Good mushroom identification book

[lonefish]

Hi All,

Any recommendations for a good mushroom identification book? With all the wet weather they seem to be out earlier this year and I keep coming across them on walks with the kids. Getting a bit bored of 'whats that tree?' and thought 'whats that mushroom' might add a bit of variety!

I guess I'm looking for an easy to use guide to common mushrooms, not an all out encyclopaedia.

Thanks

Rich

 

[Kepis]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376

One of the best without a shadow of a doubt

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Com...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315422676&sr=1-2

Best bet is to find your local Wildlife Trust or similar organisation and get yourself booked on a Mycology course, i did one a couple of years back and it was fascinating and fairly cheap as well, nothing quite like listenting to and learning from an expert and having hands on experience of the shrooms as well.

 

[lonefish]

Thanks Kepis, both look like good options. True I should get on a course, I have done some mushroom identification on bushcraft courses before but always seem to forget everything by the time I'm ready to practice it again! I need constant practice to make sure anything like this sticks in the grey matter.

 

[jimbo75]

the river cottage one is excellent.

 

[Nonsuch]

For me, this is the one. Portable, easy to use, has photos, drawings emphasising the features to look for, and opposite each fungus, pictures of look-alikes, so you can be sure you are not IDing the wrong one. This is the one I use all the time now

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edible-Mush...=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315424339&sr=1-5

 

[Geoff Dann]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376

One of the best without a shadow of a doubt

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Com...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315422676&sr=1-2

Best bet is to find your local Wildlife Trust or similar organisation and get yourself booked on a Mycology course, i did one a couple of years back and it was fascinating and fairly cheap as well, nothing quite like listenting to and learning from an expert and having hands on experience of the shrooms as well.

Yep, these two and Michael Jordan's book. My own opinion is everything else, including those recomended in this thread, aren't really good enough. There's too much that isn't in them. And you need all three.

 

[kodiakjoe]

+1 on the Roger Phillips as an excellent home reference text, new edition is great. Not the most portable though, team it up with a good pocket guide

 

[demographic]

Buy one that tells you what colour the spore print listed as its a valuable guide to identification.

Also its worth having squares of card that are half black and half white so when you put the mushroom cap on it to get a spore print you can see it if its either dark or white.
White square of card with a black half prit sticked on does nicely.
Sort of like this...

 

[yomperalex]

Another vote for Roger Phillips, we have a lot of books on fungi, and it is hime I use most. I have a small paperback for in the field and a large hardback for home use.

Alex

 

[lonefish]

demographic - like your idea of the 'spore card' will have to get some of those made up.

I liked the river cottage one simply because I like all Hugh's stuff but thought it might not be 'technical' enough.

Votes seem to be in for the Roger Phillips, thanks for all the comments.

 

[launditch1]

Another vote for the philips book.Not portable but i take pics of the 'shrooms i see out then look them up at home.
Remember, there are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old and bold mushroom hunters.