An illustrated guide to identifying 200 Western mushrooms - whether edible, poisonous, or medicinal - by their key features. In leafing through these pages, you may wonder what all the 'fanciful, ' 'foolish, ' or (shudder) 'extraneous' material is doing in a factual guide. After all, it is the practical, hands-on, how-to-identify information that makes this book useful and gives it substance. But I ask: is it any stranger or less desirable to sprinkle the facts with flakes of fancy than it is to liven up solemn, substantial fare like potatoes with something fancier and more flavorful, like wild mushrooms? - David Arora [All That the Rain Promises and More] is certainly the best guide to fungi, and may in fact be a long lasting masterpiece in guide writing for all subjects. - Roger McKnight, New York Times