A Short, Strange Trip

THIS ITEM IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ONLY AND WILL BE RELEASED ON 14 APRIL 2026.

An Untold Story of Magic Mushrooms, Madness, and a Search for the Meaning of Life in the Amazon

Tag along with our clever guide John O'Connor as he leads us on a gonzo journey through the history of psychedelics, the Amazon rainforest, and into the cosmic dimensions of our own minds. Are you ready for the trip of a lifetime?

March 4th, 1971. In the jungles of Colombia, a group of explorers got ready to take a journey. “Psychonauts", they called themselves: pioneers of hallucinogenic plants and their potential to unlock the secrets of the mind. They sought the most psychedelic mushroom in the world, and were ready to have their minds altered forever...

Acclaimed author John O’Connor takes us on the wild and strange trip of the ragtag band of psychedelic pioneers in the Colombian Amazon. Centered around John’s own journey to La Chorrera in search of the mystical mushroom Stropharia cubensis and drawing on interviews with the surviving psychonauts, the book will explore this forgotten “experiment,” while also telling the story of the Witoto Indians who’ve called the area home for centuries. Along the way, it explores our shifting stance on psychedelics through the ages and across cultures while investigating whether the “cosmic dimensions” pried open by the hallucinogens resulted in scientific and therapeutic discoveries. Or if they were, in fact, just a part of the trip.