Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America

I own several mushroom books, including most of the field guides. This book has been the most useful, but it is not perfect. I don't eat or smoke the mushrooms, so my interest is purely in photographing and identifying them. Here are my thoughts:The positives:1. I live in Florida, and I have been able to find most of the larger species in this book.2. For each species, it describes the cap, gills, stem, flesh, spores, habitat, season, and whether or not it is edible or poisonous.3. There is a photo of each species described in the book.4. It covers more species than most other books.5. It is great for someone who wants to identify mushrooms with pictures rather than keys, more for general interest than eating them.The negatives:1. There is no key to species--just pictures and descriptions--which is necessary for someone who intends to eat the mushrooms to verify identification.2. The pictures are only just average quality.3. The book is big and heavy--I wouldn't take it in the field with me.4. Polypores are undercovered, as are a number of southern mushroom species.5. Many of the exact pictures in the book can be found on Roger's mushroom website, so the website could be used instead of the book.Overall, I am happy I bought the book, and I think it's a nice addition to my library.

This is a much more in-depth and comprehensive field guide than some of the others I have read through. I would say a good supplementary reference for the budding or experienced mycologist that wants to up their mushroom identification game, but I wouldn't use it without the assistance of other mushroom guides. Mushrooms are organized taxanomically and you distinguish between species by reading the description. I wish there were a few more concrete ways of distinguishing between species - the descriptions on Russulas don't really help me distinguish them. For example - this book is not necessarily going to tell you if something in amyloid or not, or if it reacts with KOH, etc. But it does show you a much broader collection of species than just about other field guides. If you want to identify Russulas, however, you will probably need to seek out more specific scientific literature on just that group.

The great thing about this book is that most of the mushrooms have pictures of every phase of that mushroom to make for easier identification. Many guides only have pictures of fully grown mushrooms. This book also shows the entire mushroom for each face rather than cutting them off at the stalk.

We use this book together with several others for identifying fungi. Some scientific names have been changed, but it's usually easy to match with the current names. The book is taxonomically organized and includes a huge number of North American species. Fungi are challenging to identify, they look different at different parts of their life. This book includes supporting information about range and habitat that help support identifications.

Great book, but the pictures are too small in this pocket version. You need to full version or a different book for identification. The original large series really shows of the detailed photos. This book is to expensive for its use as pocket guide.

Very nice photography of each mushroom, often several angles, and the descriptions are carefully done and interesting. Excellent guide and textbook, almost. The fungi people I've been with here are happy to own several identification guides. It could be helpful to have a smaller or lighter more compact guide if your hunting foray will have you in the field for some hours. Phillips' book is heavier to carry about but if you're out more briefly, it's still portable enough. Nice book.

Haven't got to use it a lot in the field yet, but just scanning through it, it seems to be very good so far. I am a mushroom rookie, and after just scanning it, I've noticed the different qualities to look for to differentiate between the mushroom types. I got this more as a reference guide, not one for **ME** to carry to the field. However, you might want it for the field.

Very good sound guide, however I find it difficult to easily find the species as they are not in alphabetical order. Other than that the pictures are very clear with multiple views of differently aged specimens, which is very helpful.

Excellent

Fascinating with excellent clear photographs. Text factual and easy to understand a useful accompaniment to the similar book covering Britain and Europe

Very useful reference. Great descriptions and photos

Pros:Incredibly detailed. Ton of mushrooms and great information in this book.Cons:Photo quality is poor. Shot on film, lots of the images are too small to discern key details. Maybe tried to pack too much in.I was unable to find Pine mushrooms, which was the mushroom I bought the book for. I don't know if I wasn't able to find it because that's the common term for it, and the mushrooms here are listed in their latin? names, but that was unfortunate.It underwhelmed and wasn't quite what I was looking for.

It's a great book. Lots of details. Five stars on that.But zero stars on the fact that the book came ripped. I did not ask for a used book.No quality control form Amazon. 🤦 I'm still keeping the book. I'm not that picky. And I also like to complain whenever I can because I can. 😁 lol 😆🤣Great book! :)