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Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds
Mushrooms magically spew forth from the earth in the hours that follow a summer rain. Fuzzy brown molds mischievously turn forgotten peaches to slime in the kitchen fruit bowl. And in thousands of other ways, members of the kingdom Fungi do their part to make life on Earth the miracle that it is. In this lively book, George Hudler leads us on a tour of an often-overlooked group of organisms, which differ radically from both animals and plants. Along the way the author stops to ponder the marvels of nature and the impact of mere microbes on the evolution of civilization. Nature's ultimate recyclers not only save us from drowning in a sea of organic waste, but also provide us with food, drink, and a wide array of valuable medicines and industrial chemicals.
Some fungi make deadly poisons and psychedelic drugs that have interesting histories in and of themselves, and Hudler weaves tales of those into his scientific account of the nature of the fungi. The role of fungi in the Irish potato famine, in the Salem Witch Trials, in the philosophical writings of Greek scholars, and in the creation of ginger snaps are just a few of the many great moments in history to grace these pages.
Hudler moves so easily from discussing human history to exploring scientific knowledge, all with a sense of humor and enthusiasm, that one can well understand why he is an award-winning teacher both at Cornell University as well as nationally. Few, for instance, who read his invitation to "get out of your chair and take a short walk" will ever again look without curiosity and admiration at the "rotten" part of the world around them. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds is full of information that will satisfy history buffs, science enthusiasts, and anyone interested in nature's miracles. Everyone in Hudler's audience will develop a new appreciation of the debt they owe to the molds for such common products as penicillin, wine, and bread.
Some fungi make deadly poisons and psychedelic drugs that have interesting histories in and of themselves, and Hudler weaves tales of those into his scientific account of the nature of the fungi. The role of fungi in the Irish potato famine, in the Salem Witch Trials, in the philosophical writings of Greek scholars, and in the creation of ginger snaps are just a few of the many great moments in history to grace these pages.
Hudler moves so easily from discussing human history to exploring scientific knowledge, all with a sense of humor and enthusiasm, that one can well understand why he is an award-winning teacher both at Cornell University as well as nationally. Few, for instance, who read his invitation to "get out of your chair and take a short walk" will ever again look without curiosity and admiration at the "rotten" part of the world around them. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds is full of information that will satisfy history buffs, science enthusiasts, and anyone interested in nature's miracles. Everyone in Hudler's audience will develop a new appreciation of the debt they owe to the molds for such common products as penicillin, wine, and bread.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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407 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 12, 2023
This was a wonderful book to start me on mycology.
Mr. George touches a lot of topics on a surface level and details on some really interesting fungi and history. My favorite chapter was of course the hallucinogenic fungi and their probable role in a lot of relevant history.
It was very interesting learning about fungi's medicinal properties, as well as its deadly potential, and its relationship with plants and insects.
In one chapter, George describes a fungi that kills flies while it sticks them to glass, and positions the fly in a mating position to attract male flies to spread the fungi! How the hell does it know what a fly's mating position is? Fascinating creatures wallahi.
Mr. George touches a lot of topics on a surface level and details on some really interesting fungi and history. My favorite chapter was of course the hallucinogenic fungi and their probable role in a lot of relevant history.
It was very interesting learning about fungi's medicinal properties, as well as its deadly potential, and its relationship with plants and insects.
In one chapter, George describes a fungi that kills flies while it sticks them to glass, and positions the fly in a mating position to attract male flies to spread the fungi! How the hell does it know what a fly's mating position is? Fascinating creatures wallahi.
April 12, 2008
An easy-to-read and brief introduction to Mycology, the study of fungi. The title was undoubtedly chosen to draw the most attention, but fortunately there's a lot more to this book than a discussion of hallucinogenic mushrooms. There's a quick overview of fungal biology at the beginning, followed by chapters on fungi as forest pathogens, mycoses, yeasts, mychorrizal associations, lichens, ergots, edible and poisonous mushrooms of all kinds, and a section on how fungal metabolites are being studied as potential medicines for some of humankind's worst diseases, while other fungi can be used to break down industrial waste. I don't think I could ever get tired of learning about fungus. That's some of the coolest stuff that ever came along in the world. This book is a great place to start learning about it.
