Mushrooming

I LOVED reading this and discovering so many things. I've never picked up a book about mushrooms even though they're one of my favorite things. The illustrations were gorgeous and kept your attention on every page where you learned something new. I think everyone should have a book like this in their home and the knowledge held within it.

Wow, this is the most beautiful mushroom book I have ever read. I recently have gotten more into learning about mushroom hunting, identifying, and learning all there is to know about different species of mushrooms. I LOVED the background at the beginning of the book, and how the author pulled her art history/work into the making of this book. It was very evident that her love of art, and her love of mushrooms collided into this stunning collection. The artwork was breathtaking, and the information was interesting and not super dry/textbookish. I would love to add this one to my shelves!

Yes, this is a fungus identification guide, but it’s so much more than that. Beautiful, quirky illustrations with fun, informative text will introduce readers to a world they only thought they knew. And the names of some of these fungi, Dog vomit slime mold has to be my favorite. A delight to read

tl;dr
Great illustrations and a lot of personal touches make this a compelling read. Should not be considered a field guide.

Thoughts
This is not a field guide. The opening paragraphs make this clear, but I feel like I should also open with this, because on the surface it looks like a field guide. There are detailed illustrations, scientific names, and descriptions of several fungi (along with other non-fungus things of interest). But this book reads more like a foraging journal than a field guide. The author includes stories of personal experiences and anecdotes shared by other mycology enthusiasts. Several scattered sections step out of the guidebook format to discuss things like organizing a mushroom hunt in the international district, mushroom events, and cultural relevance. It's a much more personal read than I expected, akin to listening to an enthusiast share their thoughts over coffee. This is not the kind of book you'd take out with you while foraging, but it's definitely the kind you'd read on a comfortable afternoon just for fun. The illustrations are absolutely stunning in their color and detail, and might be worth the price of admission alone. Would make a great read for any mushroom fan.

The illustrations where gorgeous, the love of mushrooms was apparent in the author’s writing. This book was fascinating and absolutely delightful to read. As an amateur mushroomer, this book feels both useful, and also much like encouragement to continue mushrooming along.

I absolutely adored the pictures in this educational book on mushrooms. I'm not an expert in foraging for mushrooms, but have a passing interest so I found this to be very education. However, from the very beginning it doesn't recommend using it as a field guide. If you're not careful, you'll get sick at best and die at worst. It's great to learn about the identifying features, if it is edible (generally speaking), and some interesting tidbits about all of the mushrooms. Also, did I mention the pictures were gorgeous? Highly recommend for anyone with a passing interest in mushrooms.

Our family is comprised of avid foragers and we run some large foraging Facebook groups and websites. I am not recommending this book since it’s not a favorite for me for actual foraging. It doesn’t include information like where to find the mushrooms geographically and the illustrations are gorgeous but no great for identifying them. It also doesn’t include enough identification information (good books contain detailed information like spore prints, gills and pores, seasons, etc.). That said, I’ll probably buy a copy for my mushroom loving daughter if the price is affordable.

Great for art and interest factors, just not for actual foraging.

Fascinating information and wonderful illustrations.
I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about mushrooms and I learned a lot!
While, not aimed at children, I think they would find it interesting. Just look up the dog vomit slime mold entry lol.
I plan on adding this to my personal collection

Mushrooming by Diane Borsato was an excellent read!
Perfect for fungi fans, and appreciators of nature illustrations and art! While not a hard-core scientific fieldbook, her insights, tips, recipes and stories about her foraging adventures accompany her gorgeous illustrations, and they had me laughing and learning the whole way through.
Several stories of her out-of-woods mushrooming ventures are slotted between her entries, which were fascinating and intriguing. Though I do know a little more about alternative yogurt than I ever wish I did. That's.... never leaving my brain.
A fantastic coffee-table piece, and great representation of our favorite fungi and the mysteries of such magnificent mycelium. Excellent work!

Mushrooming is an incredibly thorough and beautiful look into the world of fungi. While not a field guide in the strictest sense, this book seeks to inform the reader about the complexity of mushrooms through anecdotes, history, descriptions, and even sections on the edibility of each type of mushroom. The illustrations are gorgeous and eye-catching. This book also features a distinct decolonial lens throughout, which is greatly appreciated.

Oh my goodness, this is the most gorgeous mushroom guide. The artwork is vivid and visually pleasing! The author created this version of a mushroom guide because they were frustrated with the sometimes hard to understand language and small photos in most guides. I love that the author's own experiences with each mushroom is listed within the notes. It is well organized as well. I would highly reccomend this if you love art or mushrooms, or nature in general. Lots of interesting information within!

I highly recommend this book! I enjoyed it so much!! The illustrations were captivating and the descriptions were beautiful!

