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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's not the beer, it's the mold on the peanuts!, April 7, 2003
This review is from: Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds (Paperback)
"Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds" is a highly readable trip into the kingdom of what I used to think of as some of the most disgusting organisms on Earth--the fungus responsible for athlete's foot, for one ('Trichophyton rubrum'). The author, George W. Hudler is Professor of Plant Pathology at Cornell University where he offers a popular course that has the same name as this book. He also edits "Branching Out," a biweekly newsletter for tree care professionals in the northeastern United States. In fact some of the bleakest chapters in "Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds" concern the majestic species of trees that used to shade the American landscape. "Under the spreading chestnut tree" is no more--done in by the fungus 'Cryphonectria parasitica.' Professor Hudler also includes a deservedly little-known poem by Robert Frost, "Evil Tendencies Cancel" whose subject is the chestnut blight. Dutch Elm disease, whose most common conida (spores) resemble jelly beans on tiny black toothpicks has blighted our landscapes since World War I when it was first discovered in Holland. This fungus can actually be controlled as long as communities are willing to sustain a commitment--unfortunately the city where I live ran out of money and/or enthusiasm for preserving these lovely old trees, and I've been watching them die off one by one ever since we moved here twenty years ago. Grim anecdotes aside, this book is a lively mixture of scientific fact and an overview of how fungi have changed our lives. For instance, most of us were taught that Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin at St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1928. But Professor Hudler also relates that Joseph Lister, the father of antiseptic surgery used a penicillium mold extract to heal a young girl in Edinburgh in 1844. And three thousand years ago, the Chinese were using moldy soybean curd to cure skin infections. After explaining "What Fungi Do and How They Do it" in Chapter two, the author devotes several chapters to "Fungi as Pathogens of Food Crops." The fungus that turned Irish potato crops into a "putrid black mush" in the mid-eighteen-hundreds is 'Phytophthora infestans (once known as 'Botrytis infestans).' Potato blight also destroyed German food crops in 1915 and 1916, and over 700,000 Germans starved--possibly assuring the Allied victory over the Kaiser's troops in 1918. 'P. Infestans' also wreaks havoc in backyard tomato plantings in the northeastern United States (I can personally attest to this). Copper-based fungicide will control this fungus--in fact the Germans knew this during World War I, but their copper stocks were reserved for shell casings. Even more interesting is the chapter on "Ergot of Grain Crops" and ergotamine poisoning, which may have been responsible for such historical events as the medieval 'plagues of fire,' the witchcraft frenzies, and the Eleusian Mysteries in Classical Greece. LSD is only one of the alkaloids that can be derived from 'Claviceps purpurea,' the ergot fungus. Aside from deadly mycotoxins, putrid potatoes, and psychedelic mushrooms, the author also discusses fungi responsible for the production of life-saving drugs (not just penicillin), bread, beer, and wine. He goes into such loving detail over the production of the latter two yeast-based products that I'm led to wonder if he is an amateur vintner or brewer. Incidentally, I learned that it's not the beer that will kill frequent tavern-goers--it's the mold on the free peanuts, which manufactures a potent carcinogen! Another very interesting book for budding (sorry) mycologists is "In the Company of Mushrooms: a Biologist's Tale" by Elio Schaechter.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
solid introduction to mycology, December 19, 2004
This review is from: Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds (Paperback)
The fungi are enormously important organisms in nearly every ecosystem, but their importance is rarely fully appreciated. Besides that, they are a fascinating life form, as mind bending as any creature from science fiction.
This book is a very brief introduction to fungi. The topic itself is fascinating, so it is no problem that the writing is only a tad better than typical academic writing.
Hudler covers:
* the structure of fungi and their classification
* their life-cycles and reproduction, spore travel including exploding cups
* the Armillaria bulbosa, the world's largest living organism and one of its oldest
* the fungus that caused the Irish potato famine
* the possibility that Joseph's famine in Exodus was caused by rust
* the origin of ginger snaps
* Dutch Elm disease and other tree diseases
* Ergot, which probably caused the hallucinations of the Salem witch trials, and maybe the experience of the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece, and from which we make LSD
* fungus and problems of food storage
* athlete's foot, ringworm, yeast infections and thrush
* penicillin (the details of its discovery and the growing resistance of microbes), shiitake and other mushrooms from Asian medicine; and of course Beano
* yeasts in baking and brewing
* brief look at edible mushrooms and poisonous ones
* magic mushrooms
* wood decay
* symbiosis with insects (leaf-cutter ants, termites and ambrosia beetles); and fungi that prey on insects, including houseflies and the gypsy moth
* symbiosis with plants, especially mychorrhizae
* lichens, which are generally symbiosis between fungi and algae (plants), but in some cases the fungi are evidently parasites (and this was interesting news to me!); the possibility that the Biblical manna from heaven was a lichen; and lichens that store and concentrate radioactive caesium, which are eaten by reindeer, which are eaten by humans, leading to radiation poisoning; and lichens as sources for oils, dyes and perfumes
Other reviewers are obviously raving about this book, but it has much too little detail for my taste. It's target audience is everyone, so the author backed away from scientific information which would have made the book much, much more fascinating. However, as an introduction to fungi for people with little or no scientific background, this book is perfect.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent text on fungal and human interaction!, January 5, 1999
By A Customer
This book is a great, easy to read, well written scientific text (although not overly technical) about fungi in our environment. The book covers topics such as plant and fungal interactions, serious outbreaks of diseases that have been caused by fungi, medical mycology, a brief history of psilocybin mushrooms, and many other extremely interesting and practical topics. I am actually using this book as a text for a class I am teaching this quarter at UCSC. I highly reccomend it to anyone looking to learn more about fungi, or increase their knowledge of specific fungi that have been problematic in our culture. It is smooth reading and keeps your attention. Hudler is an eloquent writer.
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