Mushrooms, fungi, molds, mycorrhizal spores. These all affect you every day of your life. They have helped keep the world operating for millions of years. For thousands of years they have provided humans with the means to exist. The 5300yr. old "Iceman" found in the Alps in 1991 had two different mushrooms in his pouch that were important to his survival in the world. While you may not need them for your survival (if you did you might turn to that mold, penicillin), multiple ongoing studies into the medicinal properties of various mushrooms may soon add to the already proven ways mushrooms can save lives. You can certainly benefit from knowing your mushrooms. will help you find and identify wild mushrooms. The illustrations and the text are designed to introduce beginners to the wonderful, colorful, nutritious and magical world of mushrooms. Mushrooms or toadstools, call them what you will, are fascinating members of the fungi world. They are neither plant nor animal; about the only plant-like thing they do is put down roots, while structurally they have more in common with animals. They occupy a place in the chain of life, without which neither plants nor animals could survive. The A to Z book of Mushrooms explores this world with illustrations and text. Discover which to eat and which to avoid and learn some of the amazing things they have done, and continue to do, for mankind. For thousands of years they have provided food and medicine. For millions of years before we came along, they helped shape the planet we call home.