Mushrooms: River Cottage Handbook No.1 (River Cottage Handbook) | 
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| Author: John Wright
Brand: Books
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £5.63
You Save: £7.36 (57%)
New (27) Used (6) from £5.63
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 345
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0747589321
EAN: 9780747589327
ASIN: 0747589321
Publication Date: September 3, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: UK SELLER__IN STOCK__Immediate Dispatch (Mon to Fri)_Protective Packaging__Trusted Bucks Retailer__FAST DELIVERY__book cover may vary
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Product Description
Explains the ins and outs of collecting, including relevant UK laws, conservation notes, practical tips and identification techniques. This book includes 72 species we are most likely to come across during forays in Britain's forests and clearings. It als
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Yes it covers Magic Mushrooms June 30, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a great book, it's small enough to carry with you but contains a dizzying amount of information. If you're a beginner I don't think you could find a more witty, informative and genuinely interesting book to get you started. Even though it's not really a cover-to-cover book I did read it all in one sitting anyway.
Sadly, I haven't put the book into practice yet, spore testing is crucial but my colour perception is rubbish so I need to persuade someone to help me. The point this book hammers home very, very clearly is if in doubt, don't eat it or it could cost your life.
Mushrooms Can Save Earth! February 8, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Absolutely Love This Book, And I Love Growing Mushrooms, And According Mushrooms Are Very Good For The Environment;
"Microscopic cells called "mycelium"--the fruit of which are mushrooms --recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essential elements as they break down plant and animal debris in the creation of rich new soil. What fungi expert Paul Stamets has discovered is that mycelium also breaks down hydrocarbons --the base structure in many pollutants."
Woop!
Keep Recycling! :]]
The only mushroom book! January 7, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have long been interested in edible fungi, and have always wanted to eat what I have foraged. One thing stood in my way, would I die?
I bought a book on mushrooms, hurried home to read it, only to find out that it was far from reassuring. I have repeated this several times, each book raising more questions than it answered. There always seemed to be room for error, and after all, you don't want to make an error!
I finally bought John Wright's book, it is far and away the best and most thorough book I have read, and he does it in a pleasant and funny manner.
I have since picked and eaten some mushrooms, and am yet not dead! Hooray!
super little book November 8, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is the perfect book for those interested in identifying all those mushrooms...whether they be in your back garden or out in the forest.
Very cleverly written, easy to read, concise, and excellent discriptions and pictures. The size of the book is also perfect for bringing out in your coat pocket, when you are rambling around doing your detective work.
The author is also very witty and makes the book a really enjoybale read!
 A sheer delight - though necessarily brief November 2, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This River Cottage Handbook, `Mushrooms' by John Wright, is a genuinely funny and hugely informative guide to mushroom and toadstools with some useful cooking tips and recipes too. (Some are even simple enough to try!)
Although this is a River Cottage book it's not by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall; he does write a short introduction which viewers of the series will recognise as an account from one of the River Cottage shows. Fortunately, John Wright is a worthy (and appropriate) River Cottage author.
The book is divided into five sections:
Starting Out (p8-39)
Edible Species (p40-135)
Poisonous Species (p136-179)
Recipes (p180-245)
The End - comprising: index, useful addresses, etc. (p246-256)
`Starting Out' briefly addresses such things as mushroom collection, conservation, identification methods, glossary, etc. and includes the obligatory `key'. While Wright's key is about 10 pages, he notes `... it is not as daunting as many others - I have one that is nearly 500 pages long', it is still nearly impossible to use for extreme fungi novices like my wife and I. Still, it seems to be a necessary evil as fungi identification is supremely difficult.
As noted in other reviews, Wright's approach has been to identify just the edible and poisonous species so if the specimen you have is not one of the hundred or so here, don't eat it! This, of course, means that when you go out looking you will see lots that you can't identify. (Indeed (as extreme novices), we could only indentify about 10% of what we saw from this book.)
So this book is small enough to take out on a forage but can't cover most fungi species. However, it is easily good enough and entertaining enough to read cover-to-cover, unlike most others. While it'll make you laugh every now and then, it'll also teach you masses about mushrooms and toadstools. We love it.
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