Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms Book

This is my least favorite of the mushroom guides I have read and used in my year and change since initiating into the hobby. The text is not well spaced, so that the descriptions of various mushroom features run together. The color plates, while large, are not particularly representative of all the key features. There is absolutely nothing added for readability or flavor. I find myself referring to it only rarely, when I am having trouble with a specific specimen and am looking for another source to corroborate one thought or the other. I don't recommend for anyone to start with this guide...if folks begin to, mycology really will be a dying hobby.

For the sake of offering a bit of both sides, the technical information in this guide does seem pretty good, and the introduction is well put together. That is also true of the Audubon guide, however, and that one is superior in all the other features mentioned above.