Excerpt from An Elementary Text-Book of British Fungi The purpose and intention of the present work are set forth in the opening chapter. It is designed to be an elementary introduction to the study of Fungi, chiefly in those aspects which most readily engage popular attention. Beyond that, it is intended to cover, as comprehensively and accurately as possible, the entire subject of Fungi considered as aliment. I am well convinced that such information is often vainly sought for, that it is needed, and that it will prove useful. Every succeeding year shows that intelligent lovers of Nature are inclined to take an increasing interest in Fungi. There are, as I know from past experience, but few means open to such persons of acquiring the knowledge they are desirous of being possessed of, and there is no small difficulty in obtaining access to the recorded results of mycologists' labours. It has been my object to meet popular requirements, so far as my ability went, and I have not allowed myself to entertain the presumption of trying to do more. My interest in Fungi began in boyhood, but it has been mostly within the last ten years that I have been able to carry out diligent study, so far as the exigences of a struggling life afforded opportunities for it. It has never been my privilege, as yet, to meet with any person versed in Mycology from whom I could derive instruction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Fungi and microbes have predominant influence in our lives. They are directly or indirectly involved in generating the food we eat and drink, besides providing life saving pharmaceutical products, including the sources of enzymes. They play a vital role in recycling of organic matter and several ecological processes. Both fungi and microbes have contributed several billion dollars worth of technological products. For instance: yeast is used in brewing and bakery, Lactobacillus ferments milk to yoghurt and a number of edible mushrooms are rich in nutrients besides possessing many medicinal properties. Bacteria and fungi serve as key organisms in understanding life processes, genetic engineering and as experimental organisms. Therefore, it is necessary to study the biology and biotechnology of these organisms. It is a humble attempt of the authors to make the readers understand the biology and biotechnology of fungi and microbes in a simpler way and also to communicate the recent developments.

The Routledge Anthology of Climate Fiction brings together key works from the Bible to the twentieth century, in an accessible resource for students and teachers alike. With a robust variety of works, including H. G. Wells, Clare Winger Harris, H. P. Lovecraft, Leslie F. Stone, and Arthur Conan Doyle, The Routledge Anthology of Climate Fiction offers vital new perspectives and critical introductions all the way back to humanity’s earliest surviving literary texts.

How the prized matsutake mushroom is remaking human communities in China—and providing new ways to understand human and more-than-human worlds What a Mushroom Lives For pushes today’s mushroom renaissance in compelling new directions. For centuries, Western science has promoted a human- and animal-centric framework of what counts as action, agency, movement, and behavior. But, as Michael Hathaway shows, the world-making capacities of mushrooms radically challenge this orthodoxy by revealing the lively dynamism of all forms of life. The book tells the fascinating story of one particularly prized species, the matsutake, and the astonishing ways it is silently yet powerfully shaping worlds, from the Tibetan plateau to the mushrooms’ final destination in Japan. Many Tibetan and Yi people have dedicated their lives to picking and selling this mushroom—a delicacy that drives a multibillion-dollar global trade network and that still grows only in the wild, despite scientists’ intensive efforts to cultivate it in urban labs. But this is far from a simple story of humans exploiting a passive, edible commodity. Rather, the book reveals the complex, symbiotic ways that mushrooms, plants, humans, and other animals interact. It explores how the world looks to the mushrooms, as well as to the people who have grown rich harvesting them. A surprise-filled journey into science and human culture, this exciting and provocative book shows how fungi shape our planet and our lives in strange, diverse, and often unimaginable ways.