Customer Reviews
Definitive reference book - By: Bluebell, 13 Nov 2008 
Until I bought this book I was afraid to cook wild mushroomsin case I poisoned people. The photographs & clear descriptions of the characteristics of different fungiin this marvelous book are so good that I now feel confident to pick a number of different mushrooms & I haven't made anyone ill, yet! The author also, helpfully, points out what the fungi taste like as there are many that are edible, but not worth eating. Recommended.
If you only buy one field ID book, get this one. - By: G. Henry-Stogdon, 21 Oct 2008 Like many people, the original edition of this book was my first field ID book on fungi. Being so familiar with it's structure, it is really easy for me to locate something I've foundin Roger Phillips' book. The simple key at the beginning usually gets you straight to the right section of the book to identify your mushroom. Happily for me, the structure of the original is preservedin this new edition.
As I have progressed with my mycophilia over the years I have acquired most of the readily available field guides on the market. This is the inevitable curse of the mushroom hunter. There are always a number of species coveredin each new guide that do not appearin the others. I am always seeking the one perfect field guide. The truth is, you often need to check a particular specimenin several, but I always come back to the Phillips.
The key to this book's success must be the consistently high quality of the photographs. He is a fantastic photographer & despite (or perhaps because of)his insistence on removing the specimens to a studio, these images capture accurately the essential details of each species. Compare the perhaps more erudite Encyclopedia by M. Jordan, where each example is photographedin situ; I find I am often hardly able to recognise the fungusin front of me from the image capturedin the shifting natural light of Jordan's less adept photography. Phillips maintains his attention to quality imagesin this new edition, with many new entries to the guide.
Hats off to this most excellent of mushroom books & its author.
P.S. If there is one perfect book on fungi ID, relevant to the UK, then J.Breitenbach & F.Kranzlin "Fungi of Switzerland" would be the one. However, this is nowin 6 weighty tomes at about £90 a volume. Not exactly a portable field guide then.
Brilliant reference book - By: R. Shephard, 17 Oct 2008 Excellent book, clear descriptions & photographs of thousands of fungi. A must for anyone serious about fungi.
Good, but not a field guide - By: Mr. J. Horsfall, 16 Oct 2008 As the other reviewers have said this is a very good book. It has very good photos & descriptions for virtually everything you'll come acrossin the UK. But it is too big to fitin your pocket (I put itin my rucksack), & it lacks a key for aiding identification. It is a brilliant book nonetheless, I'm just waiting for a decent pocket sized book with key, so I can leave this one at home to bring samples back to when I can't quite work out what something is. Until then this is one of the best books for those who are serious about identifying mushrooms, for fun, for eating, or for recording species.
The Best Buy Yet - By: B. Hafford, 16 Oct 2007 For someone who appreciates flora & fauna AND good books - This is a fantastic buy. As a relative beginner to the world of fungi, this book ticks all the boxes for a reference book (so probably a bit big for the field). There are loads of information (basic & advanced) on each fungus & of particular interest to me: The common name of most of the fungi is included. Our fungi have been named with elaborate & humorous names which I find easier to remember than the Latin name. I mainly have a culinary interestin mushrooms & this has great notes on edibility & the fact that you need to know which ones CAN'T be eaten, so congratulations on a truly great piece of work.
