Magia de los hongos

This book takes a brief tour of the way in which fungi, and especially mushrooms, have infiltrated human existence. It traces a history of mythology and legend, superstition and suspicion; explains some of the many uses of mushrooms in traditional medicines around the world and how some of these practices are being researched today. So while old sayings and stories, music and art, literature and poetry are brought together, modern interpretations are also included within popular mushroom culture. Whether they're painted on the wall of an ancient Egyptian tomb or lurking in the ones and zeros of Internet code, the stories about them remain largely the same: mushrooms continue to fascinate, mystify, and perhaps give us a bit of fear and we represent our ambivalence through myths and legends, old and new.