Paul Stamets
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Stamets (born July 17, 1955) is a mycologist and mushroom aficionado. He is on the editorial board of The International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, and an advisor to the Program for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School, Tucson, Arizona. He is active in researching the medicinal properties of mushrooms, and is involved in two NIH-funded clinical studies on cancer and HIV treatments using mushrooms as adjunct therapies. Having filed numerous patents on the antiviral, mycopesticidal, and mycoremediative properties of mushroom mycelia, his work has been called pioneering and visionary.[citation needed] A strong advocate of preserving biodiversity (mycodiversity), Stamets supports research into the role of mushrooms for ecological restoration.
Stamets has written numerous books and papers on the subject of mushroom identification and cultivation. He has also discovered four new species of mushrooms. He has a particular interest in the psychoactive mushrooms, and has produced the book, Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World. Aside from psilocybin mushrooms, he has also written about the cultivation and use of many edible and medicinal fungi.
Stamets is an advocate of the permaculture system of growing, and considers fungiculture a valuable but underutilised aspect of permaculture. He is also a leading researcher into the use of mushrooms in bioremediation, processes he terms mycoremediation and mycofiltration.
Stamets was the recipient of the "Bioneers Award" from The Collective Heritage Institute in 1998 and the "Founder of a New Northwest Award" from the Pacific Rim Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils in 1999.
He has a website called Fungi Perfecti that sells mushroom-related materials.
He has two children, Azureus and LaDena Stamets, and is married to Dusty Yao.
[edit] Books
- Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (2005, ISBN 1-58008-579-2)
- MycoMedicinals: An Informational Treatise on Mushrooms (1999, ISBN 0-9637971-9-0)
- Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World (1996, ISBN 0-89815-839-7)
- Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms (1996, ISBN 1-58008-175-4)
- Mushroom Cultivator, The (1983, ISBN 0-9610798-0-0)
- Psilocybe Mushrooms & Their Allies (1978, ISBN 0-930180-03-8)
[edit] External links
- Fungi Perfecti, Stamets's company.
- Radio interview with Stamets
