Are you skeptical of your ability to distinguish a delicious mushroom from a deadly one?

Do you want to find, process, and prepare wild mushrooms for food and medicine?

Fry, Thrive, or Die features fifty common, delicious, hallucinogenic, medicinal, and poisonous mushrooms of the Western United States. The guide prepares readers to hunt and serve wild mushrooms, as well as delight the reader with stories, history, possibilities, recipes, and more.

A pocket-sized field guide to the most prominent and distinctive wild mushrooms in the Western United States, from the Pacific Coast to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Southwest deserts to the Olympic Peninsula rainforests. Each species is identified with a detailed color picture, distinct features, as well as information on habitat, fruiting timing, edibility, creative uses, and dangerous look-alikes.

Mushrooms attract a distinct audience. There are wild mushrooms that make a splendid meal, can improve your health, potentially save your life, or end your life. This guide is suitable for both beginning foragers as well as experienced mushroom maniacs who seek new information on mushroom medicines, toxins, hallucinogens, innovative applications, and edibility. Happy hunting and fry and thrive!

About the Author

Dr. Mike Amaranthus believes fungi should emphasize fun. As a two-time cancer survivor, getting to know this amazing group of mushrooms has enriched and perhaps saved his life. He believes that a book can be not only accurate and have substance but also delight the reader with stories, history, possibilities, recipes, and much, much more.

Dr Mike is a retired research soil scientist for the US Department of Agriculture and associate adjunct professor at Oregon State University. Dr. Mike received the USDA’s highest Honor Award for scientific achievement after his twenty years of contributions as a USDA research scientist, authoring and coauthoring over one hundred scientific papers. Dr. Mike has several mushroom and truffle species named after him in his honor. Yes, having fungi named after you is an honor, not a curse!

Two decades ago, Dr. Mike and his wife, Eileen, founded Mycorrhizal Applications Inc., a biotechnology company focusing on growing and using mycorrhizal fungi to increase food production using fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The globally groundbreaking products are now used in over thirty countries. Dr. Mike Amaranthus holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California–Berkeley and a PhD from Oregon State University.

Dr. Mike is active as a mentor and volunteer for youth and cancer support network organizations all over Oregon. Dr. Mike and Eileen are thankful for a full and warm home, raising five children and having eight grandchildren.