Eating Mushrooms

I heard that one of my friends ate a handful of mushrooms he found in the backyard. Nothing happened to him. By that I mean that he did not die instantly. A little internet research tells me that out of the thousands of mushroom varieties, a handful are poisonous and found in North America. Of those most won't kill you right away, but they could shut down your kidneys and kill you a week later. It's hardly surprising that of all the wild food, mushrooms have the greatest chance of being lethal. They grow in dank, shady spots and their odd curvy yet angular shapes look out of place in the natural world. I always wondered what kind of person in the course of history would pluck one off the ground and bite into, and now I know it's the same kind of person as my friend Rob.