Fungi of Temperate Europe: Volume 1+2

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He taught mycology at Aarhus University for more than 20 years and is the author of The Kingdom of Fungi (Princeton). Remarkably few field guides bother to do this, and so this aspect of the book gets a gold star from me.

It contains brief descriptions, up-to-date taxonomic names, and keys to identification based on innovative “fungal wheels. Some 2,500 species are described, including nearly every fungus you can identify without a microscope (and a lot that you cannot). The books are divided into eighty "form groups," each starting with an innovative comparison wheel with guiding photos, distinguishing characteristics and drawings of essential microscopic features. Many thousands of colour photographs throughout, some colour diagrams, a very few b/w line illustrations, 14-page bibliography.The authors are both English-speaking Danes, and Laessoe, at least, has worked in Britain and knows British fungi. He has previously been a senior scientific officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and associate professor at the University of Copenhagen. This is an international publication, so there are no English names; and only the latest up-to-the-minute scientific names, although in many cases the authors mention the previous, more familiar, name. It is a splendid example [sic] how to present the multitude of forms in a way that makes identification possible and fun, while at the same time showing the beauty and diversity of fungi.

Irmgard Krisai-Greilhuber, Osterreiche Zeitschrift fuer Mykologie "[A]nyone who has an interest in mushrooms should own this . This is a really practical book that will be a boon to field mycologists, especially in temperate regions.With the new DNA-based techniques, fungi can be detected from any medium, including wood and soil samples. With a wheel or two at the start of each new batch of fungi, it is an attractive, illustrative way of getting to the right group quickly, certainly much more quickly than with technical synoptic keys.