Lawrence MillmanFungipedia

 

Author and mycologist Lawrence Millman combines ecological, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary knowledge in his research and writings. His latest work, Fungipedia, takes us on a mycological journey—from John Cage and Terrence McKenna to mushroom sex and fairy rings.

 

His work explores the lives of individuals like African American scientist George Washington Carver, who specialized in crop diseases caused by fungi; Beatrix Potter, creator of Peter Rabbit, who was prevented from becoming a professional mycologist because she was a woman; and Gordon Wasson, a J.P. Morgan vice-president who almost single-handedly introduced the world to magic mushrooms. In his work, Lawrence considers why fungi are among the most significant organisms on our planet and how they are currently being affected by destructive human behavior, including climate change.

 

Join Co-director of CoRenewal and mycologist Maya Elson for a conversation with Lawrence about his life and work exploring mycology and learn more about these amazing organisms. Discover how mushrooms are much more closely related to humans than to plants, how they engage in sex, how insects farm them, and how certain species happily dine on leftover radiation, cockroach antennae, and dung, in an evening of fungal lore.

Tickets $10, members $8.

 

This is talk does not promote, facilitate, or require the use of entheogens. This event and the views expressed by the presenter(s) are not a reflection of the views of California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), its Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research, or the individuals employed by CIIS.

About the Author

Lawrence Millman is a mycologist and author of numerous books, including Our Like Will Not Be There AgainLast PlacesFascinating Fungi of New England, and At the End of the World. He has done mycological work in places as diverse as Greenland, Honduras, Iceland, Panama, the Canadian Arctic, Bermuda, and Fresh Pond in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has documented 321 different species.