Review by Choice Review
Less/oe's book should be in the library of any one with any interest in mushrooms, particularly if they are collecting mushrooms as food. After a brief introduction, the fungi are divided into 16 groups based on their most prominent character. Within the larger groups there are subdivisions based on very easily observable features. More than 500 species are illustrated in some 2,300 color photographs of freshly collected specimens. Each species occupies at least a half page with crucial information that will allow almost anyone to make the correct assignment to genus and species. Most of the common fungi species of northern temperate regions, both North American and northern Europe, are well illustrated with indications of edibility included for all. A must for libraries. J. Dawson; Pittsburg State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
This publisher's exceptional Eyewitness Handbooks series has published identification guides to birds, aquarium fish, butterflies, cats, dogs, and fossils, among other aspects of the natural world. Written and researched by mycologists, the latest in the series is a quintessential guide to hundreds of mushrooms. (There are an estimated 1.5 million species worldwide and only about 80,000 have been documented.) Each entry includes a meticulous description, along with detailed color photographs and artwork showing each species in its natural habitat. There are color-coded bands providing data on fruiting season, size, spore deposit, edibility, and color. Identification is made easier by the organization of mushrooms by shape, with major categories subdivided by such characteristics as gill arrangement or flesh type. This highly informative pocket guide contains 2,300 color photographs and illustrations of more than 500 species of mushrooms. --George Cohen
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
