– Customer review on 13/01/2007

"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!

– Customer review on 02/01/2007

A magnificent outlook to all the most very important and specific types of psilocybe containing mushrooms.
Great advice for having a good trip worth reading.
History of christianity into the mix of older style spiritual use on it and how they interacted ..
The first 3 pages of the history amazed and still amazes me with the knowledge and time ,beyond time we never thought there was humanity as we know it .

Indeed an excellent suppliment to the book collection. I do not disagree with the other reviewers of the excellent compilation of the book. One must realize, this book does not contain a key to species of Psilocybe.

– Customer review on 11/11/2006

This guide is a must for anyone interested in fungi or any acid head out there who want to identify their mushrooms before the ingest for self health reasons. This book has lots of colour pictures and descriptions so you will not make a wrong mistake when hunting for psilocybin