PSILOCYBIN: What We Know, What We Don’t, and What We Lost Along the Way

Psilocybin has been used by humans for centuries, studied by scientists, pushed underground by politics and prohibition, and—more recently—pulled back into the spotlight.

But what do we actually know about it?

Psilocybin: What We Know, What We Don’t, and What We Lost Along the Way explores the remarkable history, science, culture, and modern resurgence of psychedelic mushrooms. From ancient traditions and the first wave of twentieth-century research to the backlash that brought that work to a halt, the book traces how one substance moved from scientific curiosity to cultural controversy—and back again.

Along the way, Ed Chonko examines what modern research is discovering about psilocybin, how the experience changes across different doses, the questions surrounding safety and risk, and the growing interest in its potential relationship to depression, anxiety, addiction, creativity, and personal well-being.

The book also ventures beyond the laboratory, exploring mushroom varieties, cultivation, dosing, the psychedelic experience, microdosing, and the practical questions that often get lost between enthusiastic claims and blanket warnings.

This is neither an argument for psilocybin nor an argument against it. It is an attempt to separate what we know from what we think we know—and to understand what decades of interrupted research may have cost us.

Accessible, skeptical, curious, and grounded in the available evidence, Psilocybin is written for readers who want to understand one of the most fascinating and controversial substances being reconsidered today.