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Actually, I read & reviewed this a while ago, but hey! It's still a good book

In the Company of Mushrooms: A Biologist�s Tale by Elio Schaechter

I'm not usually the numerical-ratings type person, but in this case, if I were to give out numbers, I�d give this a 3 out of 5.

It has a fabulous title (which is why I picked it up in the first place), and is on a subject I'd not thought about before. It's also got some interesting bits and pieces of information.

And the author's enthusiasm is endearing; it simply never occurs to him that others won't share his enthusiasm about fungi. Writing about the Hygrometer Earthstar, for example, he says that "one can force the covering to switch back and forth between the two forms a dozen times just by letting these mushrooms dry and the wetting them again. Children and adults alike will enjoy the show." He also writes that one can find another form of mushroom "as long as you don't mind having the neighbors see you standing in the rain staring at the side of a wet tree." Perhaps a little overdone, but enough to sweep one along anyway.

The drawback comes from the fact that the author is a professor of molecular biology and when not enthusing about his hobby, he writes like one; there are fairly long sections of lecture, many of which I skimmed. Also, the book focuses exclusively on fungi; there are none of the accounts of human eccentricity and interest that make books like Orchid Thief, Vanilla, or The Miraculous Fever Tree interesting. So, it is a mixed bag, worth a casual read, not worth buying.