A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America (Peterson Field Guide Series) (Paperback)

~ Kent H. McKnight (Author, Illustrator), Vera B. McKnight (Author) "This Field Guide is designed to make your mushroom collecting outings as safe and enjoyable as possible..." (more)
Key Phrases: extending down stalk, colored like cap, spores elliptic, Rocky Mts, Great Lakes, Great Plains (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

More than 1,000 species of mushrooms described in detail. Over 700 paintings and drawings reveal subtle field marks that cannot be captured into photographs.

About the Author

Kent H. McKnight is the author of A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America (Peterson Field Guides(R)), published by Houghton Mifflin Harcout. 

Vera B. McKnight is the illustrator for Peterson Field Guides to Mushrooms, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world"s greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars, and the Peterson Field Guides® are credited with helping to set the stage for the environmental movement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Rei Sub edition (February 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395910900
• ISBN-13: 978-0395910900
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,043 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still a standard field guide to fungi, November 21, 2005

By	Christopher J. Sharpe "Chris Sharpe" (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This field guide is nearly twenty years old, but there are so few field guides to fungi that it still remains a standard reference. Like all Peterson field guides, it is handy and compact and can easily be taken into the field and pored over with the mushrooms in their wild habitat. The text is detailed and accurate and a "similar species" section is very useful. However, this guide uses painted plates whereas amateurs generally find it easier to identify fungi by photographs. I personally find photographs more accurate, but enjoy paintings in their own right. In this case the paintings are pleasing and quite faithful.

Although this guide should be on every mushroom enthusiast's shelves, a better beginners guide might be Roger Phillips' photographic book which has now appeared in a revised edition (on Amazon.com: ISBN 1554071151). Phillips provides 1000 photographs compared to this guide's 700 illustrations. However, Phillips is rather large to take into the field except in a backpack. Bear in mind that no fungus guide is comprehensive - each treats a selection of species - so it is wise to have a good selection in order to be in with a chance of correct identification.

So, until a compact photographic guide to fungi appears, this tried and tested Peterson guide will continue to fill a niche in the mushroom hunter's library.

44 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars mushroom field guide, July 3, 2000

By	michael t. fleming (pocatello, id United States) - See all my reviews

I found this book to be well illustrated. And although not as comprehensive as i'd hoped, it is still the most complete guide I have found. Overall, I feel it is well above average--and I'm quite hard to please!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you are beginning, start with this one., October 21, 2007

By	J. Rapp (Columbia, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We own several different guides. Each has it's own strength. I recommend this as the first guide for those beginning to identify MR/Fungi. It covers most of the basic MR/Fungi family, but is not encylopedic as Arora's 'Mushrooms Demystified' attempts to be, nor does it have the number of color photographs that either the Falcon Guide 'North American Mushrooms' or Audubon's Field Guide. But it's one of the easiest to use beginning with 48 (mostly color) plates, then branching off into related species.