The Wonder of Mushrooms
The Mysterious World of Fungi
“When it comes to fungi, art and science often overlap,” Maya Jewell Zeller writes, and that is indeed true of her beautiful, beguiling book The Wonder of Mushrooms.
Fungi are curious: More closely related to animals than plants, they number 150,000 species, less than 10 percent of which produce the fruiting body recognized as a mushroom. (Those that do not include the yeasts in beer, bread, and cheese.) Through underground mycelia and in connection with plant roots, it is even possible that fungi communicate. Each miniature chapter broadens the view of fungi with a hybrid of poetry and prose. Quotations, including from Henry David Thoreau, indicate that mushrooms have always provoked fascination.
The gorgeous illustrations alternate between close-ups and still-life images set in forests and human spaces. Alongside the science are whimsical metaphors: A mushroom’s cap and stem resemble “a gnome in a hat”; stinkhorns seem “sprung from a faraway planet”; “coral pink merulius looks like a feverish child’s throat.” The variety is astounding. Some fungi are bioluminescent; together, the colors make a rainbow. Their grandeur and longevity are surprising too. “The humongous fungus” is a honey mushroom colony spanning two thousand acres in Eastern Oregon, while a fairy ring in France is over seven hundred years old. The work also considers the practical uses of fungi as food, dyes, or pharmaceuticals, and in potential technologies like sequestering pollution and breaking down microplastics.
The Wonder of Mushrooms is an informative, charming introduction to the kingdom of fungi.
Reviewed by
Rebecca Foster
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
