Magical Mushrooms, Michievous Molds

Fungi are among the least understood and often most maligned organisms. The cast is huge and runs the gamut from ergot of rye through food plant pathogens, human and animal pathogens, molds, yeasts, mushrooms and rot fungi. All have complicated life cycles and are often only noticed when the put up fruiting bodies (as in mushrooms). While mushrooms have a certain following, most other fungi are not especially well liked. This is a bit of a pity, as many are quite interesting and some serve important functions from even our point of view. George W. Hudler, a professor of plant pathology at Cornell University, has produced in "Magical Mushrooms. Mischievous Molds" a solid and well illustrated review of these important, but often ignored, life forms that should intrigue even those who find fungi boring. This well-written book certainly is an easy read and provides numerous fascinating facts about the fungus world. From the effects of ergot and hallucinogenic mushrooms to the tree death-dealing Dutch elm disease and fermenting yeasts, Hudler covers the field with a thoroughness not usually seen in a book of this size. There have been several very good books on fungi in recent years, most involving mushrooms, but Hudler, has I think, written the best of all. A fascinating read and I recommend it highly!

"Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds" is a highly readable trip into the kingdom of what I used to think of as some of the most disgusting organisms on Earth--the fungus responsible for athlete's foot, for one ('Trichophyton rubrum').The author, George W. Hudler is Professor of Plant Pathology at Cornell University where he offers a popular course that has the same name as this book. He also edits "Branching Out," a biweekly newsletter for tree care professionals in the northeastern United States. In fact some of the bleakest chapters in "Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds" concern the majestic species of trees that used to shade the American landscape. "Under the spreading chestnut tree" is no more--done in by the fungus 'Cryphonectria parasitica.' Professor Hudler also includes a deservedly little-known poem by Robert Frost, "Evil Tendencies Cancel" whose subject is the chestnut blight.Dutch Elm disease, whose most common conida (spores) resemble jelly beans on tiny black toothpicks has blighted our landscapes since World War I when it was first discovered in Holland. This fungus can actually be controlled as long as communities are willing to sustain a commitment--unfortunately the city where I live ran out of money and/or enthusiasm for preserving these lovely old trees, and I've been watching them die off one by one ever since we moved here twenty years ago.Grim anecdotes aside, this book is a lively mixture of scientific fact and an overview of how fungi have changed our lives. For instance, most of us were taught that Dr. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin at St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1928. But Professor Hudler also relates that Joseph Lister, the father of antiseptic surgery used a penicillium mold extract to heal a young girl in Edinburgh in 1844. And three thousand years ago, the Chinese were using moldy soybean curd to cure skin infections. After explaining "What Fungi Do and How They Do it" in Chapter two, the author devotes several chapters to "Fungi as Pathogens of Food Crops." The fungus that turned Irish potato crops into a "putrid black mush" in the mid-eighteen-hundreds is 'Phytophthora infestans (once known as 'Botrytis infestans).' Potato blight also destroyed German food crops in 1915 and 1916, and over 700,000 Germans starved--possibly assuring the Allied victory over the Kaiser's troops in 1918.'P. Infestans' also wreaks havoc in backyard tomato plantings in the northeastern United States (I can personally attest to this). Copper-based fungicide will control this fungus--in fact the Germans knew this during World War I, but their copper stocks were reserved for shell casings.Even more interesting is the chapter on "Ergot of Grain Crops" and ergotamine poisoning, which may have been responsible for such historical events as the medieval 'plagues of fire,' the witchcraft frenzies, and the Eleusian Mysteries in Classical Greece. LSD is only one of the alkaloids that can be derived from 'Claviceps pur

I wish everyone who read this book could also sit in Dr. Hudler's class and experience the entire semester. It's such a package deal. Dr. Hudler's lectures folow just like the book - they make you believe that education can be fun again. The whole book reads like some kind of fairy tale, only it's nonfiction and yet still thoroughly entertaining. He really gets you involved in the stories of thing,s like suddenly you belong in the world of fungi!

This book makes mushrooms fun. How that happenend I'll never know, but it happened! Buy it and read it! It's got my vote!

This book is a great, easy to read, well written scientific text (although not overly technical) about fungi in our environment. The book covers topics such as plant and fungal interactions, serious outbreaks of diseases that have been caused by fungi, medical mycology, a brief history of psilocybin mushrooms, and many other extremely interesting and practical topics. I am actually using this book as a text for a class I am teaching this quarter at UCSC. I highly reccomend it to anyone looking to learn more about fungi, or increase their knowledge of specific fungi that have been problematic in our culture. It is smooth reading and keeps your attention. Hudler is an eloquent writer.