Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard: The Mysterious World of ...

Wow!:
Wow! I never thought Iýd enjoy a book on fungi this much. Parts of it are not a particularly easy read, but the information it contains is mind blowing. Forget terrorists; if fungi and mold decided to take out the human race it would be no contest. We tend not to think of fungi as being a very important part of our world. We might occasionally have mushrooms on pizza or steak, we might notice fungi growing on an old tree or on something that has been kept too long in the refrigerator, but thatýs about it. In fact fungi has a vast influence in our world, from breaking down fallen trees in the forest to making our bread and beer. Have you ever wondered how dandruff was formed? Guess what plays a major role. The writer, who presents often bizarre information with wit and style, reminds us that one fungi, covering 2000 acres in Oregon, is thought to be the worldýs largest living organism. Even the more prosaic information comes to life in this book - I enjoyed his description of the speed a spore is catapulted from a gill. Some of the most interesting sections are the mini-biographies of scientists who have researched fungi and added to our knowledge of them. There was Buller, for instance, a professor whose students called him ýUncle Reggieý, and Ingold who found a totally unknown kind of fungus in water. There are now over 300 species of Ingoldian fungi known and in fall you can find about 20,000 of them in every litre of brook water. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the natural world. Youýll need to expend a little effort reading the more scholarly parts of it, but youýll learn some amazing stuff about fungi, mold and the scientists who discovered them.

Another World Close at Hand:
The fungus world is all around us, like the world of bacteria. Several books have been recently published on these strange organisms and each has a slightly different slant on them. Actually the very term "fungus" has undergone an evolutionary change over the last few decades. Once part of the plant kingdom, fungi, minus several groups like slime molds and chytrids (although all are still covered in classes on mycology), now enjoy the status of their own kingdom. And a very weird kingdom it is indeed! Nicholas Money from the Department of Botany at Miami University in Ohio has, in his book "Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard," produced a fascinating set of essays on these organisms and the people who study them, from Ingoldian spores to John Webster and the phallic fungi. As a former resident of Gainesville, Florida, I was quite interested in his chapter on "Angels of Death." In it Money writes that he found Amanita virosa growing near Cedar Key in an area I used to frequent during my days as a graduate student. The destroying angel is a very dangerous mushroom that should be avoided at all costs as it usually kills anyone so unfortunate to eat it. Money's description of these and other fungi that produce nasty toxins certainly gives one pause. Other topics include the rather bizarre sex life of fungi, and the numerous fungal parasites and symbionts associated with humans. Finally the author gives us an equally fascinating description of Mr. Bloomfield's orchard, an untended apple orchard consumed by fungi. If you think that fungi don't matter, Money will change your mind, but if you are a bit put off by the subject don't read this book or your curiosity just might hook you into the Alice in Wonderland world of these "simple" organisms! In any case I recommend this book with only minor stylistic reservations. I slightly prefer Hudler's "Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds" for style, but this is just personal taste and has little bearing on content.

Intriguing Look at Fungi and Molds - Absolutely Fascinating:
I had never considered mycology, the study of mushrooms, molds, and fungi, to be particularly interesting, once again demonstrating how wrong I can be. I had trouble breaking away from this oddly titled book, Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard. The author, Nicholas P. Money, a research mycologist, has an infectious enthusiasm and a delightful sense of humor, as well as that rare ability to create exceptional science literature for the educated reader. Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard is more challenging than most popular science books; it is sufficiently detailed to make ideal supplementary reading for biology undergraduate students. I can well imagine that Money's book will be responsible for a surge in applicants to mycology graduate programs. I was especially fascinated by the complex life cycle of various molds and fungi, their incredible resistance to extreme temperatures, toxic chemicals, and radioactivity, and their remarkable ability to draw upon a seemingly endless set of enzymes to digest their surroundings, whatever that might be. A particular fungus that kills grass on the golf course and never feeds on animals in the wild, has demonstrated the innate capability to consume animal tissue when isolated in the lab from vegetative matter. Money speculates that this remarkable adaptability of molds and fungi offers profound insights into their long evolutionary history, some 3.5 billion years. It somehow seems fitting that there are indeed molds that specialize in consuming other molds. Money injects humor, and occasional social comment, into his account of fungi and friends. He mentions for example: A black mold is working on a shampoo bottle in my shower, which is ironic because the contents are supposed to possess antifungal properties that suppress dandruff (this fungus is in for a surprise if it breaks through the plastic). Five stars for Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard - The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Fungi.

Fantastic Book!:
Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard is far and away the best introduction to the science of mycology for general audience readers and mycology devotees alike. Nicholas Money has a way with words, and his dry sense of humor makes this book a pleasure to read. The one-star review on this page by "Johnny" represents a misguided interpretation of Money's irreverence. The book is certainly NOT racist, and Money makes fun of Western cultures with equal wit (incidentally, I am a Chinese American--one who has studied racist discourse and Orientalism).

An Unhappy Reader:
Here is a direct quote from page 6 of the book: "...it is a tragedy in a country as populous as China that anything from tiger turds to whale afterbirths can be sold as long as the suggestion is made that their consumption enhances erectile function." What racist garbage! Here is another Eurocentric writer making judgements on another culture. It reminds me of the explorers on Darwin's Beagle who tried to "civilize" the Tierra del Fuego "savages". I am disappointed that Oxford University Press would allow such ignorant comments to be published in a book whose primary audience is "educated" people. It is sickening that a book like this is published without anyone questioning the appropriateness of such offensive remarks. I'm sorry, but I put the book away after reading the first chapter, and I am sorry that I wasted $14.95.