6. Sniffing Old Books Gets You High (Or At Least Takes The Edge Off)
Sorry kids, but hanging out in the rare books section of the library won't send you on a hallucinogenic journey down the rabbit hole. You're better off trying to steal one of the books and using the money from fencing it to buy your drug of choice. The idea of the writers, historians, and artists of years past receiving divine inspiration not from above or their own inner genius but rather some book rot isn't a
bad theory. The thing is, it's
just a theory. Considering all of the assorted mushrooms and fungi out there with hallucinogenic or otherwise psychoactive properties, it wouldn't be at all surprising if some of them were the kind to grow on old books. However, at this point no one has tested this idea. Most likely it would take very concentrated doses over a very long period of exposure, but we still don't know for sure. How concentrated? How long a period of exposure? Are those effects the same as taking one super-concentrated dose orally? Besides that, the best contemporary anecdotes we have (though of course, the plural of anecdote is not data), side effects of hanging out in the rare books stacks may not all be fun and pink elephants. Other reported effects include dizziness and violent nausea things that are certainly more debilitating than inspiring.