Mushrooming without Fear PDF

Mushrooming without Fear: The Beginner’s Guide to Collecting Safe and Delicious Mushrooms Paperback – October 17, 2007
Author: Visit ‘s Alexander Schwab Page ID: 1602391602

About the Author

Alexander Schwab grew up in Switzerland and gained a masters degree in philosophy and history at Aberdeen University. He now lives in the beautiful Emmental region of Switzerland and fills the gaps between fishing trips by working as a management consultant. His hobbies include mushrooming, cooking, exploring the countryside, and reading poetry. He is the author of Mushrooming without Fear,Dear Jim: Reflections on the Beauty of Angling, and Hook, Line, and Thinker.

Paperback: 128 pagesPublisher: Skyhorse Publishing (October 17, 2007)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1602391602ISBN-13: 978-1602391604 Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 1 inches Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #7,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Plants > Mushrooms #8 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Reference #200 in Books > Sports & Outdoors
This book has phenomenal pictures of the mushrooms. Unfortunately that’s all it has going for it.

Here, 128 pages are devoted to only 12 mushroom species. (Not mushroom "types" as is suggested on the rear cover, these are twelve particular species). Surprisingly little space is devoted to content. Consider:

– 17 pages are title sheets with section titles, the table of contents, and a blank filler page
– 13 pages are devoted to explanation of, and multiple re-hashings, of 8 basic rules of collecting. One page, which begins with the words "Always remember…" is repeated FIVE TIMES. That’s five copies of the same one-page reminder, which has also been thoroughly rehashed several times before.

The margins are extremely wide and the text is large. The photographs, while impressive, are sometimes accompanied by only one or two sentences per page. Some photographs have no text at all, and a few are repeated at different places in the book either by direct repetition or by Photoshop cropping or bunching.

Critical identification techniques (such as spore printing) are completely absent from this book. Identification instructions are so vague as to be almost impossible to use effectively. Although the photographs are outstanding, some of them are repeated to fill space. Mushrooms are seldom shown in the button stage.

Shockingly, the poisonous look-alikes are not actually shown. In some cases, key information about poisonous look-alikes is missing. For example, the Jack O’ Lantern mushroom (which is identified in SOME field guides as having gills but which can often resemble the false gills or "ridges" of a chanterelle) is found almost exclusively on rotting wood.
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