Best mushrooms in biological sciences books according to redditors

Start by picking a guide for your area and reading it thoroughly, especially focusing on the anatomy of a mushroom. Go hunting a lot bringing back what you find, take spore prints and work though the IDs. Also joining a NAMA affiliated club will help tremendously.

Regional guides

Alaska

Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams

Western US

All The Rain Promises and More
Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest

Midwestern US

Mushrooms of the Midwest

Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States

Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest

Southern US

Texas Mushrooms: A Field Guide

Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States

Midwestern US

Mushrooms of the Midwest

Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States

Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest

Eastern US

Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians

Mushrooms of Northeast North America (This was out of print for awhile but it's they're supposed to be reprinting so the price will be normal again)

Mushrooms of Northeastern North America

Macrofungi Associated with Oaks of Eastern North America(Macrofungi Associated with Oaks of Eastern North America)

Mushrooms of Cape Cod and the National Seashore

More specific guides

Psilocybin Mushrooms of the World

North American Boletes

Tricholomas of North America

Milk Mushrooms of North America

Waxcap Mushrooms of North America

Ascomycete of North America

Ascomycete in colour

Fungi of Switzerland: Vol. 1 Ascomycetes

PDFs

For Pholiotas

For Chlorophyllum

For parasitic fungi, Hypomyces etc "Mushrooms that Grow on other Mushrooms" by John Plischke. There's a free link to it somewhere but I cant find it.

Websites that aren't in the sidebar

For Amanita

For coprinoids

For Ascos

MycoQuebec: they have a kickass app but it's In French

Messiah college this has a lot of weird species for polypores and other things

Books that provide more info than field Mycology

The Kingdom of Fungi Excellent coffee table book has nice pictures and a breif guide to Fungal taxonomy and biology.

The Fifth Kingdom A bit more in depth

Introduction toFungi Textbook outlining metobolic, taxonomic and ecological roles of fungi. Need some level of biochemistry to have a grasp for this one but it's a good book to have.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edible-Mushrooms-Foragers-Britain-Europe/dp/0857843974

Here's the specific resources link via the /r/mycology FAQ.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/wiki/specific_resources

I have their Texas recommendation, Texas Mushrooms: A Field Guide and while it's a good general guide Texas is too vast and varied for it to be universally perfect. That being said, while it's imperfect for me in the Hill Country there are a lot of East Texas entries (I believe the authors are based out of Houston) and so it will probably be far more useful to you than to myself. Overall I'd recommend it for you as at the very least it will introduce you to the concepts and methodology and covers a lot of the bases. There's only so much you can ask for out of a field guide anyways, since hauling around an encyclopedia isn't practical.

I started out with All That the Rain Promises and More and I definitely recommend it. However, I would also recommend that you consider having more than one book. For one thing, having multiple pictures can be helpful since every mushroom you find in the field is unique and having multiple images to compare has been helpful for me. Also, it can be helpful to have more than one key model. For me this has helped me realize that there can be multiple ways to arrive at an ID and that there is no one way to do it. My other two books are Mushrooms Demystified and Mushrooms (this one is only OK, but it has pictures for every mushroom and as I said previously this has been helpful to compare to pictures in other books).

Found that book I mentioned.

http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Medicinal-Plants-Great-Region/dp/0923568379

The two you've listed are my personal favorites. I also make use of National Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, 100 Edible Mushrooms, North American Mushrooms: A Field guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi (not my favorite, but a useful cross reference at times), and Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America (this one has fantastic photos. While it is never recommended to ID by appearance alone, the cross cuts and underside photos in this book can be very useful). If you live in the southern east coast then I'd recommend Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States if you can find it affordably (as far as I know it is out of print and even used coppies are pretty expensive, but it is a fantastic book for southeastern mushrooms).

As far as websites I am a pretty frequent visitor of MushroomExpert.com. It offers some good keys and there are a lot of mushrooms listed.

There is a pinned thread on this subreddit on ID. But I would suggest getting a mushroom ID book like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mushrooms-Roger-Phillips/dp/0330442376 and joining a facebook or reddit book on mushroom foraging generally. Get used to IDing and recognising mushrooms of different kinds.

Mushrooms https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0330442376/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CEbTzb0MJNCKY

The best book for identifying mushrooms in the field (at least in the U.K.). Written by a rather eminent mycologist. Very thorough but I find it pretty accessible to laymen too.

I hate it. I gave mine away. I prefer this book due to how it's organized, the photos, and the much more weather proof material.

https://www.amazon.com/North-American-Mushrooms-Inedible-Falconguide/dp/0762731095/ref=sr_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468977783&sr=1-13&keywords=mushrooms+north+america

mushroom MUSHROOM!

Mushrooms (Eyewitness Handbooks) (Flexible Binding) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0789433354/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_UnU2CbWFW95SH

Get a used version of this for like 10 bucks.

Yup! This species is actually the cover of the Texas foraging guide hahaForaging Texas

http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Mushrooms-Corrie-Herring-Series/dp/0292751265

Actually, it's not a moss. It's either a cyanobacteria or an alga + fungi. At any rate, here are a list of cool books I've found:

Lichens of North America

Lichens - Natural History

The Magical World of Moss Gardening - this one has tips to cultivate lichens

Macrolichens of the PNW - even if you're not from this region, it's still an amazing book.

Lichens of the North Woods

I really like the way this book is presenting information https://www.amazon.com/Smithsonian-Handbooks-Mushrooms-Thomas-Laessoe/dp/0789489864/

--edit:
link to newer 2002 edition

Mushrooms https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0330442376/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_KKJpzb0VYG244 get it.

• get yourself a non locking folding pocket knife within UK carry limits, as you harvest trim away dirty bits of the mushrooms before adding to your bag/basket. This will save a lot of time down the road when it comes to cleaning.

Those look like nice books. I got the Bushcraft book by Kochanski but the others I haven't seen. Thanks.

Here are some from my shelf, mostly geared towards Europe and the UK:

• The Wild Flower Key
  
  
• Collins Tree Guide
  
  
• Mushrooms
  
  
• The Easy Edible Mushroom Guide
  
  
• The Forager Handbook
  
  
• Outdoor Survival Handbook
  

http://www.amazon.com/Treasures-Kingdom-Fungi-Featuring-Photographs/dp/097094490X

I personally know nothing about Hawaii, but I highly recommend finding a local book. perhaps:
https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Hawaii-Identification-Don-Hemmes/dp/1626541825

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edible-Mushrooms-Foragers-Britain-Europe/dp/0857843974

I've posted this elsewhere but here ya go...

> Avoid the Audubon guide. The Audubon guide is pretty terribad (bad photos, pithy descriptions, not user-friendly.)

> There are much better nationwide guides out there (like the Falcon Guide), but quite honestly you're better off with a regional guide.

> My recs for regional field guides:

> Alaska

> - Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams

> Western US

> - All The Rain Promises and More

• Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest
  
  >Midwestern US
  >
  
• Mushrooms of the Midwest
  
• Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States
  
• Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest
  
  >Southern US
  >
  
• Texas Mushrooms: A Field Guide
  >
  Eastern US
  >
  
• Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Cental Appalachians
  
• Mushrooms of Northeast North America
  
• Macrofungi Associated with Oaks of Eastern North America
  
  > As an aside, books like Mushrooms Demystified, Lichens of North America, Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, and Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States are too large and cumbersome to take out in the field, but are all excellent references to have at home for ID after a foray.

A friend of mine wrote a book about exactly this, check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/URBAN-FORAGING-Finding-eating-plants/dp/1450707513