Book Review: The Marriage of the Sun and Moon

We had some rain last week, so when I went out to weed my backyard yesterday, I found these three guys poking out. Mushrooms are slimy, creepy, weird and totally beautiful all at once. There's something magical about finding mushrooms when I'm out hiking, so it felt like an extra bonus to have some right in my backyard.

I'm a bit of a mycophile, but not nearly the mycophile that is Dr. Weil. Dr. Weil is the bushy-bearded alternative doctor who has written extensively on health and healing, vitamins and herbs.

And mushrooms.

In The Marriage of the Sun and Moon, the good doctor devotes not one, but three chapters to the fungus. I love that he's a Harvard-educated MD, and writes so matter-of-factly about foraging for mushrooms and then getting high as a kite off of them.

Dr. Weil offers an interesting and thought-provoking perspective on the reasons why and the ways in which humans attain altered states of consciousness. This book is a fascinating, and often hilarious, account of his own experiences of expanding his mind.