Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi

Anybody who knows anything about mushrooms will most likely have this book! This book tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about mushrooms, including regional lore and legends about the mushrooms. This book is also very good for identifying mushrooms. has something like 300 color pics in which at least one of the mushrooms in those pics will resemble the one you want to identify and point you in the right direction. the keys in the front of each section are also very useful for identification.

it would be nice, however, to have more pictures. i also have Audubon field guide for the pictures and for the small size for a field guide. its a good combo. i look through the pics of the Audubon and read the short description and then i look that up in arora's book for a much more detailed description and to compare with other similar species.

I have owned this book for many years; and, through may hunts, it has proven invaluble for classifying mushrooms into their proper categories. However, I would caution buyers to know something about mycology BEFORE they buy this book! This is an area which requires experience!
David Auora is a mycological authority, and this is mostly written to the WEST COAST varietals and people who are familair with the basics.

While the variations from the west coast to the east coast are similar, the differences are what can kill you!

Remember, mushroom hunting and identification can be DEADLY!

This book arms you only with enough information to get you in the ball park unless you are an experienced hunter with many varieties.

Excellent reference, but not for the beginner!

Everything went smoothly with this transaction. I bought it used; it seems brand new except for some rather deliberate-looking permanent marker dashes on the unbound sides of the book (on the page tips, whatever that's called). Shipping time was on the fast side of the range of days.

Excellent guide, however primarily for western states. Could easily be used as a college textbook, but easy enough for a novice to use.

For anyone interested in learning about mushrooms, this book is the mushroom bible for species in the United States. It's not really a book for beginners, because the information can be somewhat overwhelming, but if you want a positive ID on something you've found, there's no better resource to do it. Then again, Arora injects a dose of unexpected hilarity that a mushroom-hunter with any level of experience can appreciate.