August 31, 2012
I give this book 5 stars for being an informative text that isn't so boring I stop reading after 5 minutes. Quite the opposite! I can hardly put this book down. Every species of fungi that is discussed is introduced with a (sometimes harrowing) historical account of its effects on humans, either directly or indirectly.
I don't know anything about fungi or plant biology. I'm an English major, and I picked up this book to do research for a story I'm working on. I was worried that jargon and textbook droning would prevent me from getting any value from the books I checked out, but Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds gets two thumbs up, four stars, etc, etc, for giving me exactly what I wanted without boring me to pieces--as well as scaring the bejesus out of me.
I don't know anything about fungi or plant biology. I'm an English major, and I picked up this book to do research for a story I'm working on. I was worried that jargon and textbook droning would prevent me from getting any value from the books I checked out, but Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds gets two thumbs up, four stars, etc, etc, for giving me exactly what I wanted without boring me to pieces--as well as scaring the bejesus out of me.
December 30, 2014
This was without a doubt the worst book about mushrooms that I’ve ever read. Now, to be fair, I’m relatively certain it’s only the second book about mushrooms I’ve ever read, but it was still much less than satisfying. Writing a compelling science book, and one about a subject as far-ranging and yet obscure as fungus, has to be difficult. But as fascinating as the subject matter may be (and I’m not speaking ironically when I admit I find this particular topic incredibly interesting), unless the author can make that subject come to life, can show the information instead of simply telling it, the exploration will be tedium.
I am in the intended audience for this book: someone without a background in mycology but who is equal parts fascinated and horrified by the kingdom of organisms known as fungi. They’re such a twilight concept: plant-like, yet not plants, little understood or explored by biology at large, causing disease and rot yet also a pharmacopeia of beneficial medicines and psychotropic drugs. They’re as mysterious to most as their most familiar representation: the mushrooms that spring up on summer lawns almost overnight. And like mushrooms, most of what they are remains hidden beneath the soil.
In this book, the author is particularly interested in showing the relationship between the world of fungus and the human world. He wants to highlight species of fungus that have played a role or continue to play an important or potentially important role in human affairs. This includes disease-causing fungi, historically beneficial fungi (like the yeasts that make our bread rise, ferment our beer, and have, arguably, shaped the entire course of human civilization), fungi that cause disease in our crops and trees, and fungi that decay our homes and buildings.
And as you would expect for someone interested in fungi, there are a lot of truly interesting things in here. We get an introduction to the fungal kingdom in general, how they work and how they do the things they do from the point of view of a mycologist. The author then goes through each of his topics in turn with the rigor of an undergraduate survey course (as, incidentally, the book is based upon). I was especially fascinated at the role fungi plays in the fermentation of bread, beer, and wine (I’m currently cultivating in my “fermentation corner” in our kitchen a sourdough starter as well as a jar of kumbucha, a mildly fermented tea) as well as the ability for many to create the chemicals from which we derive many of our antibiotics that still resist laboratory synthesis.
The author is obviously passionate about his topic and eager to pass this along. If nothing else, he succeeds in illustrating the vast scope of influence that fungi have on human life. For all this intention though-- and despite the rich content itself, many parts of which could have entailed entire books to themselves-- the reading was a drag. In fact, the various chapters often felt like little more than a series of Wikipedia articles: well-written and informative but missing the elusive spark that turns organized knowledge into something more, that translates information into a cohesive and engaging dialogue with the reader.
