Roger Phillips - Mushrooms

[falling rain]

A new book by Roger Phillips http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...6-2047052?v=glance&n=266239&s=books&v=glance- I bought this yesterday and it's excellent - almost encyclopedic and by far the most comprehensive work I've ever seen on mushrooms. The date on Amazon says 18th August but it's out now. I also bought 'Mushroom hunting' by Patrick Harding which is also an excellent book with tips on ........................hunting mushrooms surprisingly enough. Very good information on cooking tips, where to look for specific species, different ways of preserving mushrooms excellent photos and lookalikes that can be confused. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/000721507X/202-8749566-2047052?v=glance&n=266239&s=books&v=glance
I've never been impressed with mushroom books in the past but these 2 are excellent. Roger Phillips book is more like an encyclopedia and is a coffee table book but very good, and Patrick Harding's Mushroom Hunting is an ideal book to take out with when going on a foray - highly recommended

 

[Marts]

Roger's website is also quite useful

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/

 

[Beer Monster]

Is this a reprint of his original (ISBN 0330264419 ) or is this a completely new book?

 

[falling rain]

Is this a reprint of his original (ISBN 0330264419 ) or is this a completely new book?

No it's not a reprint. It's a completely new book and it's taken him 30 years to put it together. It's very comprehensive 'bible' of mushrooms.
If your're a bit of a novice on Mushrooms like me I can't recommend Patrick Hardings book enough either

 

[M@rk]

Falling run have you got the book Beer Monster is referring to if you have what would you say the main difference is? Roger Phillips has done some cracking books and not just about fungi. I think I’ll have to get myself down to a book shop and have a look.

 

[falling rain]

'Falling run'

I havn't got the book Beer monster is refering to but I have got 'wild food' and the wildflower book by Roger phillips. I'd say the difference is that the new book is more like 'bible' of mushrooms, funghi, toadstools etc and one for the coffee table rather than to lunk about in the outdoors. I spent several hours yesterday leafing through it and didn't get bored. It surely must be the most comprehensive book on Mushrooms ever written. It tells you which type of habitat each species prefers and under/on which trees they grow, parts of the country you're likely to find them etc. Edibility/inedibility/poisonous/hallucigenic etc Photos of every single species and each species from different views to aid identification IE upside down fore the underside of gills etc, and a 'cut through' photo. Well worth the price

 

[M@rk]

Falling run practising typing with two hands and the fingers seem to go faster then brain

The book dose sound interesting I’ll definitely have to get down to a shop and have a look although Mushrooms and fungi of great Britain & Europe by roger Phillips is a superb book if he’s improved on that it will be impressive.

 

[Tony]

Cool, I'll have to have a look at that, I was trying to ID some fungi the other day and it's always good to have some more books on it

 

[Marts]

As far as i'm aware the new book is an updated version of the old one. Apparently he has been promising it for several years now. The mycologist I go on fungi forays with told me that it was coming last year, as he's contributed several photos for the new edition.

 

[falling rain]

As far as i'm aware the new book is an updated version of the old one. Apparently he has been promising it for several years now. The mycologist I go on fungi forays with told me that it was coming last year, as he's contributed several photos for the new edition.

It's not an updated version of the old one. It looks nothing like it. It's a completely new work. The only thing that is the same is the subject.

 

[Marts]

By updating I mean that he has gone back and re-produced his definitive version of a fungi book.

 

[Klenchblaize]

I’m sure the book would be very useful but what I long to see is something produced that will survive real in-the-field conditions. Something similarly informative but printed in a water & tear proof format, rather like those yellow field notebooks, would be great.

Am I alone in bemoaning this omission or does such a “leave it in your rucksack and forget” field-guide already exist via another author/publisher?

Cheers


K

 

[M@rk]

i use Fungi by Shelley Evans if it's a new shroom to me when I get home I like to cross reference two or three times before I’ll eat it. When eating out you should be very confident with your identification. I personally can't always do that from one book so sometimes take a Collins gem as well.

 

[Moonraker]

By updating I mean that he has gone back and re-produced his definitive version of a fungi book.

It's also got nearly 100 more pages

It is a similar format but bigger, with more content (more photos including more in the wild) and has revised details including BAP and Red List fungi identified (those under threat).

It's also entitled 'Mushrooms' rather than 'Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe'

The Amazon synopsis:

The culmination of over thirty years' work, this authoritative and superbly illustrated reference work is packed with the most up-to-date information and original photographs. Set to become the essential illustrated mycological encyclopedia for the next 25 years, this book is also clear, user friendly and will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Unsurpassed in both illustrative and descriptive detail, "Mushrooms" contains over 1,250 photographs, often showing the specimens in various stages of growth, and including all the latest botanical and common names as well as current ecological information on endangered species.

Having sold more than 750,000 copies in Europe of his previous title on mushrooms, Roger Phillips' new book once again sets the benchmark. Quite simply, nobody with an interest in the subject can afford to be without this book.

Endorsements:
'Roger Phillips has written the best mushroom book I know: the sublime taxonomic accuracy of his descriptions and photographs, combined with an evangelical and infectious passion for the subject, will make an instant mycophile of anyone who picks it up.'
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

'A masterpiece of identification.'
David Bellamy.

British Mycological Society recommendations are much the same, heading up with the new book;

The most comprehensive photographic field guide for collecting mushrooms and other fungi is

Roger Phillips’ Mushrooms (2006; Macmillan, ISBN: 0330442376).

This is a large book; a pocket-sized alternative that also has excellent photographs is

Edmund Garnweidner’s Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe in the Collins Nature Guides series (1994: HarperCollins, ISBN 0261674064).

Also helpful and entertaining are:

T. Laessøe and A. Del Conte, The Mushroom Book, (1996; Dorling Kindersley, ISBN: 0789410737)

D. Pegler, The Easy Edible Mushroom Guide, (1999; Aurum Press, ISBN 1854106317)

R. Gillmor, N. Hammond, P. Harding, T. Lyon, and G. Tomblin, Collins How to Identify Edible Mushrooms, (1999; Harper Collins, ISBN 000219984X)

P. Jordan and S. Wheeler, The Practical Mushroom Encyclopedia: Identifying, Picking and Cooking with Mushrooms, (2000; Anness Publishing, ISBN 1842152432).

source: http://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/

I have the original one which has served my very well over the last 20 years and is suitably creased and stained, but have this one on order to keep for reference at home.