My latest guest is John O’Connor, author of A Short, Strange Trip: An Untold Story of Magic Mushrooms, Madness, and a Search for the Meaning of Life in the Amazon, which was published today (April 14, 2026).
This is the story of Terence McKenna, arguably the single most important figure in popularizing psilocybin mushrooms in the late twentieth century United States. In the early 1970s, McKenna traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of psychedelics and, in the end, believed he’d discovered the key to saving humanity. Though he is perhaps better known for his “stoned ape theory,” which posits the importance of psychedelics in the evolution of Homo sapiens. In the 1990s he spread his ideas through various publications and, most importantly, on the American lecture circuit, helping to reignite interest in these substances. All of this would eventually morph into today’s psychedelic renaissance.
In this episode John and I talk about McKenna, Colombia, writing, and our own adventures with these drugs. It’s a great conversation.
As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocketcasts, and the Substack app.
On April 15, I will begin serializing a chapter from the book on the newsletter. No subscription necessary, but we appreciate you signing up (it’s free).
Episode Outline
0:00-4:09: Introduction.
4:09-20:22: Podcast critiques, the new book, psychonauts, McKenna and his mission, True Hallucinations, Roger Casement, La Chorrera, the “hippie trail,” Richard Evans Schultes, psychedelics in Colombia.
20:22-51:45: Setting the record straight, personal experiences with psychedelics, fun versus therapy, what LSD meant in the 1980s, “set and setting” and drugs, identifying with the Sixties during the 1980s, more on psychedelics and fun, do psychedelics have to be therapy?
51:45-1:05:39: Roland Griffiths, the challenges of psychedelic therapy, quackery, indigenous psychedelics versus the global market, psychedelics and violence in the Amazon.
1:05:39-1:15:48: On becoming a writer, what makes for a successful travel story, writing books versus magazine articles.
1:15:48-1:24:13: Regrets, last thoughts on the impact of Terence and Dennis McKenna, psychedelics and bullshit.
1:24:13-End: Outro.
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