Stinkhorns, puffballs, the “corpse finder”, deadly galerina, Satan's bolete, birch conks, black mold, the old man of the woods — the world of fungi is infinitely varied and this book introduces readers to a dazzling array of fungi. We learn of Madurella, which can erode bones until they look moth-eaten; Cordyceps, which wracks insects with convulsions, kills them, then sends a stalk out of the insect's head to release more infectious spores; and Claviceps, the poisonous ergot fungus, which causes hallucinations (the women charged with “demonic possession” in Salem in 1691 may have been victims of ergot consumption). The book's author recounts his own childhood introduction to fungi in Mr. Bloomfield's orchard — where trees and fruit were devoured by a rogue's gallery of bitter rot, canker, rust, powdery mildew, rubbery wood and scab — as well as outlining the lives of famed mycologists, including Reginald Buller who wore horse blinders as he walked to work, the better to study luminescent fungi in his dark lab. This book provides an introduction to the biology of fungi as well as insight into how scientists study fungi in the lab and in the field.