The entire work is a series of interesting anecdotes. Take the author’s treatment of psychotropic mushrooms. He analyzes the chemical effects that such mushrooms have on the human brain, surveys how they are used in different cultures, and even goes into the history of the investigators in the West who studied the species and brought them to the attention of society at large. This is a fascinating tale, but it’s simply told as you would tell it in a lecture. It’s missing something. It does not reach out and pull the reader into what should be a compelling story that involves Central American tribes, LSD, and academic scandal.
It may not be fair to criticize a book-- and one from what I can tell one that is free of errors and obviously written by an expert in the field-- that nonetheless does an important job. It brings to light things that are little understood but that have a huge and often ignored effect on human life and flourishing. Still-- as interesting as the content was, there’s no escaping the fact that something was lacking: the book was boring.
There are dozens of things to learn in this book to fascinate and horrify, but they’re all passed over from one to the other like you’re on a tour or-- as I’ll say again, as it seems the most apt analogy-- like you’re reading a series of Wikipedia articles. Perhaps that illustrates one of the challenges in tackling this field: the desire to provide an adequate survey of a huge topic.
One final example. I’ll never forget the one of the most poignant image I have in my memory related to fungi: the time-lapse photography in Discover Channel’s Planet Earth documentary showing mushrooms growing out the bodies of insects on a jungle floor. It was like something out of science fiction. Whether the insects were already dead or still living when infected, they were being consumed from within by something that seemed terrifying and alien and was going to spread spores so it could keep doing this. In this book you might learn a bit about those fungi, but you won’t get any of that wonder and horror: it will simply be another short stop on a tour.
I am in the intended audience for this book: someone without a background in mycology but who is equal parts fascinated and horrified by the kingdom of organisms known as fungi. They’re such a twilight concept: plant-like, yet not plants, little understood or explored by biology at large, causing disease and rot yet also a pharmacopeia of beneficial medicines and psychotropic drugs. They’re as mysterious to most as their most familiar representation: the mushrooms that spring up on summer lawns almost overnight. And like mushrooms, most of what they are remains hidden beneath the soil.
In this book, the author is particularly interested in showing the relationship between the world of fungus and the human world. He wants to highlight species of fungus that have played a role or continue to play an important or potentially important role in human affairs. This includes disease-causing fungi, historically beneficial fungi (like the yeasts that make our bread rise, ferment our beer, and have, arguably, shaped the entire course of human civilization), fungi that cause disease in our crops and trees, and fungi that decay our homes and buildings.
And as you would expect for someone interested in fungi, there are a lot of truly interesting things in here. We get an introduction to the fungal kingdom in general, how they work and how they do the things they do from the point of view of a mycologist. The author then goes through each of his topics in turn with the rigor of an undergraduate survey course (as, incidentally, the book is based upon). I was especially fascinated at the role fungi plays in the fermentation of bread, beer, and wine (I’m currently cultivating in my “fermentation corner” in our kitchen a sourdough starter as well as a jar of kumbucha, a mildly fermented tea) as well as the ability for many to create the chemicals from which we derive many of our antibiotics that still resist laboratory synthesis.
The author is obviously passionate about his topic and eager to pass this along. If nothing else, he succeeds in illustrating the vast scope of influence that fungi have on human life. For all this intention though-- and despite the rich content itself, many parts of which could have entailed entire books to themselves-- the reading was a drag. In fact, the various chapters often felt like little more than a series of Wikipedia articles: well-written and informative but missing the elusive spark that turns organized knowledge into something more, that translates information into a cohesive and engaging dialogue with the reader.
The entire work is a series of interesting anecdotes. Take the author’s treatment of psychotropic mushrooms. He analyzes the chemical effects that such mushrooms have on the human brain, surveys how they are used in different cultures, and even goes into the history of the investigators in the West who studied the species and brought them to the attention of society at large. This is a fascinating tale, but it’s simply told as you would tell it in a lecture. It’s missing something. It does not reach out and pull the reader into what should be a compelling story that involves Central American tribes, LSD, and academic scandal.
