Fungi: Discover the Science and Secrets Behind the World of Mushrooms

Discover the fascinating stories behind some 300 species of fungi and understand the world of mushrooms like never before!

Did you know that fungi put the fizz in champagne and the flavour in chocolate? Fungi is everywhere we look: in a forest, under the sea, and in the kitchen. In this beautiful book, leading fungal biologists Professor Lynne Boddy and Dr Ali Ashby bring you closer to 300 species of mushrooms and lichens through fascinating facts, mushroom datasets, and detailed illustrations. Discover some of the fastest speeds in nature, specimens that glow in the dark, and fungi that clean up oil spills.

Humans have had a close relationship with mushrooms for thousands of years. Bringing together technology, medicine, food, culture, and nature, this fascinating book will open your eyes to the wonders of the hidden kingdom all around us.

About the Author

Lynne Boddy is professor of fungal ecology at Cardiff University. She has authored two academic books and a children's book for DK. In 2019, she was awarded an MBE for Services to Mycology and science outreach, and in 2021, she won the Arboricultural Association Award. Lynne has appeared on BBC’s Deep Down and Dirty: the Science of Soil, and other TV shows.

Ali Ashby is a fungal biologist and director of a life sciences consultancy company in Cambridge. She is a former Royal Society University Research Fellow. Ali is a member of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), the British Mycological Society (BMS) and coordinated the national BMS UK Fungus Day in 2013.