Literary Review: ‘A Guide to British Psilocybin Mushrooms’ By Richard Cooper

Book Title: ‘A guide to British Psilocybin mushrooms

Author: Richard Cooper

Strictly this fantastic little guide is far from being something that would normally appear in a literary review. However, the cultural significance of Richard Cooper’s ‘Guide to British psilocybin mushrooms’ in the UK makes it an extremely necessary book for the 21st century shroomer.

Originally published in 1977 the guide has been consistently re-printed in new editions and this reflects it’s overall importance to British psychedelic drug culture. In it’s pages are contained details of all known British hallucinogenic mushrooms, covering not only psilocybin and Psilocin varieties but also the Amantia grouping (which includes Fly Agaric.) It details some history, identification, chemistry, dosage, collecting & drying, spore printing & cultivation and, of course, effects.

Since the recent re-classification of magic mushrooms in Britain, the shroomer has been left in a very difficult position. The government, under so called ‘health reasons’, have denied the sale of checked and tested hallucinogenic mushrooms making those people interested in using them go and pick their own.

The risk is obvious to anyone who has not been indoctrinated by political rhetoric, the chances of eating poisonous shrooms has suddenly become that much higher and is now the central concern for safety. I would hate to speculate as to whether the government were purposefully trying to cause shroomers harm but if one was to examine their actions this does seem to be the definite outcome. But thanks to Richard Cooper however, the responsible shroomer can now take precautions against taking any deadly varieties.

The beautiful design, which reminds me very much of the park in Herne Hill, London, portrays the innocence of going mushroom picking; a far cry from the criminal grade A existence mushrooms have under the political microscope. This guide is an essential for your well-being as a shroomer; don’t let the powers that be cajole you into an accident, play it safe with Richard Cooper’s ‘Guide to British Psilocybin mushrooms.’