It may not be fair to criticize a book-- and one from what I can tell one that is free of errors and obviously written by an expert in the field-- that nonetheless does an important job. It brings to light things that are little understood but that have a huge and often ignored effect on human life and flourishing. Still-- as interesting as the content was, there’s no escaping the fact that something was lacking: the book was boring.
There are dozens of things to learn in this book to fascinate and horrify, but they’re all passed over from one to the other like you’re on a tour or-- as I’ll say again, as it seems the most apt analogy-- like you’re reading a series of Wikipedia articles. Perhaps that illustrates one of the challenges in tackling this field: the desire to provide an adequate survey of a huge topic.
One final example. I’ll never forget the one of the most poignant image I have in my memory related to fungi: the time-lapse photography in Discover Channel’s Planet Earth documentary showing mushrooms growing out the bodies of insects on a jungle floor. It was like something out of science fiction. Whether the insects were already dead or still living when infected, they were being consumed from within by something that seemed terrifying and alien and was going to spread spores so it could keep doing this. In this book you might learn a bit about those fungi, but you won’t get any of that wonder and horror: it will simply be another short stop on a tour.
August 28, 2018
The introduction to the book drew me in and then several chapters on, other chapters were skimmed over. A favorite chapter was the origin of potatoes, migration and Ireland’s famine. The invisible fungi led to disastrous results. Overall, the mushroom is less mysterious to my mind but still quite fascinating. Where does the next shroom pop?
April 27, 2021
This book was assigned for my Fungi in Civilization class. I wasn’t sure how much I was going to enjoy it going in, but I loved it! It was funny at some points and never over-simplified anything. I credit much of my quiz and exams scores to this book.
December 28, 2018
Entertaining intro the the mycological world!
January 31, 2008
This is actually a textbook for a really awesome course I'm taking this semester. For people who only want to read the first two sentences of a review, let me just say that I read this "textbook" in one weekend. And now, some highlights:
Lichens are a combination of a fungus and an algae. Although lichens are the prototypical example of a symbiotic relationship, further research reveals that the fungus is more of a parasite than a helper, contributing only 10% to the life of the lichen. Lichens are also excellent absorbers of radiation. A study of human tissue to determine the effect of above-ground nuclear testing on people revealed that the Lapps had much more radiation than even people near the testing site. This is due to eating the flesh of reindeer, who love eating lichens.
The fly agaric mushroom, while it will make you high, only gives bad trips. Despite this fact, rich Siberians will collect this mushroom, boil it, and drink the resulting liquid. The poor Siberians will then wait outside until the rich Siberians go out to pee. The poor Siberians collect the urine in bowls, and drink it. Unfortunately, it's not only the poor who have an interest in the urine. Reindeer are also attracted to the chemicals in the mushroom and have been known on occasion to trample to death a trippy rich guy who is vacating his bladder.
The CIA during the Cold War was the largest supplier of psychoactive chemicals in the world. At first, they found that LSD-25 would cause even the best trained agents to spill information without even remembering that they had done so. They began testing it on a variety of unknowing people. They would pay prostitutes in other drugs to slip LSD to their johns and then allow the CIA to watch what happened from behind a one-way mirror. In the end, they decided they couldn't really use LSD because the information they would get from tripping individuals was as likely to be rubbish as it was to be true.
Potato blight really sucks. But, hey, now we have Irish in the US! Yay!
Lichens are a combination of a fungus and an algae. Although lichens are the prototypical example of a symbiotic relationship, further research reveals that the fungus is more of a parasite than a helper, contributing only 10% to the life of the lichen. Lichens are also excellent absorbers of radiation. A study of human tissue to determine the effect of above-ground nuclear testing on people revealed that the Lapps had much more radiation than even people near the testing site. This is due to eating the flesh of reindeer, who love eating lichens.
