Book Reviews1

DOI: 10.1017/S0953756204219955

GENERAL MYCOLOGY

Fungi. By Roy Watling. October 2003. [Life Series.] TheNatural History Museum, London. Pp. 96, colour photo-

graphs 85, figures 9. ISBN 0 565 09182 4. Price £9.95.

I would have welcomed the opportunity to recommend Fungi

by Roy Watling to the large number of people I have metwhile doing the British Mycological Society’s ‘Roadshow’,a travelling exhibition, who have expressed interest and

curiosity in fungi during the past year. The book answersmany of the questions asked by Roadshow visitors withoutcausing ‘brain-ache’ from too much scientific detail and ter-

minology. It is the perfect next step from first noticing fungito being better informed, while providing enough informationand illustration to notice even more.It is a short book, only 96 pages, with many beautiful

photographs. The photographs effectively reveal the diversityof larger fungi. Although there is no intention that the bookshould be used as an identification guide, the photographs,

and the printing, are of the highest standard (the picturecredits list reads like a who’s who in fungal photography).There are so many illustrations – a figure on almost every

page – that the text is not particularly long. Nevertheless, itcovers a range of subjects ; describing what is a fungus andwhere to find them, and covering collecting, studying, con-

servation and the relationship between humans and fungiincluding culture, myth and legend. I would have enjoyedreading a little more about the ways that fungi affect usand the products we use routinely, and perhaps a few more

specific examples of how fungi influence us. People seemgenuinely amazed and fascinated by how often fungi touchtheir day to day lives without their even being aware of the

kingdom. However, this text is well written and carries theknowledgeable authority expected of the author.There is a useful list of websites and further reading for

those looking for more detail in the areas he has dealt with;plus a useful glossary. Readers of Mycological Researchmight think they have limited use for such a book, but anyoneinvolved in education of family, friends or the general public

will find the price of Roy Watling’s Fungi a small investmentto shed so much light. A nice book to own and a welcome

gift for anyone who appreciates the countryside and nature,

or for the more focused biologist.

Liz Moore

48 Alan Road, Stockport SK4 4LE, UK.

DOI: 10.1017/S0953756204229951

MEDICAL MYCOLOGY

The Mycota: A comprehensive treatise on fungi as experimen-

tal systems for basic and applied research. Edited by KarlEsser & Joan W. Bennett. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

XII. Human Fungal Pathogens. Edited by Judith E. Domer &

George S. Kobayashi. 2003 [‘2004’]. Pp. xvii+376, figures34, tables 31. ISBN 3 540 42629 9. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Price E169.95, US $189, £130.50.

We live in an age where science is viewed with great urgency.Some peer-reviewed journals rush to put pre-prints of new

papers on their websites (sometimes even before peer reviewhas taken place). Others, such as the many journals publishedby the American Society for Microbiology, consider their

pages more than six months old are sufficiently aged to bemade available free of charge to anyone who wishes to accessthem. Against this background of pressure for speed, manypublishers of scientific books remain happy to put together

their products in the traditional, leisurely manner, withchapters written and gathered over a period of years and thepublication date a function of the last manuscript received.

The Mycota, volume 12 is a book of this type. It wasavailable in October 2003, but bears a publication date of2004 (so publishers do realize there’s a need to be up to date,

then). Many of its chapters cite the literature only up to2000; those with reference citations from 2001 (and the veryoccasional 2002) are presumably the ones that were sentlatest to the editors. Dating the book as a 2004 publication

only serves to emphasize the apparent distance between thetime the chapters were written and the time they appearedin print. Many of the chapters deal with currently ‘hot’ topics

in the field of molecular science of fungal disease, but evenif they do not represent the absolutely latest updates theyserve as fine pauses for reflection: landmarks where threads

have been drawn together to form a firm base for departurewith new research ideas.In keeping with previous volumes in The Mycota series,

Human Fungal Pathogens sets out to illuminate specific areasacross the breadth of the topic, rather than to compete witha textbook style of coverage. Among the chapters thatstood out for me are Alex van Belkum’s very fine account of

1 This section is compiled by the Executive Editor, to whom booksfor consideration for coverage should be sent: David L. Hawks-worth, The Yellow House, Calle Aguila 12, Colonia La Maliciosa,Mataelpino, E-28492 Madrid, Spain (tel/fax: [+34] 91 857 3640;e-mail : myconova@terra.es). Unsigned reviews and notices are bythe Executive Editor.

Mycol. Res. 108 (4): 463–464 (April 2004). f The British Mycological Society 463

Printed in the United Kingdom.