Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, Revised Edition

tl;dr
An incredibly useful, easily searchable guide for foragers complete with great photos and detailed information.

About
A field guide to mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest with photos, illustrations, and detailed descriptions of 493 different mushrooms.

Thoughts
I have often found myself staring at a random mushroom I see in the wild and wondering how I'd even go about figuring out what kind it is. If you share the same curiosity I do, then this book is your new friend. Like most guides, it includes details on mushrooms along with information and how to spot them. Illustrations are sparse, with most mushrooms depicted with competent photos taken at the harvest site. But more than being a long list to get lost in, the book includes a "choose your adventure"-style search tree to help you narrow down which chapter you should be looking through - quite a boon for newbies with no idea where to start looking. I also appreciated the chapter at the front packed with advice for foragers on how to get started, techniques for storage and identification, and best ways to protect both nature and self. A great resource for anyone in the PNW who wants to forage, or who's just curious.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, Revised Edition by Steve Trudell in exchange for an honest review. I got this book for my dad as he loves mushrooms and learning about them. He really enjoyed this book and learned more about the mushrooms in our area.

This book of clearly defined types and kinds of mushrooms, in their usual habitat would be the No. 1 tool of those who are seeking these out in the forests and wilderness - the photographs are lovely and helpful to novice and expert alike.

Truly a field guide, by a trusted expert, yet a beautiful work of art all by itself. Happy hunting!

A thoughtful update to a well-worn classic in my field guide lineup. The interior design is clean and modern and will age nicely. More photos are always welcome! Steve Trudell has a great way of sharing what he knows as if we're all out in the woods encountering each species together. I especially appreciate the section at the back elaborating on changes from the previous edition, proving to the reader that, yes, this is more than just a cosmetic refresh.

In general, I've always thought mushroom guides put the sections in the wrong order. They should start with the toothy jellies, puffballs, earth stars, cauliflowers, and other assorted oddballs and put all those samey-samey gilled mushrooms in the back. Fly your freaky fungus flags!

Steve Trudell is an inspiring authority on the favourite subject of many foragers, fungi. This new edition packed to the gills with loads of new photographs and nomenclature is like candy for those like me who are nuts about nature and foraging for and identifying fungi. Though the geographical focus is the Pacific Northwest, the information within is invaluable regardless where you live (I don't live anywhere near the area but suck up fungi information like a Scarletina bolete absorbs rain). My favourite foraging area (including the prized white truffle) is in Central/Southern Europe and there are many, many mentions of (true or otherwise) fungi found outside the PNW for comparison. As the proverb goes, "All mushrooms are edible, some only once". This field guide tackles myths and misconceptions, promotes safety, increases knowledge and encourages the pure joy of being immersed in nature.

There is so much to love about this book including a layout which makes sense out in the field, newest updated information, science, what fungi actually are and how they reproduce, habitats, details about lookalikes (especially what to avoid), anecdotes, descriptions of aromas and flavours and various photographic angles to make identification surer. In short, it is intoxicating, definitive and amazing. How thrilling to learn about new-to-you fungi! If this doesn't get you foraging, nothing will.

From those who having a passing interest to those who are rabid fungi fanatics to experts alike, this edition is unmissable. When it is published I will happily and proudly add to my ever-expanding fungi library.

My sincere thank you to Timber Press and NetGalley for the privilege of poring over this stellar field guide. At the moment it is raining outside and I can practically hear the mycelia calling me!

This is less of a forager's guide and more of a scientific look into mushrooms. A lot of the times edibility is listed as unknown, but you are given detailed explanations of what you're looking for and pictures. Pictures are fantastically done, in full color, and show you many very interesting mushrooms. Even though I wanted to use this as a guide to what mushrooms to pick, I will now be flipping through it to look at the pictures, and get some backstory on mushrooms. Taking it from a 5 to 4 star only because they don't list every mushroom as being specifically poisonous or not.

Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest is a well illustrated field guide to the mushrooms of the PNW written by Dr. Steve Trudell. Originally published in 2009, this revised and updated edition is due out 25th Oct 2022 from Timber Press. It's 416 pages and will be available in flexibound and ebook formats in this edition.

Amateur mycologists, wanderers, forages, and lovers of nature will enjoy this well photographed and scientifically correct field guide specifically aimed at the Pacific northwest. Graphically the book is full of clear color photos which will help with ID and location. The field guide sections contain many color photos of each species including closeups and at different stages of development. The author also does a good job of explaining the *differences* between look-alike species to help with positive ID. Each entry includes the name, the binomial (Latin) name (including an English translation of the Latin), common name(s), identifying descriptions, look-alikes, and some taste/smell descriptors.

The entries are arranged logically and thematically: Gilled mushrooms are further divided into light and dark spored species (with a good general guide on spore printing and the life cycle of various fungi), club/coral/fan fungi, polypores & crust fungi, morels false morels & elfin saddles, cup fungi, pink & brown spored gilled mushrooms, boletes, spine fungi, puffballs, jelly like fungi, and truffles and false truffles. There are useful appendices, including a glossary and a solid resource/links list for further reading as well as additional comments to the first edition, and a cross referenced index.

Five stars. Useful, with clear and specific directions. This would be a good selection for library acquisition, smallholders, self-sufficiency folks, gardening and foraging readers, nature lovers, and similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Fungi are fun to find in the forest in the fall! That's the best time of year in the Pacific Northwest to go out searching for them. When you go, take this book along with you. It's an awesome guide to the variety of fungi found in our forests.

The guide is written by Steve Trudell, who is an authority on mushrooms. The book is broken down by mushroom families, so you can easily find related fungi by going to that chapter and paging through until you find one that looks like what's you've found. This is the second edition, an update to the 2009 original. It includes hundreds more photos and updated descriptions. I've got both editions and they are great field guides to have around.

The photographs are beautiful and artistic, as well as functional for identification. I love to photograph mushrooms in the fall, but I never gather them. I loved just going through this book and looking at all the beautiful photos. Each descriptive photo shows views of the gills or underside of the mushroom, as well as typical specimens growing in the field. Some are cut open to show any staining or other colors that are helpful for ID.

There is a nice key at the beginning of the book, which you can use to narrow down your search for a particular specimen. In the digital version of the book, there are quick links to take you to the relevant section of the book.

There's even a section at the end of the book for those mushrooms that just don't seem to fit into a category. These odds and ends are some of the ones that look different from a traditional mushroom, or grow on leaves, etc.

The glossary has definitions of terms that are used in the book's text, so if you need to look up a new word, it should be in there. I also like the section that has updates to the first edition. Since I've got both versions, this section is helpful to reference to see any changes or corrections that were made to the first edition book.

Overall, a great field guide that anyone living in the PNW should have. Now, go find some fall fungi in the forest!

If you can take your eyes off the stunning photographs, you'll discover a wildly informative guide to the fascinating world of fungi. Don't let the gorgeous presentation fool you - this book is PACKED with information. It would be a fantastic, and invaluable resource for anyone who is curious about those strange and unusual works of art found growing all around us.

Highly recommended.