Customer Reviews

The Great Encyclopedia of Mushrooms

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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This book is quite beautiful and scientific. There is very little advice on how to identify mushrooms, although the scientific classifications are emphasized. There is a useful glossary of mushroom "terms." There are sections that compare the properties of "look-alike" varieties. I was surprised that it only detailed one species of truffle and could not find any of the chinese mushrooms that I wanted to know more about. The index is not very useful, nor were there very many references to common names. There are many beautiful photographs, so I would recommend this book for those who like to look at interesting photos.

If you are a mushroom fanatic, this book has it all. Lots of pictures! It is really a thorough encyclopedia with scientific names and data too. You can look up fourteen deadly mushrooms, 100 poisonous mushrooms, plus every other mushroom in the world. The text is interesting, for example: "Poison Pie mushroom is not as bad as its name suggests, being merely indigestible by people with delicate stomachs." This book would be great for a report on mushrooms or as a handy reference to look up mushrooms.

Four plus stars for the book. Minus 1 for the distributor--myrockland. Warning: I paid for a new book and was sent a used one with a bent and scratched cover and writing inside. This was supposed to be a gift. So it is very disappointing that the book took nearly three weeks to arrive and was not new as promised. As for the book itself-- it is a super for beginning mushroom enthusiasts. The pictures and the identification information are very helpful. We find the look alikes particularly revealing as well. We appreciate the descriptions of where to find the mushrooms, how to recognize them and particularly their toxicity. Just in case we are tempted to taste.