Mushrooms of Northwest North America Review

     Hi guys! So I have been reading this book,  "Mushrooms of Northwest North America" and I've got to say it's pretty great. It's not your typical field guide. I've actually had it for a few years, but I didn't give it a chance until a few weeks ago. The reason why was because I skimmed through it, and thought "this won't help me I.D. a mushroom right away". And maybe that's true. If you're looking for a field guide with clear photographs, then you should probably just get an Audubon field guide, or some other quick I.D. Field guide.

     The book I'm reviewing does not actually have photographs of mushrooms. Instead, it has very nice illustrations. While they are very nice pieces of art, they are probably not as helpful as an actual photograph. But what this book lacks in that aspect, it more than makes up for in knowledge. It contains a species description section in the second half of the book, which is chalk-full of fun and useful facts for the different groups of mushrooms. It breaks down each class, order, family, genus, and lists several different species for each group. It tells you which genera are usually safe to eat, which ones are dangerous, and which ones are intoxicating. It gives you characteristics of each genera. with this information, you can almost tell if a mushroom is edible or not just from background knowledge.

     Basically, this book is a must-have for anyone seriously interested in mycology or mushroom hunting. I've learned a lot on Identification just from reading this book, and I still could learn so much more! Keep in mind, this was written in the early 90's so some information is a little outdated. For example, is lists the class "Hymenomycetes", however this is no longer relevant, and many of the orders have been moved to Agaricomycetes. But it still has a plethora of useful information, and is worth at least a looking into. Well that about wraps up this review, hope it is helpful! Lone Pine, the company that published this book, also has a book on Mushrooms of Northeast North America, which I have not read, though I assume it is also helpful and worth a look.

Fictional Fungi

                Believe it or not, there have been multiple uses of Fungi and mushrooms in pop culture. From video games to literature, Fungi has made appearances.  In this blog post, I am going to be talking about some of the ones from various video games, books, and movies.

  Goomba- Goombas are a sentient mushroom animal from the Mario video games. They first appeared in Super Mario Bros. and are modeled after the Shiitake mushroom.











Mutant Cordyceps- This Fungus appears in the Video game The Last of Us as a mutated strain of the real fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. It turns the human host into a cannibalistic monster. I'm planning on making a post in the future on the fungi this is based on.


Toad- Another character From Mario, Toad is both the name of a character, and the people of the mushroom kingdom. I'm not sure what type of mushroom he is, but personally I think he looks like a reverse fly agaric.










Firewalker Fungus- This fictional fungus appeared on the x files episode Firewalker. In the episode, it is a silicon based Fungus that once inside the host, can affects it's behavior, until when ready to reproduce, which it then sends a fruiting body out through the throat. Pretty gruesome...



Mi-Go- Mi-Go are a race of extra-terrestrial, fungoid, crustacean-like creatures in the novel Cthulhu Mythos. They first appeared in H. P. Lovecraft's novel The Whisperer in Darkness. In my professional opinion, they are pretty rad looking.






Well that's about it. I know that there are other fictional Fungi, but these are some of the most popular ones, or the ones I thought was the most interesting. I hope you enjoyed reading this! I make a post every week,usually on a Saturday,Sometimes on Fridays or Sundays. If you liked this post,be sure to come back next week,and maybe tell a friend if you think they might be interested, or just +1 it! Thanks for reading, see ya!