4 minute read
Book Club
ix: Book Club
Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms can Heal, Shift Consciousness & Save the Planet
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(Stamets, P. [ed.]; Earth Aware, 2019)
Reviewer: Marianne Hughes
This is a good introduction to the impact of fungi on our planet, and on our bodies, and our spiritual perspectives. The 25 chapters are organised into these three themes, so you can dip into your area of interest and follow up with the many references provided. The wonderful colour photographs give the impression that this is a ‘coffee table’ book— and it can be enjoyed in this way —but there is also much thought-provoking content. There’s also a film of the same name, produced by Louie Schwartzberg.
In his introduction, editor and contributor Paul Stamets suggests we categorise the world into flora, fauna and fungi. He describes discovering his bees feeding on the mycelium of woodland polypore mushrooms. He found this mycelium dramatically reduced viral loads in these bees, extending their lifespans. Steve Sheppard explores this further in chapter six; whilst In chapter four, Giuliana Furci recounts successfully campaigning with the Fungi Foundation to extend Chile’s general environmental regulations in 2013, thus stimulating further study of fungi.
In chapter eight, Tradd Colter calls fungi ‘first responders’ and ‘keystone species’. He notes— alarmingly —that the Earth’s topsoil, 12 to 15 feet deep in the 1900s, is now merely 5 to 8 inches deep. It takes fungi 500 to 600 years to make one inch of topsoil, which then holds moisture and expands the capacity for biodiversity. Crazily, I had never considered why forests are not stacked miles high with the leaves they drop each year. It seems obvious now that I’ve read about it, that it’s the processing action of fungi that releases nutrients which are then dispersed via mycelium, and that these co-operative networks are the foundation of life. Still in the first section, I learn about the international network of Radical Mycology groups, about the use of mycelium to combat oil spills and toxic waste (‘mycoremediation’), and about lowtech, portable mushroom kits with the potential to save over three million people a year by using mycelium to filter bacteria out of unsafe water.
The chapters in the second section focus on the impact of fungi on our bodies. We share more DNA sequences with mushrooms than we do with plants and, in chapter ten, Andrew Weil suggests this genetic relationship might explain the many medicinal effects of mushrooms. Chapter sixteen takes the example of Agarikon (Laricifomes officinalis)— a fungus which can live up to 75 years —to outline the impacts of fungi on our immune systems. This section also boasts a wide range of historical, culinary and medicinal essays. I was interested to learn that, of all the mushrooms, desert truffles— now threatened by climate change and urbanisation —appear to have the longest recorded history of continuous use. Elinoar Shavit’s chapter thirteen details the role played by mushrooms in a range of times and societies, while the following chapter, by Kris Holstrom, provides useful details about growing your own mushrooms.
In the third section of this book, ‘for the spirit’, the authors explore psilocybin— a compound found in around 200 species of mushroom around the world —and the ways that this psychedelic compound has been used and investigated for spiritual purposes. Reminding readers that controversy about the uses of LSD and ‘magic’ mushrooms in the 1960s halted scientific research, chapters nineteen and twenty outline newer scientific findings, in particular the long-term impacts of increased positive mood, transcendence of time and space, altruism and a sense of interconnectedness of all persons and things. With the findings that psilocybin interacts closely with the brain’s serotonin receptor systems, there is now more evidence for the shifts in ‘emotional biases’ which are so important in the treatment of depression. In 2018, there was agreement in the USA to move to Phase 3 scientific trials of psilocybin with people who experienced significant levels of anxiety and depression as a result of lifethreatening diagnoses. The lived experience of controlled use of psilocybin in early trials is provided in a couple of first-person accounts.
Overall, this is an interesting and varied book. It concludes with Stamets’ plea for the protection of old-growth forests: And the biodiversity of their ecosystems because they have within them fungal species that could be critical for human survival …… the health of the ecosystem directly affects the health of each of us. This is an American book, though, so if you are based in Scotland and would like to follow up some of the suggestions in this book, I’d recommend Monica Wilde (www.monicawilde.com) for good and plentiful knowledge on safe local mushroom foraging.
