Fungi & foraging books

[smokinJoe]

I'm new to bushcraft but eager, got thegeneral hang of plat and tree recognition but now i'd like to try foraging. Can anyone recomend good beginner books for the UK? Ideally ones that can be taken into the field without adding too much bulk to the pack.

I've done a bit of research Ive found:

Food for Free by Richard Mabey and very handily there's a Collins Gem pocket version by the same auther
and
Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe by Roger Phillips and Collins Gem - Mushrooms by Patrick Harding

are these good ones? are there better out there?
Also, are there any books organised by seasons rather than breed/type?

Thanks all just for reading,

[JonnyP]

All those are good.. Also look at Wild food by Roger Phillips and Wild Food by Ray Mears and Roger Hillman. There are plenty of others out there, but those are my fav (including the ones you mentioned).

[Tony1948]

:welcome:To the smokinJoe I think most of us on here have and use the collins gem Food for free,so you'r heading on the right trail...............Dont get eaten by the bears...........TONY.

[smokinJoe]

Cheers guys, I'll start with the Gems and then get the big boy books.......

[AdrianRose]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The BEST book in my honest opinion is "Easy edible fungi" by Prof David Pegler.

I have been a very enthusiastic amateur fungi geek for 20 years and this book is my "go to" bible.

All the best

Ade.

[Hathor]

I've got the Encyclopedia of Fungi of britain and Europe by Michael Jordan (available on Amazon). Definitely not a pocket book.

[smokinJoe]

Ade, found the book on amazon - for 800 of your finest english pounds. I'm not a cheap skate but thats a bit much for me as a starter book, it does look very good though. Cheers ;)

[Basha72]

It is a great book, there must be others listed somewhere a lot lot cheaper, I never paid anything like that for mine, more like £8 !

[Basha72]

This isn't the one Ade was on about, but its at a good price and by the same author

DAVID PEGLER Field Guide Mushrooms Toadstools Europe COLOUR ILLUSTRATED VGC it's on e bay at £6 could be worth it till the easy guide turns up !

[Basha72]

You can get some really good books on Amazon for dirt cheap prices, I've had a few wild flower key books and a few others for 01p plus £2 postage, also check out charity shops, good luck with Book hunting it can get addictive lol ;-)


5705

5706

Dave

[David_JAFO]

hello,
SmokinJoe a couple of e-books I have on file to
get you started.
'Be an Expert with Map & Compass'
'Edible Mushrooms 2nd Edition'
'Wilderness Survival for Dummies'
Regards
David
Ps. Uploaded for a short time via my Mediafire/Cloud Account :wink:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sj1fbkeesecp1be

http://www.mediafire.com/?9h8t2su0els8e0v

http://www.mediafire.com/?b91bxlxlnx1fcmb

[BushcraftJustin]

Really interesting posts, cheers... I'll keep my eyes peeled

[smokinJoe]

Thank for these David_JAFO, only had a quick look through but there really good. Cheers

[Winst0nsmith]

You'll need a good field giude on plants to make Food Free usable in the field, the pictures are useless for identifying things, it's packed full of good info though and can be picked up very cheaply at the moment at The Works.

River Cottage books are very good but expensive, I've just posted a thread on cheap book deals, there's one from them on there. If you order that, you hit their free postage level so an extra fiver on "The Thrifty Forager"-Alys Fowler might be of use. It's a bit big for a field guide but well worth a few quid.

Hope this helps.