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About me:

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"A work of love, an obsessive, detailed and definitive reference work, addictive for its insights, broad in its ambition" Rory MacLean

Hi, this is the official myspace site for Andy Letcher's tome, 'Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom'.

Is it true that Siberian shamans drink mushroom-infused reindeer piss? Did the Druids munch magic mushrooms? Will the world come to a shuddering end in 2012?

All these questions and more are answered in Andy Letcher's 'Shroom'. Readable, witty and thoroughly researched, Shroom presents the true and definitive story of how magic mushrooms became the global psychedelic drug of choice.

Having received rave reviews in the UK, Shroom is now published in the US by Ecco.

'Even if read while sober, Andy Letcher’s “Shrooms: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom,” is a near-transcendent experience. Well written and thoughtfully researched, the book works on the limbic system too: after reading it, one is tempted to hit the streets in search of a religious-experience-in-a-fungus. Letcher has contributed a delightful, journalistic addition to the genre known as trip lit.' Dick Teresi, New York Times Review of Books

'This man loves his mushrooms, and by the end of this book you too will be as spellbound as Alice is in Wonderland...Letcher is both historian and hippie, and he sees so much in mushrooms to examine, question and celebrate that it becomes a thrilling trip that is both erudite and greatly entertaining. Mind-bending stuff.'Scotland on Sunday

You can visit Andy's website here

You can buy the book here in the US

and here in the UK

Who I'd like to meet:

Shroomers, McKenna fans, psychonauts, myconauts, ontologists, phenomenologists, psychedelic sceptics, and, obviously, fans of the book.

DO TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE BOOK!!

Andy Letcher was born in Devon, educated at Marlborough College and initially read Physics and Astronomy at Sheffield University. After a year he switched to Pure and Applied Ecology, and graduated three years later. He went to Merton College, Oxford, to do his D.Phil, researching patterns in the distribution of mammals across continents.

Frustrated with the lack of engagement with environmental issues, he left academia in search of paganism, alterity, and to become a road-protester. He spent six extraordinary months living in a tree-house and blowing kisses at security guards during the Newbury Bypass campaign.

Thereafter he travelled around England and France playing a variety of pagan-psychedelic festival bands, including Celtarabia, Space Goats, and the medieval-inflected Jabberwocky.

He was lured back into academia to do a second PhD, this time in Religious/Cultural Studies - a subject about which he knew next to nothing - researching 'Bardic performance' in contemporary Pagan movements. Engaged by this new discipline, he was awarded his PhD in 2001.

Since then he has attempted to draw on both trainings - in science and the humanities - and has conducted research into issues surrounding the contemporary use of Stonehenge, and the feasibility of using census data to generate statistics on alternative spiritualities. He currently lectures on 'Theory and Method in Religious Studies', 'Environmental Ethics' and 'The History and Development of Modern Paganism'.

He began researching the history of the magic mushroom in 2003. What was meant to be a short paper mushroomed into a 100,000 word book, Shroom, taking two years to complete.

He is currently reading a lot of philosophy, puzzling over the riddle of existence, planning his next book and playing in Acid Folk band, Telling the Bees.

Details

  • Status: In a Relationship
  • Zodiac Sign: Leo

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