Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard: The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists

The author of this book had strange sense of humor. Beneficially, he can hold your attention with his sexual descriptions and off the wall comments. You can't really go a chapter without laughing at one of his side notes. I really didn't have an interest in mushrooms but my botany nerd friend highly recommened it to me. I'm glad he did and I also recommend it to you due to it's cleverness.

_Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard_ by Nicholas P. Money is an interesting introduction to the world of fungi and mycologists. The first chapter looked at mushrooms. He began with a discussion (and illustrations) of the infamous phallic mushrooms. Surprisingly, they shared more similarities with their namesakes than just their overall shape; while most of the volume of the erect fungal fruiting body is air, like in the mammalian penis its erection is maintained by pressurized fluid rather than any column of solid tissue (though in the case of mammals, it is blood, while the mushroom is supported by pressurized water). Many mushrooms like flowers rely upon insects (often flies) that they have attracted to disperse their spores. Stinkhorns and the Sumatran giant corpse flower evolved parallel features to attract carrion-feeding insects. Though mushrooms exist only for spore production and dispersal they are absolutely amazing feats of mechanical engineering. Spores are catapulted from spore-producing structures called basidia by immense mechanical forces. Thanks in part to the mushroom being cooler than its surrounding environment, water condenses on two different parts of the spore's surface. When these two globs of water become large enough to make contact, the resulting convergence produces enough power to hurtle a spore at thousands of g's away for a few milliseconds before it falls beneath the cap and is swept away by air currents (in the right lighting one can see a dusty plume of basidiospores swirling away). Some fungus though are not as water-dependent in their method of spore dispersal (such as puffballs, which expel their spores in response to any disturbance). As a result these mushrooms are able to colonize drier soils, even deserts. Chapter two looked at several fungal infections (mycoses), such as the infections of skin, hair, and nails caused by a group called dermatophytes and meningitis (which is caused by a yeast known as _Cryptococcus_). Fungi though are mainly opportunistic and many can only colonize human victims if there is already some injury or disease at work. There was a discussion of why many fungi are black. They possess melanin, a pigment like that found in human skin. This substance helps fungi avoid detection and destruction by the immune system when inside a body and for those on the exterior of buildings or rocks serves to protect the fungus's living cells from the damaging effects of solar radiation (this also protects the algal partner of lichen by the way). Chapter three looked at a very important aspect of understanding fungal biology, how they penetrate things. All fungi flourish by burrowing into solid substances and transforming them into food, whether they are leaves, wood, skin, a house, or even growing into granite to seek out food. In this chapter the author looked at the potent mechanical forces (using water pressure, an appreciation of which is vital in understanding fungal biology) and ce

I had never considered mycology, the study of mushrooms, molds, and fungi, to be particularly interesting, once again demonstrating how wrong I can be. I had trouble breaking away from this oddly titled book, Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard. The author, Nicholas P. Money, a research mycologist, has an infectious enthusiasm and a delightful sense of humor, as well as that rare ability to create exceptional science literature for the educated reader. Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard is more challenging than most popular science books; it is sufficiently detailed to make ideal supplementary reading for biology undergraduate students. I can well imagine that Money's book will be responsible for a surge in applicants to mycology graduate programs. I was especially fascinated by the complex life cycle of various molds and fungi, their incredible resistance to extreme temperatures, toxic chemicals, and radioactivity, and their remarkable ability to draw upon a seemingly endless set of enzymes to digest their surroundings, whatever that might be. A particular fungus that kills grass on the golf course and never feeds on animals in the wild, has demonstrated the innate capability to consume animal tissue when isolated in the lab from vegetative matter. Money speculates that this remarkable adaptability of molds and fungi offers profound insights into their long evolutionary history, some 3.5 billion years. It somehow seems fitting that there are indeed molds that specialize in consuming other molds. Money injects humor, and occasional social comment, into his account of fungi and friends. He mentions for example: A black mold is working on a shampoo bottle in my shower, which is ironic because the contents are supposed to possess antifungal properties that suppress dandruff (this fungus is in for a surprise if it breaks through the plastic). Five stars for Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard - The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Fungi.

Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard is far and away the best introduction to the science of mycology for general audience readers and mycology devotees alike. Nicholas Money has a way with words, and his dry sense of humor makes this book a pleasure to read. The one-star review on this page by "Johnny" represents a misguided interpretation of Money's irreverence. The book is certainly NOT racist, and Money makes fun of Western cultures with equal wit (incidentally, I am a Chinese American--one who has studied racist discourse and Orientalism).

Wow! I never thought I?d enjoy a book on fungi this much. Parts of it are not a particularly easy read, but the information it contains is mind blowing. Forget terrorists; if fungi and mold decided to take out the human race it would be no contest.We tend not to think of fungi as being a very important part of our world. We might occasionally have mushrooms on pizza or steak, we might notice fungi growing on an old tree or on something that has been kept too long in the refrigerator, but that?s about it. In fact fungi has a vast influence in our world, from breaking down fallen trees in the forest to making our bread and beer. Have you ever wondered how dandruff was formed? Guess what plays a major role.The writer, who presents often bizarre information with wit and style, reminds us that one fungi, covering 2000 acres in Oregon, is thought to be the world?s largest living organism. Even the more prosaic information comes to life in this book - I enjoyed his description of the speed a spore is catapulted from a gill.Some of the most interesting sections are the mini-biographies of scientists who have researched fungi and added to our knowledge of them. There was Buller, for instance, a professor whose students called him ?Uncle Reggie?, and Ingold who found a totally unknown kind of fungus in water. There are now over 300 species of Ingoldian fungi known and in fall you can find about 20,000 of them in every litre of brook water.I recommend this book to anyone interested in the natural world. You?ll need to expend a little effort reading the more scholarly parts of it, but you?ll learn some amazing stuff about fungi, mold and the scientists who discovered them.