Fungipedia

April 20, 2020 By John E. Riutta in Newly Noted Books Tags: book, fungipedia, millman, mushroom, mycology, News, Princeton, science

In case you hadn’t marked it on your calendar, Tuesday, 21 April 2020, is Fungi Day. And as such, taking the opportunity to learn a bit more about the fascinating fungal framework that supports a remarkable amount and diversity of the life on this planet simply seems appropriate.

One way to join in the fungi fun, either on the day of this fungal festival or in the future, is with a read through Lawrence Millman‘s recently published Fungipedia: A Brief Compendium of Mushroom Lore from Princeton University Press.

Being “a delightful A–Z treasury of mushroom lore […] on topics as varied as Alice in Wonderland, chestnut blight, medicinal mushrooms, poisonings, Santa Claus, and waxy caps—this collection will transport both general readers and specialists into the remarkable universe of fungi” Fungipedia is a fun, fast-paced, fascinating, fungi foray formatted on facsimile foolscap (OK, that last one about it being printed on facsimile foolscap I just made up, but the paper is indeed quite nice).

John E. Riutta

Founder and publisher of The Well-read Naturalist. Inveterate autodidact. Has repeatedly been found out standing in many fields. Plays well with otters.

→ John E. Riutta

1 Comment

Lawrence Millman
April 20, 2020 @ 17:52

Many thanks for your alliterative review of my Fungipedia!

Recent Reviews

The Marvelously Multifaceted Mr. Newton
January 22, 2023
Most of us likely first heard the name Isaac Newton when we were in primary school. For some, it may have been in a classroom; for others it may have been while viewing a television program – most likely a cartoon. However, in most all instances, I’d be willing to wager that the name was […]
Then There Were Dragons
November 20, 2022
The phrase “here there be dragons,” so famously seen on old maps indicating places where there were great and mysterious dangers to be found, was not so very long ago not simply a metaphor. In fact, no less an authority on natural philosophy (what would later become known as natural history) than Linnaeus himself included […]
Meeting Your Local Spiders
October 9, 2022
When it comes to lists of common phobias, arachnophobia – the fear of spiders – almost always makes the top ten, and more often than not, the top five. Some have even argued that the fear of spiders, like the fear of snakes, is an innate fear – people are simply born with it thanks […]

Mastodon