encyclopedia, Psychedelic Baby Reaches Puberty and Magic Grams.