Collins Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe

[Adze]

This one:

...was £2.99 (rrp £8.99) in my local Booths the other day.

It's a bit of a bargain at that price (I reckon) if anyone unable to get to a Booths would like one - pm me and I'll see how many they've got left.

Cheers!

 

[xylaria]

The book is rubbish.

look up distroying angel, it doesnt say poisonous does it, then most known edibles are listed as poisonous. There is mistakes on most pages. it doesn't spilt inedible from toxic either.

 

[Robbi]

sounds like it could be a very dangerous book

 

[xylaria]

you can this one for 8 quid

The pocket gem is very good for the money, for a smaller easyier book.

 

[northumbrian]

you can this one for 8 quid

The pocket gem is very good for the money, for a smaller easyier book.

8 poond ?
yer were ripped mate .
never paid more than 5 including delivery.£3.27-amazon.

 

[Emdiesse]

Mushroom book, a little more than £8 but it is awesome

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330334630&sr=8-1

 

[Adze]

The book is rubbish.

I think that's a little harsh - the pictures are excellent and it's certainly helped identify more than a few mushrooms for me - for the photos alone I reckon it's worth the £2.99.

 

[Emdiesse]

I think that's a little harsh - the pictures are excellent and it's certainly helped identify more than a few mushrooms for me - for the photos alone I reckon it's worth the £2.99.

I have a lot of the collins gem books and now I realise that there are better books out there dedicated to each subject I have realised the potential for these handy sized guides as a pocket identification tool for when out on the field as opposed to a 'library' book. I also noticed how it draws a fine line between poisonous and edible where as some other books elaborate further and explain HOW poisonous and HOW tasty. However, also my understanding is that you should always cross-reference anyway so if it helps you identify a mushroom, that's great, but if you were unsure what it was in the first place to need to reference a book for identification then cross-referencing is always a good idea .

 

[Adze]

Absolutely - never use a single reference to identify something, you're asking for trouble if you do.

 

[hermitical]

Mushroom book, a little more than £8 but it is awesome

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330334630&sr=8-1

yep, this is a wonderful book, I used to have a copy till our first dog p*ssed all over it

 

[xylaria]

I am not been harsh the book has mistakes on nearly every page.
first page tylopilus fellus doesnt contain muscarine, and isnt poisonous, it is just bitter tasting slime.
second page boletus luridus nearly every other book discribes as edible when cooked, not just put a toxic skull and cross bones next to it.
third page boletus rhodoxanthus edible but rare no need for the skull and cross bones.
forth page boletus calopus the bitter bolete is inedibly bitter again no need for the skull and crossbones.
sixth page pepper bolete edible as seasoning.
ninth page strobilmyces strobilaceus edible but rare. porphyrellus porphyrosporus edible both labelled with skull +crossbones
I will stop there but I hope you are getting the picture.

The skull and cross bones is used whether a fungi is inedible, makes you ill or the edibiliy is unknown, but it is what is writen some other fungi that give me the opinion the book should either attacked with tipex or used as tinder;

stropharia semiglobata has no such skull and cross bones, but it is a well known halucenogenic.
Inocybe geophylla again no skull and cross bones , it is deadly.
amanita virosa well known deady. no mention of this at all.

 

[Emdiesse]

I am not been harsh the book has mistakes on nearly every page.
first page tylopilus fellus doesnt contain muscarine, and isnt poisonous, it is just bitter tasting slime.
second page boletus luridus nearly every other book discribes as edible when cooked, not just put a toxic skull and cross bones next to it.
third page boletus rhodoxanthus edible but rare no need for the skull and cross bones.
forth page boletus calopus the bitter bolete is inedibly bitter again no need for the skull and crossbones.
sixth page pepper bolete edible as seasoning.
ninth page strobilmyces strobilaceus edible but rare. porphyrellus porphyrosporus edible both labelled with skull +crossbones
I will stop there but I hope you are getting the picture.

The skull and cross bones is used whether a fungi is inedible, makes you ill or the edibiliy is unknown, but it is what is writen some other fungi that give me the opinion the book should either attacked with tipex or used as tinder;

stropharia semiglobata has no such skull and cross bones, but it is a well known halucenogenic.
Inocybe geophylla again no skull and cross bones , it is deadly.
amanita virosa well known deady. no mention of this at all.

This is exactly the reason why I bought my other books...
I wanted to know more about how inedible something was as many other books describe, as you have said, edibility when raw, cooked, wether it'll make you ill, severely ill, put you on a dialysis machine, give you cirrhosis, drop you dead on your tracks, 'make you ill, then better, then dead', etc!

Still a handy, cheap, pocket sized guide you can take out on a walk with you (take a few photos and then back to look up what I thought it was from collins in some of the other books I have).

I do agree with you on the edible/poisonous approach though.

 

[Adze]

Still a handy, cheap, pocket sized guide you can take out on a walk with you (take a few photos and then back to look up what I thought it was from collins in some of the other books I have).

Exactly what it's useful for and quite well put!

 

[Geoff Dann]

Mushroom book, a little more than £8 but it is awesome

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330334630&sr=8-1

It is awesome at £12. I'm on my third copy of the new edition, and still have my original of the original (now a bit of a collector's item).

 

[xylaria]

It is awesome at £12. I'm on my third copy of the new edition, and still have my original of the original (now a bit of a collector's item).

you know I have quite collection of roger phillips book but not fungi. The district recorder says the new buckzaci is awesome. i have twenty five year one i cut my teeth on. That is pretty cheap on amazon too.