Book Recommendations Wanted

[cowshill]

Okay, I've been a member of WAB for about a week now, and I think I'm getting addicted already. Through my first year of fungi interest I've gotten by with a couple of light-weight field guides, but now it seems to be time to get into something more comprehensive. So of the various books on the market what do you recommend for a first REAL book on fungi identification?

Price IS a consideration, so I think we can rule out Fungi of Switzerland at this point.

- Jim

[SheffieldLass]

Will you be doing microscropy? If you will then Funga Nordica is extremely good value for money, though the keys use microscopic features much of the time, so not much use if you don't have a microscope ... No pretty pictures in the book, but it does come with Mycokey which has quite a few pictures.

Otherwise try to get your hands on a secondhand Collins Mushroom amd Toadstools of Britain and Europe by Courtecuisse and Duhem. I presume you've got Roger Phillips Mushrooms, and Michael Jordan's Encyclopedia already? If you haven't then they are probably first on the list to get.

Melanie

[NickCantle]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Otherwise try to get your hands on a secondhand Collins Mushroom amd Toadstools of Britain and Europe by Courtecuisse and Duhem.

That's not an easy task

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

That's not an easy task

You need savvy and a hunter's instinct ....

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Will you be doing microscropy? If you will then Funga Nordica is extremely good value for money, though the keys use microscopic features much of the time, so not much use if you don't have a microscope ... No pretty pictures in the book, but it does come with Mycokey which has quite a few pictures.

Otherwise try to get your hands on a secondhand Collins Mushroom amd Toadstools of Britain and Europe by Courtecuisse and Duhem. I presume you've got Roger Phillips Mushrooms, and Michael Jordan's Encyclopedia already? If you haven't then they are probably first on the list to get.

Melanie

Cheers Mel, excellent info and I will keep an eye open for Funga Nordica as I will be buying a microscope.

Ron

[cowshill]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Will you be doing microscropy?

Not at this point, Melanie, but I suspect eventually it will come to that. When I'm ready to take that step, you'll certainly see another post from me asking for more advice!

- Jim

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Cheers Mel, excellent info and I will keep an eye open for Funga Nordica as I will be buying a microscope.

Ron

It looks as if fungi have really got to you too! Excellent!

[Ditiola]

Jim
Roger Phillips is perhaps the best book to start with, however if you want to learn more about fungi in general and their identification without a microscope the following book might be useful ‘How to Identify Mushrooms to Genus 1 - Macroscopic Features' by David L Largent (1986) A lot of the fungus names will have changed but it is still useful for learning the principals and methods used in identification and study. The Courtecuisse & Duhem mentioned in the above replies, does also have quite a bit of information in the front and Keys using macroscopical features. If you use keys like these you can always search Google images with your keyed out species to check if you are in the right area. Although be careful when searching for fungi images on Google as the search software often tries to be too helpful by presenting a photo labelled with text from elsewhere on the same web page that the photo was on, and there are plenty of wrongly labelled photos out there, but you soon learn which sites have the most reliable and accurately labelled photos.

Peter

[cowshill]

Thanks Dittiola (and others preceding).

I think Phillips will probably be my next acquisition. But Largent sounds interesting. I'll definitely keep it in mind.

- Jim

[Lancashire Lad]

There are some useful book recommendations in the "What Books To Use" section of this page from the Northern Ireland Fungus Group website: -

Recording Tips

Of the "in-print" and readily available non-specialist books, the two most comprehensive are: -
Mushrooms, Roger Phillips.
The Encyclopedia of Fungi of Britain and Europe, Michael Jordan.

Those two are currently my main sources of reference, along with: -
Mushrooms & Toadstools of Britain and Europe, Andreas Gminder & Tanja Bohning. (Blacks Nature Guides).
Fungi, Shelley Evans & Geoffrey Kibby. (Dorling Kindersley Pocket Nature Guides)
Field Guide to Mushrooms and other fungi of Britain and Europe (New Holland Publishers)
Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe, Edward Garnweidner (Collins Nature Guides)

Just published this week, is the Collins Complete Guide To British Mushrooms And Toadstools by Paul Sterry and Barry Hughes (Harper Collins). (Ordered but not yet received so can't comment as yet).

Others to possibly keep a look out for might be: -
Collins Fungi Guide The Most Complete Field Guide to the Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe, by Stefan Buczacki and Christopher Shields (Harper Collins) - publication due 2010
and: -
Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-West Europe (New Edition), by Marcel Bon (Christopher Helm Publishers). - publication due in 2011.

Once you go beyond these general guides, you are into the more specialised (and sometimes considerably more expensive ) literature, as mentioned in some of the above posts.

Regards,
Mike.