A lighthearted illustrated guide to the wonderful world of mushrooming! While I initially picked this title up out of pure boredom and curiosity, I found myself thoroughly fascinated and engaged by the topics discussed. This book, alongside it's adorable illustrations, views mushrooming from an artistic, intersectional-feminist perspective, sporadically providing small essays about how contemporary artists today are using the art of mushrooming to shed light on real-life issues such as generational trauma, societal fear of death and the unknown as well as systemic racism, sexism and capitalism. I was captivated by these connections as well as enthralled by the lighthearted anecdotes sprinkled throughout the many mushroom bios. I'll definitely try to pick up a copy of this guide when it comes out in March of 2023 as it is something I see myself picking up again and again!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for allowing me the chance to read this book. I enjoyed learning about the mushrooms found in this book, and was really interested to learn that there is a crazy amount of mushrooms that look safe but aren't.

I love nature books; any chance I can to learn about plant life of the Earth is a win for me. This time, I had the chance to divulge into the realm of funghi. I enjoyed the historical and random facts that were dispersed throughout the book. It kept it super interesting and fun and allowed a distraction. The book was well organized - my biggest struggle and also one of the best features of the book- were the illustrations. They were beautifully drawn. However, I struggled with being able to use them as an ID. That being said, I don't know if I would have changed them for photographs because I think it would have taken away from the character of this book.

I'm never much of an "illustrated guide". But wow with a stunning cover like this how could I resist? The cover was so beautiful and the topic mushrooms I couldn't resist. I saw this book after watching the documentary 'Fantastic Fungi'. If you get a chance don't miss that documentary. Anywho I digress. 'Mushrooming' by Diane Borsato from the moment you see the cover to the last page feels like a labor of love.

It is one of the most well-done illustrated guides I've seen. Where my hesitance came in was if one is going to forage for mushrooms they need to be beyond careful. There are mushrooms that can be fatal and if it's a foraging guide and illustrated is was leery. There is a lot talked about the Edibility of each mushroom featured. I want a photograph guide for foraging for eating but the drawings are so well-detailed that even though I wouldn't use this for foraging mushrooms per se I am using it for teaching about identifying mushrooms. This is a beautiful field guide, well-research with so many beautiful add-ons that I highly recommend its purchase. It is loaded with valuable information about mushrooms far more than just for foraging and learning more about mushrooms is a very good thing. :)

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher
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A great starter guide with such gorgeous pictures and introductory knowledge. This would make a great present for someone starting off with mushrooming or picking up a new hobby.

Mushrooming
4.5 Stars

I absolutely love the gorgeous illustrations throughout this book! I couldn't help but love Mushrooming's stunning book cover. I'm impressed by the large quality illustrations (>100). I look forward to getting a physical copy for reference. As an artist, the illustrations spark my creativity, and visual stimulation I get from a flip-through re-fills my emotional bucket.

I don't know what my fascination is with these brightly colored mushrooms. But I can't get enough of drawing mystical mushrooms with forest creatures or fairies. I found it interesting to learn about the mushrooms, while I sketched them. This book does have many suggestions for hunting edible mushrooms. However, it's not my thing and hate there texture. My family and I hike year round, and have come across some cool fungi and mushrooms. We like taking pictures to look up later.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book! Will probably enjoy it even more in physical form I find the digital version of these types of books don't flow as well. The art work was so pretty! I really enjoyed the authors personality it was fun and informative. If you are a lover of mushrooms I highly recommend this. More of a light fun read than something I would say is truly informative material.

What a beautiful book! Full of wonderful information and such stunning pieces of art. This would make a beautiful gift to anyone who loves foraging!

Mushrooming...my favourite activity. As a mycophile I dream about fungi, ID and analyze them, forage for them, attend mushroom festivals and learn everything I possibly can get my hands on. Diane Borsato's Mushrooming is a beautifully-illustrated book about 100+ fungi and connections we make with them in life, nature and art.

Though the illustrations are so accurate (I recognized every single representation here easily), this is NOT a field guide but more of an inspiration to learn more, get out in nature and appreciate the multi-sensory details. Borsato uses both the common and scientific names which makes things easier. Included are deadly to choice edibles and everything between such as the gorgeous parrot waxy cap (I saw the most gorgeous group of them recently), tiny bird's nest fungi (which I have had the fortune of seeing several times), black truffle (I live in white truffle territory in Istria), grisettes, death cap (amazing to behold its power!), black trumpet (one of my favourite choice edibles), enormous and delicious parasols, the fascinating bleeding fairy helmet and doll eyes, tasty green-cracking russula and the blewits with their lookalikes. Finding king boletes is a feeling like nothing else! Though very poisonous, happening upon Satan's bolete is always fascinating. The author includes attributes, look alikes, what to look for and avoid. Read this to rev up your foraging excitement before delving into field guides.

Borsato also encourages with a chapter on how to host a mushroom foray, a lovely idea, especially with someone extremely knowledgeable.