The fly agaric mushroom, while it will make you high, only gives bad trips. Despite this fact, rich Siberians will collect this mushroom, boil it, and drink the resulting liquid. The poor Siberians will then wait outside until the rich Siberians go out to pee. The poor Siberians collect the urine in bowls, and drink it. Unfortunately, it's not only the poor who have an interest in the urine. Reindeer are also attracted to the chemicals in the mushroom and have been known on occasion to trample to death a trippy rich guy who is vacating his bladder.
The CIA during the Cold War was the largest supplier of psychoactive chemicals in the world. At first, they found that LSD-25 would cause even the best trained agents to spill information without even remembering that they had done so. They began testing it on a variety of unknowing people. They would pay prostitutes in other drugs to slip LSD to their johns and then allow the CIA to watch what happened from behind a one-way mirror. In the end, they decided they couldn't really use LSD because the information they would get from tripping individuals was as likely to be rubbish as it was to be true.
Potato blight really sucks. But, hey, now we have Irish in the US! Yay!
Read
October 22, 2015Not gonna lie, this is one of the worst-titled books I've ever read. But for those of us who will pick sincere emotion and deep knowledge over marketing finesse every time, it turns out to be a notably loving and appreciative introduction to the fungus kingdom by a longtime Cornell professor.
We often think of fungi as vegetables because our most visible interaction with them is via button mushrooms in the produce section of the supermarket... but that isn't even close enough to the truth to be wrong. Fungi are basically parasites on both plants and animals, having nothing to do with either photosynthesis nor internal digestion, but living by digesting food OUTSIDE THEIR OWN BODIES and then sucking the nutrients up. By these means they can rot wood, ferment alcohol, perfume truffle fries, communicate between trees in a forest, raise bread dough, inspire hallucinations, defeat bacteria, grow inside giant anthills, cause various itches, and kill humans.
This book has very little in the way of argument, but is a gentle yet passionate catalog of the main types of fungus that might be encountered by humans. You can tell that the author just really enjoys fungi, and if you give him half a chance you will too.
We often think of fungi as vegetables because our most visible interaction with them is via button mushrooms in the produce section of the supermarket... but that isn't even close enough to the truth to be wrong. Fungi are basically parasites on both plants and animals, having nothing to do with either photosynthesis nor internal digestion, but living by digesting food OUTSIDE THEIR OWN BODIES and then sucking the nutrients up. By these means they can rot wood, ferment alcohol, perfume truffle fries, communicate between trees in a forest, raise bread dough, inspire hallucinations, defeat bacteria, grow inside giant anthills, cause various itches, and kill humans.
This book has very little in the way of argument, but is a gentle yet passionate catalog of the main types of fungus that might be encountered by humans. You can tell that the author just really enjoys fungi, and if you give him half a chance you will too.
July 15, 2011
A travesty of blandness and mediocrity for a book about such a fascinating subject. Instead of emphasizing the things that are actually interesting about fungi (their ecology), Hudler emphasizes their impact on human lives. I feel that this is done because the author seems desperate to prove to his audience that his subject of interest isn't worthless or disgusting. If that doesn't seem like a terrible reason to write a book to you, then maybe you'd like this one.
May 29, 2015
I finally got around to reading this book after I put it down last summer. I really enjoyed the review of fungi and their relationship with human history-- including medicinal fungi, edible lichens, poisonous fungi, mind altering fungi, symbiotic fungi and more!
March 16, 2009
This is an awesome book for an awesome class at Cornell written by and taught by a hilarious man who LOVES fungi!
July 29, 2012
Great introduction to the importance of fungi to human welfare and society.
June 14, 2014
Great introduction to mycology for the layman.
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February 21, 2015This is a good first book to read on mushrooms. if a later edition is available I would read that.
June 10, 2020
A decent, though brief, easy to understand, introduction to the world of fungi.
July 18, 2015
An amazing and fun read that is easily accessible and full of interesting facts.
Want to read
July 7, 2015COCC QK 603 .H79 1998
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews