nature and ecology

I've heard this book referred to as "the Bible" of mushrooms. This book is written for novice and seasoned mushroom hunters alike. This is a good key for species and is an excellent text to familiarize yourself with the kingdom of the Fungi. Arora does a good job of making the subject accessible to all interested readers. This book exceeds the quality of other field guides, such as Peterson's Mushrooms field guide by Kent McKnight (not that McKnight's book is bad). Mushrooms Demystified is a good addition to any mushroom field guide as a careful double-check of identification (especially before eating your find!).

This is probably the best field guide ever done on the subject. Although I was a neurobiology student in grad school, I had an interest in mycology and took every mycology, lichenology, and non-vascular plant course offered at San Francisco State by the great mycologist, Dr. Harry Thiers, so I've had instruction in the subject by the best. And although the academic specialists have done better books on the individual genera, this is still the best overall "nature guide" type book. Just the photographs themselves are worth the price of the book, because they're gorgeous. There is also plenty of information on other topics besides the description and identification material, such as how fungi reproduce, their distribution and ecology, edibility and toxicology, and many other interesting subjects.

The one criticism I've heard about the book from the professional mycologists is that Arora did not do microscopic analysis on his specimens so as to actually prove what species it is. If you approach the book from the standpoint of this being the best book on the art and science of mushroom identification based on macroscopically observable features, you will be fine. It is Arora's expertise in this aspect of mycology and the detailed and clear descriptions of the species for identification purposes that is exceptional about this guide.

Fun and Fancy. Can't be beat, especially for the Pacific Northwest.