Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

Rating:
Summary: Valuable advice
Review: I haven't gone practical yet, but Paul Stamets book leads me to believe that growing mushrooms could seriously improve the return on otherwise valueless timber in my wood (thank you all you Baltic states!). Stamets evidently knows his stuff, and has focussed my study on the practical issues in terms of log cultivation and choice of tree species. I will update this in 12-18 months when I have experimented, as directed, with the Welsh timber available to me.

Rating:
Summary: Valuable advice
Review: I haven't gone practical yet, but Paul Stamets book leads me to believe that growing mushrooms could seriously improve the return on otherwise valueless timber in my wood (thank you all you Baltic states!). Stamets evidently knows his stuff, and has focussed my study on the practical issues in terms of log cultivation and choice of tree species. I will update this in 12-18 months when I have experimented, as directed, with the Welsh timber available to me.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Mycology Source
Review: I was pleasently surprised at the overall quality of this book when I received my copy in the mail. It is chock full of photographs with an entire section in the center devoted to color photographs. It is extremely well written and presents the facts of mycology, the current limitations of the field, and interjections of personal experience. Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms is much more than just a "how to" book, it discusses the science and life cycle of mushrooms along with brief histories of mycology. It is textbook quality (BTW college textbooks go for around $100 each these days) and provides specific guides for growing choice species in the latter portion of the book. It is not an identification guide however and I recommend picking up an audobon society field guide as a companion to this source. Some basic knowledge of chemistry and agriculture will help you get the most out of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Mycology Source
Review: If you don't have a previous edition, be sure to get this one. If you have an older edition and have an interest in cultivating any of the added species, this edition is essential. If you just want to keep up to speed on Paul's new ideas, this book is the way to do it. We recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended by The Mushroom Growers' Newsletter
Review: If you don't have a previous edition, be sure to get this one. If you have an older edition and have an interest in cultivating any of the added species, this edition is essential. If you just want to keep up to speed on Paul's new ideas, this book is the way to do it. We recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Most up to date and exciting information I have ever read!
Review: The best! Tops, hands down, expands upon knowledge gained in The Mushroom Cultivator and the authors enthusiasm for mushrooms shines through. Everything I ever needed to know on cultivations, history, and medicinal properties are contained within.. Kudos!

Rating:
Summary: Great information. Errata Correction for Chapter 21
Review: There is nothing I can say that hasn't been said. There is a wealth of information on just about every mushroom that people use for food or for medicine.

I was primarily interested in the Morel Mushroom cultivation which is in Chapter 21, but there is a web reference, to quote Paul Stamets "Once nice overview of cultivation techniques can be found at www.gorsky.com/~pdilley". I found this was in error and tracked down the new web address to the Morel Cultivation information Paul Stamets was pointing readers to over here "www.peterdilley.com".

One of the best resources in this book is the Cultivation Problems and Their Solutions: A Troubleshooting guide. Missing however is a detailed section on cultivation insect pests. This I found in Paul Stamets previous book The Mushroom Cultivator. So you may want to consider getting both, especially if you find a discounted bundle offer from Amazon.

If you are done reading Field Guides and/or walking around your local wilderness on mushroom foray hunts by yourself or with a local club / society, then you will not go wrong by chosing this book. 5 Stars well earned.