Mushrooms are loved, despised, feared, and misunderstood. They havebeen a familiar part of nature throughout human history and occupy a specialplace in our consciousness. Nicholas P. Money introduces the mythologyand science of the spectacular array of fungi that produce mushrooms, thehistory of our interactions with these curious and beautiful organisms, and theways that humans use mushrooms as food, medicine, and recreational drugs.

Mushrooms are not self-contained organisms like worms or beetles.They are fruit bodies, or reproductive organs, produced by fungi whosefeeding colonies, or mycelia, are hidden in soil or rotting wood. Thesecolonies support life on land by decomposing plant and animal debris,fertilising soils, and sustaining plant growth through partnerships calledmycorrhizas. Some of the fungi that produce mushrooms cause diseasesof trees and shrubs, and the airborne spores of others are a major cause ofasthma and hay fever. Mushrooms release so many spores into the atmospherethat they may affect local weather conditions and promote rainfall.Poisonous mushrooms were described by classical writers and ediblespecies were important in Roman cuisine. 

Mushrooms became the objectsof scientific study in the seventeenth century.  Pioneers of mushroom science have included paragons of eccentricity and their remarkable stories are celebrated in this book.