Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Not for the New Forager October 19, 2008
Lots of lovely photographs of mushrooms but without the key found in many mushrooming books this book makes it difficult to identify mushrooms confidently in the wild.
OK as a cross-reference but could be (and has been) done better
 Excellent general guide November 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
You must ignore the reviews from Han-kwang and Alan Booth in this section. They both review a book or books which are not this one. Both of them talk about photographs. This book is not a photographic guide. The colour illustrations are by Duhem; the text is by Courtecuisse. This book is the general field guide in English which is most often referenced - even above Phillips - by expert field mycologists. I agree that it is not for the faint-hearted and probably best viewed as a purchase from which you will get most benefit after you know your way around the Phillips book.
This is the guide to get! October 24, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Two of the reviews below are for a later guide published under the Wildlife Trust banner, which is smaller, has fewer species and is a photographic guide.
THIS BOOKS IS NOT A PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE - it covers many many species, and has a full key. The drawings are very good. If you can find a copy, I think it is worth having, together with, say, the Philips book (which is photographic in nature, but the photographs are good quality as is the text.) However, it is not for the faint hearted - but then neither are funghi - a little practice with the techniques described and using the key will take an interested amateur a long way.
 Compact and rugged, but not practical October 20, 2004
20 out of 27 found this review helpful
The book is compact and has a rugged cover which makes it suitable to take with you when hunting for mushrooms. The book describes 414 mushroom species, each with a color photograph and a short but concise description. The mushrooms are sorted according to general shape, in five main categories and a category for miscellaneous shapes. Of course, suitability for consumption is listed for each species, ranging from "deadly poisonous" to "delicious".With any written description, one can quite reliably make a positive or negative match to a particular mushroom. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to find the description among the 414 that will give you the positive match. For most species, individual mushrooms can be quite variable in color and shape. In order to visually identify a mushroom, one needs a detailed view of both upper side of the cap and the gills or pores on the underside. Unfortunately, allmost all photographs show the mushrooms from the side, which hides many of these essential identification clues. The book lacks an identification key: a list of simple questions such as "are the gills connected to the stem (yes/no)" that will lead you to likely candidates. As a beginner you will be lost. For example, russula and lactarius species are actually very easy to recognize as a group, but by reading the book you will wonder why they are grouped together in a separate category. I found a better book (by Henning Knudsen and Jens H. Petersen) which unfortunately isn't available in English that has an identification key and more-useful photographs, which more than compensates for the smaller number (230) of described species. I use Garnweidner's book as a second opinion when I doubt. Note: I read the Swedish translation ("Svampar") of the book which is originally in German ("GU Naturführer Pilze").
colins wild guide mushrooms & toadstools January 5, 2004
6 out of 12 found this review helpful
it is a good book,but is a photographic id guide,and not colour drawings.
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