Customer Reviews

Mushrooms of Northeastern North America

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I live in the NY Adirondack Mountains and have been collecting mushrooms for years, trying to identify them. I almost gave up, but then I bought the Bessette/Fischer book, and identifying mushrooms became not only possilbe, but fun. The photographs are terrific, great aids for identification and often beautiful as well. The keys for identifying mushrooms within a specific genus are very useful - no book has room to illustrate all species, but these keys allow identification of mushrooms that "nearly match" the illustrated species. The book is the most comprehensive guide to mushrooms found in northeastern North America that I have found. Some of the standard "North American" field guides are good, but they all contain a great many species not found in this part of the country, which doesn't leave enough room to cover all of the fungi species commonly found here. George Barron's and William Roody's regional guides are also excellent, but not quite as comprehensive. If you live in the northeastern U.S., this is the one Mushroom Field Guide that you can't do without!

MNNA is a very good book, and has the finest keys I have ever found in any work on mushrooms. However, I find its coverage of certain groups of fungi to be in want of more detail. For example, the avid Russula student will find that few species have been included. The book could use more information on various genera, especially those which are in need of detailed systematic analysis, and more comprehensive data on the taxonomy of included fungi, which has been very neglected. I hope that a future edition of this book may correct some of these problems. Nevertheless, I reccomend Mushrooms of Northeastern North America to all serious amateur mycologists, you will find it to be an indispensable reference.

Alan Bessette is truly a great contributor to the field of mycology. Mushrooms of Northeastern North America is a fantastic book on its way to being the "bible" to species in the Northeast. A huge undertaking, Bessette does his best with a dichotomist key arrangement, making narrowing down the possibilities easier. Although aided by Fischers photographs, this guide is tremendously lacking quality, well organized, photographic detail. This book is not for the novice, as familiarity with mycological terms is necessary. I'm waiting for a new, up-to-date, thicker volume: MONNA revised.

This book is really impressive in its coverage. The description are quite complete (although somewhat lacking a section on the details differentiating one mushroom to its similar cousins) and the text is generally well organised. The reason why I gave only four stars to this book is simple: pictures and textual descriptions are separated in different sections! I guess I am still dreaming about a complete guide showing important identification details with pictures and text.

this book has a wealth of information but it is organized poorly. the mushrooms are listed alphabetically with the pictures (which are ridiculously tiny) clumped incoveiniently at the end of each section. the annoying organization will have you flipping back and forth. don't expect alot of extra information on edibility or background info. get mushrooms demystified by dave aurora first or instead of.

This is THE book on Northeastern Fungi. You probably don't want this for your first book on mycology, but if you have been studying mushrooms for a year or two and are looking for something a little meatier, this is a great choice.

The keys are comprehensive, and the index has the nice feature of listing mushrooms by their species epithet (the second half of the Latin name). This is particularly handy for finding fungi which have been moved from one genus to another.

Bessette includes plenty of microscopic details, though the keys do not generally require the use of a microscope or special chemicals.

The illustrations are really well done, with quite some attention paid to presenting diagnostic details in the photos. The illustrations and descriptive text are widely separated. I find this rather awkward, but this is only a bothersome quirk in an otherwise indispensible guide.

I do take this book into the field, but it is my primary reference for non-polypores in the lab.

This book was purchased at the request of my husband, who has been hunting and researching mushrooms for many years. We read many of the reviews posted and wondered if the pictures would be too small or blurry or confusing, but decided to try it anyway, and he just received it today and is quite satisfied with it; finds the format similar to other books he has and thinks it makes a great study book for those who are already pretty well informed. He particularly liked the section on boletes, and thinks the research is very comprehensive.

Overall I have found this book helpful, but the layout of the photo reference section and the descripition that matches the photo is a little confusing. It would have been better to give a page number at the bottom of each photo linking it to the written description. I personally went thru my book and crossed referenced the photo to the page with description. I would like to say that the section on boletes is one of the better ones that I have seen so far. I would personal like to see photos of each mushroom in its complete life cycle. Alot of mushrooms look alot different when young. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in mushroom hunting. It is a great addition to add for beginners to serious mushroom hunters that enjoy the outdoors.

This book, although slightly heavy for the backpack, is the best mushroom identification guide I have found. A fungus identification key will direct you toward the correct genera, and then several keys will help you hone in on a certain classification. This book has helped to identify many obscure fungi not ID'd in any other book. Should you choose to buy this book, be prepared; it is difficult to get used to (much page flipping). But bottom line, if you live in the northeast US, and are serious about mycology, you need this book.

The tempting potential of this book title is definitely not realized upon holding it in your hands.

Organized so that it doesn't facilitate ease of use, it falters as both a reference manual or guide. The photos are clumped at the back of each genus section with no correlating page numbers to link to the descriptions and the descriptions give no page numbers to link to the photos. Flip alphabetically through the photos and finally you will find what you are looking for. The color plates are small and not so helpful for identification. Who designs a book this way? The three authors of the book seem to want to make accessing their knowledge a difficult and aggravating procedure.

I should have returned this volume before I creased the spine with all my exasperated page flipping.
If your time is of the essence, this book will take up a lot of it.

Bassette's North American BOLETES is arranged the same way.