These 10 books celebrate and educate us about Earth’s most fascinating gift to humans and wildlife.

Ever wonder what the difference is between fungi and mushrooms? Think of fungi as the larger main organisms, and mushrooms as their flowers or fruits. Fungi are so large and so unlike plants that they belong in a biological classification of their own. They’re all around us in mycelium networks. Fungi can’t photosynthesize and only absorb nutrients as decomposers or as parasites, living on other organisms. They reproduce by creating spores that disperse, and these special cells become mushrooms, yeasts, molds, and truffles.

Knowing that, can you imagine a world without soil, or blue cheese, or delicious mushrooms?

Here we’ve collected an array of new books on mushrooms for readers of all ages. They cover mushrooms’ amazing range of ecological importance, uses, and ways to enjoy them — including growing your own or going foraging, creating culinary mushroom masterpieces, exploring their medicinal uses, and getting inspired by the beauty of these strange gems of nature.

We’ve adapted the books’ official descriptions below and provided links to the publishers’ sites, but you should also be able to find these books in a variety of formats through your local bookstore or library.

Dr. Fun Guy’s Passport to Kingdom Fungi: A Scientist’s Guide to the Wild and Wonderful World of Mushrooms, Molds, and More

by Dr. Gordon Walker

Learn the basics of fungal biology, foraging, and identification in this in-depth illustrated introduction from the beloved scientist, mushroom enthusiast, and social media star behind Fascinated by Fungi. Dr. Gordon Walker brings his scientific knowledge and love for everything fungi to the page. The first section of this book is written in a comprehensive question-and-answer format. Starting with “What are fungi?” you’ll learn about everything from what mycelium is and fungi’s evolution and biochemistry to how they’re classified and how they affect our world today. You’ll also find information on best foraging practices and culinary techniques. The second half of the book introduces you to mushroom identification skills and profiles various mushrooms and other fungi, from incredible edibles you can find in the wild to the dangerously toxic, medicinal, and just plain weird. Finally, you’ll find fungal phenomena, showing the amazing breadth and diversity of the fungal kingdom with colorful and comprehensive science illustrations and mushroom photography.

Fungi: Mushroom Art Like Nothing on Earth

By Bill Wurtzel

Welcome to a kingdom of mushroom art and foraged facts. Where most people might see dinner, visual artist Bill Wurtzel sees people, animals, and more. Within these pages, he ​puts the fun in fungi with his whimsical and inspired creations, beautifully posed and photographed. White button, portabella, maitake, and king trumpets are transformed into people and wildlife dancing, riding hot air balloons, tight-rope walking, exercising, and more. Both amateur mycologists and expert foragers will see mushrooms in a new light as their shapes and textures capture joyous experiences and emotions — one more way mushrooms can benefit all of us.

The Mushroom Hunter’s Kitchen: A Culinary Homage to Wild and Cultivated Mushrooms — With 120 Recipes

by Chad Hyatt

With recipes for everything from dinner to dessert, this book will make you a better mushroom cook and open your eyes to the extraordinary culinary potential of the fungi kingdom. Whether you get your mushrooms from the supermarket or straight from the forest floor, *The Mushroom Hunter’s Kitchen *will help you make the most of your haul. Because the right cooking method can transform a mushroom from meh to mouthwatering, Hyatt shows you the best techniques to use for dozens of varieties, from the humble button mushroom to the revered morel, the common oyster mushroom to the elusive huitlacoche.

Growing Mushrooms for Beginners: A Simple Guide to Cultivating Mushrooms at Home

by Sarah Dalziel-Kirchhevel

This book is full of advice, techniques, and step-by-step instructions for growing a range of edible and medicinal mushrooms at home, whether you have a sprawling backyard, a tiny balcony, or no outdoor space at all. Get started with a straightforward guide to the basics of the cultivation process and explore simple setups that require minimal space and investment. Then learn everything you need to know to successfully grow mushrooms on logs, straw, sawdust and woodchips, compost, and in mason jars. Includes troubleshooting tips for every growing project, plus instructions for freezing, drying, and cooking your harvest. Explore profiles of seven novice-friendly mushroom types, like oyster and lion’s mane, including their unique characteristics, flavors, health benefits, and specific growing requirements. There are also 30 culinary and medicinal recipes, from Cordyceps Tea to Tri-Mushroom Curry.

Fascinating Fungi: Nourishers, Killers, Connectors, and Healers

by Karen Latchana Kenney

From the ginormous, extinct Prototaxites to the web of mycelium stretching beneath our feet, fungi have always been around us. Learn about how fungi evolved, then explore the many known fungi and how we use them in food, medicine, and technology. Scientists estimate that only 10% of fungi have been discovered, but these growing findings expose the diverse nature of fungi kingdoms. Some fungi are toxic. But others are tasty sources of protein or drive the production of bread, cheeses, and fermented drinks. Some make up medicines to treat health conditions. Others connect vast swaths of trees, capture pollutants in the water and soil, or grow into sturdy but lightweight building materials. Many fungi are even fun to look at — they ooze blood-like sap or glow at night. Kenney digs deep into the expansive fungal world.

