It’s autumn and this weekend is Fungus Day in the UK and so one’s mind turns to the Kingdom of Fungi – just forget plants and animals for a day. This is one of a series of Little Books which are little books but they pack a big punch. They will remind many readers of Observer books because they are a similar size, but don’t let the small dimensions make you think that these books are lightweights. Not at all.
There are about 100,000 species of named fungi but perhaps the total is closer to 1.5 million if only we found and named them all. About one in 10 UK species is a fungus – about 7000 of them.
How many fungi have you encountered today? Have you had mushrooms to eat? How about wine, beer or sake? Soft cheeses? And did you have to throw some food away because it was rotting with the help of fungi? Or maybe a foodstuff that might have entered your fridge never got there because of the attacks of rusts, smuts and blights. Ringworm on your arm and fairy rings in the lawn are the work of fungi. Penicillin? the air you breathe today will contain fungal spores. The list is enormous but we mostly don’t give fungi that much thought.
This little book is a very good introduction to open your eyes to fungi with lots of examples that might amaze you (swimming fungi? did you know?).
The range geographically and in terms of lifestyles and biology are both huge. See also my short reviews of Trees – click here – Butterflies – click here – Beetles – click here and Spiders – click here.
The cover? Understated. I’d give it 7/10.
The Little Book of Fungi by Britt A. Bunyard is published by Princeton University Press.
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