NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS
A book about mushrooms, new poetry pondering what we humans need, and a publishing experiment that blends book-buying and philanthropy
By Nina MacLaughlin Globe Correspondent,Updated March 4, 2021, 1:46 p.m.
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Bringing new meaning to digging mushrooms
Doug Bierendâs lively, engaging, and enlightening new book, âIn Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushroomsâ (Chelsea Green) initiates readers into the rich world of the mushroom and its multiple powerful uses: as food, medicine, assistors in environmental remediation, a model to how to exist in a more symbiotic and reciprocal way. He establishes what fungi are, in nature and culture, then guides us in to the âmycelium undergroundâ of enthusiasts, farmers, and foragers looking to broaden mushroomsâ uses and appeal. And all the while the book is undergirded by the question of how looking at mushrooms â or ot