My sincere thank you to The Experiment and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this wonderful book. Anyone who wishes to learn more about fungi (and dream of it when not in the field) ought to read this.

I have a friend who loves mushrooms, and I originally wanted to preview this book to see if it would be a good gift for her. Not only is this book a wonderful gift for any mycophile, it made me appreciate fungi more. They play such an integral role in the ecosystem, and their fruit (the mushrooms) are just the beautiful (and sometimes strange!) tip of the iceberg. I loved all of the alluring illustrations and the quirky mushroom names. To break up the mushroom illustrations and information, there are projects and stories sprinkled throughout the book. Infinity Burial Suit was my favorite! This book has inspired me to look closer when I see a mushroom in my yard instead of considering it a nuisance.

Thank you to The Experiment and NetGalley for the ARC!

Such a beautiful book, a strong recommendation for fungi lovers, art lovers, and people who love reading about the natural world. Beautiful!

This neat little mushroom guide had the feel of an old zine. It includes hand painted art, helpfully descriptive text, and shorter essays in between. I found it a must for taking with on walks while foraging, but it skews slightly more to the inspirational and quirky than the clinical.

Thanks netgalley for this ARC, I feel a lot more ready to identify new mushrooms the next time I'm out.

Thank you to Netgalley, Diane Borsato, and The Experiment for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

I love this book! The diverse, colorful drawings of the strangest, most unusual, fabulous, and yet existing mushrooms are stunning. In addition, it provides various information on the mushrooms. It motivated me to go into nature and explore it through artists' eyes. I would recommend this a lot for art enthusiasts, nature lovers, and anyone who wants to discover a hidden world full of wonder.

Based solely on the cover picture, I expected this book to not be as comprehensive as it is. I was very wrong, it is detailed, helpful, and wonderfully illustrated with beautiful watercolor-like pictures. I helps you to identify what mushroom you might be looking at, with a wonderful wealth of information on each one. If you are new to mycology, I would consider this to be the fungi encyclopedia that you should always have on your shelf, ready to help you out in a pinch.

I absolutely love this little guide. I lived in Seattle for three years and my uncle would take me mushroom hunting. Mostly for chanterelles around mount hood but he would talk of matsutake on the coast. It was always so much fun. I wish I would have had this book then. It seems to be a rather complete collection of commonly encountered fungi, at least to my understanding. Each mushroom detailed in it's own section with an illustration as well as details on identification, edibility, and other interesting facts. The illustrations are as vibrant and colorful as they are beautiful. Dispersed within these sections are anecdotes and jokes that make it all the more fun to read. I believe this would make an excellent coffee table book or gift for anyone interested in the outdoors.

I have tons of books on mushrooms and have read quite a few, this is definitely up with the best as far as beauty goes. Absolutely stunning artwork, sometimes you see illustrations in other books that you can’t related to the real world because the details are fuzzy or just slightly off enough, and in this book that isn’t the case at all. The writing is perfectly concise, but not textbooky. It feels like you’re talking to a person instead of just reading random facts; this I believe is better for learning because of it’s engagement. I really love this book and its details.

Beautiful, colorful, and very informative book! I have already added this to our popular foraging shelf in the bookstore. Perfect for beginners and people who like looking at beautiful fungi!

This book is not only informative, but beautiful as well. The author gives a great amount of information on each fungi, many that are not well known. I enjoyed reading this book and learning about the mushrooms and what their uses (or dangers) are and was thrilled by the beautiful and detailed illustrations. This is one I will definitely re-read.

This is a fun little read
It doesn’t deep dive into mushrooms, but I like that. It has a lot of different species and get information on them in a fun way.
It reminded me of the mushroom handbook that you can find in most bookstores, but have way too much information while this book is just enough information

I also appreciated that there was warnings that you still have to be careful when looking at mushrooms, because a lot of them can look almost exactly the same without you even knowing, and it could be a poisonous one

The artwork was really fun more of like what I would think to see in a kids book, but it caught my eye

"Mushrooming" by Diane Borsato is a fascinating exploration of the natural world's hidden treasures. Borsato's keen eye and artistic approach shine as she delves into the world of mushrooms, uncovering their intricate beauty and ecological significance. The book's unique blend of art and science offers readers a new perspective on the often-overlooked fungi kingdom. Borsato's passion for her subject matter is evident in every page, inviting readers to appreciate the wonders of nature in a whole new light. "Mushrooming" is a captivating journey into the intricate world of mushrooms, a testament to the artistry of the natural world that will leave readers with a newfound sense of wonder and appreciation for the environment.

Such a lovely book. The illustrations were top notch! And the information wa snot your typical standard descriptions of mushrooms. I actually feel like I learned a lot and keep referring back to it with my friends. Thank you so much for sending me a copy!