The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go

by Rebecca Lexa

This book blends fungi kingdoms into the bigger picture of our interconnected natural world. Learn to identify animals, plants, and fungi wherever you go with this step-by-step guide for spotting and recording key traits and characteristics. If you’ve ever consulted a field guide to identify a new bird at your feeder, you know the process isn’t as easy as it sounds. This book fills in the gaps by explaining what traits to pay attention to when encountering a new species; how and when to use field guides, apps, and other resources; what to do if you get stuck; and more. Rather than focusing on one region or continent, these skills and tools are designed to help you classify nature anywhere you are — whether on familiar territory, traveling, or in a new home. This easy-to-follow guide empowers you to learn more about the species around you, then use what you know to preserve the world you love. And at a time when biodiversity is imperiled worldwide, nature needs more advocates than ever.

Funga Obscura: Photo Journeys Among Fungi

by Alison Pouliot

Recyclers, creators of soil, enablers of life, and food for many — fungi are as dynamic as they are diverse. Throughout her career Alison Pouliot has observed these organisms with a unique vision as a scientist and photographer. She’s led hundreds of forays through the forests of the Americas, Australia, and Europe. In this book readers can travel along with her on these global explorations through stunning photographs and meditations on the landscape. She says her camera is where fungal lives come most clearly into focus. And like the camera obscura, this book captures brief mycological moments and unforgettable fungus microcosms.

Powerful Mushrooms: An Illustrated Anthology

by Federico Di Vita Illustrated by Florencia Diaz

Immerse yourself in cultural tales, scientific revelations, and vivid psychedelic visuals — a botanical masterpiece that enchants both the curious and the connoisseur. Explore the secret lives of mushrooms in this beautiful book that tells the story of 60 mushrooms, divided by taxonomy and healing properties. This elegant book also highlights cultural, scientific, and historical anecdotes for readers to enjoy. All further exalted by pop- and psychedelic-style images, this book is a pleasure to browse and will become a classical botanical treatise.

World of Mushrooms: Discover the Freaky, Fantastic Fungi That Lurk in the Woods, Pop Up in Lawns, and Sneak Around Underground

by Pauline Payen

Young readers get a close-up look at 20 common mushrooms and their habitats in this lively introduction to the kingdom of fungi. Explore different mushroom habitats and discover how they communicate with other organisms in this charmingly illustrated guide. Featuring profiles of different mushrooms — from chanterelles and oyster mushrooms to stinkhorns, penny buns, amanitas, and more — this engaging science and nature book brings mushrooms to life. Readers will observe common mushrooms up close, learn how they communicate, how and where mushrooms grow, and how to spot mushrooms in the wild. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Stinkhorn: How Nature’s Most Foul-Smelling Mushroom Can Change the Way We Listen

By Siôn Parkinson

A meditation on sound, inviting us to listen through the nose and open the mind to the musical potential in unpleasant odors. The stinkhorn mushroom is one of the weirdest wonders of the fungal world — and certainly the smelliest. Ever since it was described by a Dutch doctor in a 16th-century pamphlet, the stinkhorn has been reported to emit odors resembling damp earth, dung, rotting cheese, decaying flesh, and even semen. It also happens to look like a phallus, bursting out of a subterranean egg to poke above the ground, where it lures insects towards its slimy, fetid cap. In Stinkhorn, artist, musician, and writer Siôn Parkinson asks: What can the pervasive stench of this mushroom and the droning noise of the flies compelled toward it reveal about how sounds and smells are combined in the imagination?

A heady mix of natural history, science writing, musicology, philosophy of the senses, and illness memoir, Parkinson uses examples of so-called bad smells to argue for a theory of Stink as a kind of “smelling sound.” Alongside images and insights from the author’s search for stinkhorn fungi in nature, the book expands upon the philosophy of listening to consider the “nasal imaginary” in how we make sense of sound. She considers John Cage’s silent fungal forays, Brian Eno’s compositions with perfumes, the hum note of a vibrating bell, the “eggy” odor of space, and the author’s own hallucinated stench as the result of an epileptic seizure. What links these disparate ideas and sensory experiences can be found in a single encounter with a ripe stinkhorn mushroom.

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Enjoy these engaging reads and stay involved with activities and protests that support our environment and wildlife. We hope you and your children and grandchildren will be enthusiastic about the magnificent natural world and work to protect and reclaim our environment through these remarkable books.

And if you liked this column, there’s more to come: We found so many diverse and fascinating books about mushrooms while researching this article, we’re already planning a sequel.

For hundreds of additional environmental books, visit the Revelator Reads archives.

Previously in The Revelator:

How Will Your Garden Grow? New Books to Inspire Your Home Gardening, Landscaping, and Community Green Spaces

Colleen M. Crary, Ph.D.

is the senior science writer at The Revelator. Dr. Crary is a psychologist specializing in trauma research and practice. Her focus is on how the environment and climate change affect the human mind, and how healthy natural environments can ease mental suffering and trauma (PTSD). Her research and applications for healing include natural settings for healing, nutrition that encourages healthy brain chemistry, and the spiritual/psychological connection between our environment and trauma recovery. Her virtual environments in Second Life promote education and immersive experiences for healing trauma, and she conducts PTSD support groups in the Pacific Northwest and in the virtual world.