Haven't technically read the entire thing, but a lot of this is cultivation technique. It's half reference manual, and half non-fiction about the miracle and power of mycelium, fungus, and mushrooms. Everyone interested in gardening or the earth should read at least the first few chapters. ( )

Haven't technically read the entire thing, but a lot of this is cultivation technique. It's half reference manual, and half non-fiction about the miracle and power of mycelium, fungus, and mushrooms. Everyone interested in gardening or the earth should read at least the first few chapters. ( )

Good book to dip into, but feels a little like an encyclopedia with many many entries on exotic mushrooms that I suspect I may never encounter. ( )

Growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment

Overview

Four kinds of mushrooms:
*Saprophytic - decomposers [primary, secondary, tertiary]
*Parasitic - “blights of the forest or agents for habitat restoration?”
*Mycorrhizal - “fungus and plant partnerships”
*Endophytic - mutualistic, fungal partnerships

Mycorestoration:
*Mycofiltration - filtering out manure
*Mycoforestry - preventing parasitic fungi with other fungi
*Mycoremediation - restoring logging roads, digesting diesel fuel, collecting radiation and heavy metals
*Mycopesticides - ant-proofing your house

Growing Mycelia and Mushrooms:
*Inoculation Methods: Spores, Spawn, and Stem Butts
*Cultivating Mushrooms on Straw and Leached Cow Manure
*Cultivating Mushrooms on Logs and Stumps
*Gardening with Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
*Nutritional Properties of Mushrooms
*Magnificent Mushrooms: The Cast of Species

Reception

I absolutely loved this book. It’s basically an overview of what a first grader should know about the fungal kingdom. Unfortunately, probably only about 1% of the US population have a rudimentary understanding of mushrooms.

For people who like science: this is your book. Genus and species. Scientific papers. This book is full of science.

For permaculturists: you should read this too. Restoration agriculture. Bioremediation. Ecology.

And for herbalists and healers: mushrooms are your allies! Mushrooms can cure pretty much anything.

Mushrooms are the Wild West right now. Compared to other sectors of the natural world, we know almost nothing about them. Join the pioneers and become a mycologist!

In summary, the subtitle of this book is right on; mushrooms could save the world. ( )