Mushrooming Without Fear: The Beginner's Guide to Collecting Safe and Delicious Mushrooms

This book has some shortcomings. It doesn't cover many varieties of mushrooms, and it is ultra-conservative in the rules for collection. Still, for the beginner who wants to get out there and start hunting, this is the best book to start with. Mushrooms Covered: Cep or King Bolete Red Cracked Bolete Hen of the Woods Larch Bolete Bay Bolete Birch Bolete Chanterelle Trumpet (Winter) Chanterelle Hedgehog Common Puffballs Horn of Plenty Cauliflower Yep, that is the whole list. The good news is that these are all fairly common mushrooms, and some of the notes on each are really illuminating. For example there are tons of Boletes in the Pacific Northwest where I do my hunting, and telling them apart can be a real head scratcher. The photos and description of the white network on the stem of the King is very clear and makes identification almost foolproof. Also, the section about ridges vs gills was helpful. Chanterelles have ridges and not gills, and since most hunters would love to bag some Chanterelles, this clear distinction is really helpful. The first time I was out with a guide we were looking for Chanterelles and I was told to look for ridges rather than gills. It sounds like a no-brainer when you say it, but in the field, when you are first starting out, it can actually get confusing. The three pages in this book that explain ridges are succinct and clear and about all you need to understand the distinction. Maybe Alexander Schwab would consider doing a Mushrooming Without Fear 2 that would cover the same number of mushrooms this book does, but taking on some more challenging ones. My request would be for fairy Ring Mushrooms, Pine Mushrooms (White Matsutake), Aspen Bolete, Shaggy Mane, Oyster, and the Blewit.

This book is great for beginners just starting out on their journey of being a mushroom hunter. I ordered this book and found it to be very helpful in identifying edible plants. Would recommend this book to anyone serious about mushrooming.

There are, indeed, hundreds of color pictures in this book (a must for field guides, in my opinion), and great step-by-step instructions. However, do not be misled... this is strongly oriented toward helping mushrooming beginners to get started. Only twelve (not 700+) types of mushrooms are identified, and while it seems to be a good selection I found myself wanting to be able to identify other mushrooms I've found, good or bad. With all the pictures, this book is an easy read. I finished it in about an hour. The pictures and checklists are well organized. In summary, I love the book and recommend it as a beginning mushrooming guide -- with caveats. It does a great (maybe overzealous) job of eliminating riskier candidates. However, even with the small number of mushrooms covered, it may be slightly oversimplified in spots. It would be discouraging to start into this hobby and not be able to find any of these twelve varieties, yet pass by other excellent candidates. Then again, you have to start somewhere...

This book has clear guidelines and excellent photographs. No nonsense and easy to follow. As novice mushroom seekers who really just want to find snacks, this is a solid book to start with. No morels included - but they're easy to ID. Only wish would be a smaller size to stuff in a backpack. Worthy purchase!

I never write reviews although I have several books on mushrooming including a couple by Micheal Kuo which I also like very well.But I've decided that this book warrants my praise . It's a great little book with great color pictures and checklist guides for picking about 12 of the most popular varieties with the exception of Morels . This book has taken away my fears about mushrooming and has even encouraged me and made me anxious to get started . If after reading and following the guides in the book to the letter you happen to pick a poisonous variety,then you probably aren't following instructions. I feel this book is almost a foolproof in it's simplicity you'll not be burdened with a lot of scientific jargain . If you were ever curious about picking wild mushrooms but were afraid then BUY THIS BOOK