In the Company of Mushrooms: A Biologist's Tale (Paperback)

~ Elio Schaechter (Author)
Key Phrases: mushroom clubs, eating wild mushrooms, gilled mushrooms, North America, United States, New England (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Call them the foot soldiers of the forest floor. Unassuming and prolific, mushrooms clear a path for new life by expertly and efficiently recycling accumulated dead matter, from the tiniest leaf to the tallest tree. It may sound like a dirty, thankless job, but as microbiologist and author Elio Schaechter enthusiastically notes, we should be singing praises to the fungi of the Earth; without them, all but the tallest of creatures would be buried under a global blanket of decomposing matter. Schaechter is obviously fascinated by his subject, and his spirit is contagious, making In the Company of Mushrooms as entertaining as it is informative. Though the book serves as a guide to hunting, identifying, and classifying mushrooms--including where to look, what tools are necessary, and how to discern the flavorful from the deadly--its primary aim is to convey the wonders of the fungi world and its essential function in nature. Along the way Schaechter discusses the history of the mushroom and its role in the diets and healing practices of both ancient and modern cultures. He also offers such delectable tidbits as the fact that fungi are more closely related to humans than plants on the evolutionary scale. Mycology has never been so engaging. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

As a microbiologist and professor emeritus at Tufts University School of Medicine, Schaechter brings a scientist's perspective to this popular treatment of an increasingly popular subject. He covers the whole mushroom: biology and life history, common wild and cultivated species, clubs and collecting, eating, and hallucinogenic and poisonous mushrooms. The author enthusiastically entertains and informs the reader with his worldwide personal experiences as a mushroom gatherer and gourmet and as a consultant to the Boston Poison Center. He provides an annotated list of resources that includes books, periodicals, events, and names and addresses of U.S. and Canadian clubs. Not a detailed field guide, cookbook, or textbook, this work is an excellent choice for the curious but perhaps biology-deficient reader who would like to know a little more about mushrooms. Best for public libraries and browsing collections in academic libraries.?William H. Wiese, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (October 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674445554
• ISBN-13: 978-0674445550
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #437,641 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC !!!, October 7, 1999

By	Jim & Sylvia DuLaney "jimdulaney" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Company of Mushrooms: A Biologist's Tale (Hardcover)

As a 'shroomer' of some years, I have collected more than my share of mushroom field guides, but have alway wanted to know more than simply how to identify mushrooms. This is the perfect book for that purpose. Professor Scaechter covers everything and more, from history to language to cooking to biology to chemistry to toxins, and then onward to all kinds of interesting facts and insights that I wouldn't even have thought of asking about.

Buy the field guides, of course, but buy this book if you love mushrooms and mushrooming.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unusual enthusiasm,wonderfully shared., January 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Company of Mushrooms: A Biologist's Tale (Hardcover)

The author is one of those rare souls who can take an unpromising topic and, through some alchemy of affection and skill, render it not only palatable but positively fascinating.
Professor Schaechter is a lover of mushrooms. In his hands these seemingly ignoble denizens of rotting tree trunks and forest floors, neither plants nor animals, become not only interesting, but beautiful as well. He considers the biology and history of the mushroom, the uses and dangers; the entire interrelationship of human and fungus in fact, in a warm and engaging narrative style which brings the reader along for a most enjoyable biology lesson. Every branch of learning should have an Elio Schaechter.

(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quirky, Informative, Readable, October 21, 2000

By	E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: In the Company of Mushrooms: A Biologist's Tale (Hardcover)

"In the Company of Mushrooms" is one of those quirky, informative, and eminently readable natural history books that inhabits the same sub-genre as "The Infinite River", "Near Horizons", and "Rats, Lice, and History". Even though I'm not a mushroom hunter myself, I enjoyed reading Schaechter's tale of mushrooms that can wreck trains, emit toxic fumes that have been used for rocket fuel, and send otherwise ordinary humans into gastronmical ecstasies (or gastrointestinal agonies, depending on the species). The author points out that you can eat any mushroom once, and then goes on to quote, "There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters."

If you enjoy the thrill of a morel hunt and its tasty aftermath, or are an armchair naturalist who would like to read a well-written investigation into the secret life of fungi, "In the Company of Mushrooms" will both nourish and instruct you. Just remember that there are two tons of fungi for every human on the planet!