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  Fungi: A Very Short Introduction

  VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way into a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been translated into more than 40 different languages.

  The Series began in 1995, and now covers a wide variety of topics in every discipline. The VSI library now contains over 450 volumes—a Very Short Introduction to everything from Psychology and Philosophy of Science to American History and Relativity—and continues to grow in every subject area.

  Very Short Introductions available now:

  ACCOUNTING Christopher Nobes

  ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher

  AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGION Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

  AFRICAN HISTORY John Parker and Richard Rathbone

  AFRICAN RELIGIONS Jacob K. Olupona

  AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin

  ALEXANDER THE GREAT Hugh Bowden

  ALGEBRA Peter M. Higgins

  AMERICAN HISTORY Paul S. Boyer

  AMERICAN IMMIGRATION David A. Gerber

  AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY G. Edward White

  AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY Donald Critchlow

  AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel

  AMERICAN POLITICS Richard M. Valelly

  THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones

  THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Robert J. Allison

  AMERICAN SLAVERY Heather Andrea Williams

  THE AMERICAN WEST Stephen Aron

  AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY Susan Ware

  ANAESTHESIA Aidan O’Donnell

  ANARCHISM Colin Ward

  ANCIENT ASSYRIA Karen Radner

  ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw

  ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE Christina Riggs

  ANCIENT GREECE Paul Cartledge

  THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Amanda H. Podany

  ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas

  ANCIENT WARFARE Harry Sidebottom

  ANGELS David Albert Jones

  ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman

  THE ANGLO‑SAXON AGE John Blair

  THE ANIMAL KINGDOM Peter Holland

  ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia

  THE ANTARCTIC Klaus Dodds

  ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller

  ANXIETY Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman

  THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS Paul Foster

  ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn

  ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne

  ARISTOCRACY William Doyle

  ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes

  ART HISTORY Dana Arnold

  ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland

  ASTROBIOLOGY David C. Catling

  ATHEISM Julian Baggini

  AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick

  AUSTRALIA Kenneth Morgan

  AUTISM Uta Frith

  THE AVANT GARDE David Cottington

  THE AZTECS Davíd Carrasco

  BACTERIA Sebastian G. B. Amyes

  BARTHES Jonathan Culler

  THE BEATS David Sterritt

  BEAUTY Roger Scruton

  BESTSELLERS John Sutherland

  THE BIBLE John Riches

  BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY Eric H. Cline

  BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee

  BLACK HOLES Katherine Blundell

  THE BLUES Elijah Wald

  THE BODY Chris Shilling

  THE BOOK OF MORMON Terryl Givens

  BORDERS Alexander C. Diener and Joshua Hagen

  THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea

  THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION Martin Loughlin

  THE BRITISH EMPIRE Ashley Jackson

  BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright

  BUDDHA Michael Carrithers

  BUDDHISM Damien Keown

  BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown

  BYZANTIUM Peter Sarris

  CANCER Nicholas James

  CAPITALISM James Fulcher

  CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins

  CAUSATION Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum

  THE CELL Terence Allen and Graham Cowling

  THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe

  CHAOS Leonard Smith

  CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins

  CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Usha Goswami

  CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Kimberley Reynolds

  CHINESE LITERATURE Sabina Knight

  CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham

  CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson

  CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long

  CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead

  CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy

  CIVIL ENGINEERING David Muir Wood

  CLASSICAL LITERATURE William Allan

  CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY Helen Morales

  CLASSICS Mary Beard and John Henderson

  CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard

  CLIMATE Mark Maslin

  THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon

  COLONIAL AMERICA Alan Taylor

  COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE Rolena Adorno

  COMEDY Matthew Bevis

  COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes

  COMPLEXITY John H. Holland

  THE COMPUTER Darrel Ince

  CONFUCIANISM Daniel K. Gardner

  THE CONQUISTADORS Matthew Restall and Felipe Fernández-Armesto

  CONSCIENCE Paul Strohm

  CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore

  CONTEMPORARY ART Julian Stallabrass

  CONTEMPORARY FICTION Robert Eaglestone

  CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Simon Critchley

  CORAL REEFS Charles Sheppard

  CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Jeremy Moon

  CORRUPTION Leslie Holmes

  COSMOLOGY Peter Coles

  CRIME FICTION Richard Bradford

  CRIMINAL JUSTICE Julian V. Roberts

  CRITICAL THEORY Stephen Eric Bronner

  THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman

  CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and Sean Murphy

  THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION Richard Curt Kraus

  DADA AND SURREALISM David Hopkins

  DANTE Peter Hainsworth and David Robey

  DARWIN Jonathan Howard

  THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy Lim

  DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick

  DERRIDA Simon Glendinning

  DESCARTES Tom Sorell

  DESERTS Nick Middleton

  DESIGN John Heskett

  DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY Lewis Wolpert

  THE DEVIL Darren Oldridge

  DIASPORA Kevin Kenny

  DICTIONARIES Lynda Mugglestone

  DINOSAURS David Norman

  DIPLOMACY Joseph M. Siracusa

  DOCUMENTARY FILM Patricia Aufderheide

  DREAMING J. Allan Hobson

  DRUGS Leslie Iversen

  DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe

  EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly

  THE EARTH Martin Redfern

  ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta

  EDUCATION Gary Thomas

  EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch

  EIGHTEENTH‑CENTURY BRITAIN Paul Langford

  THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball

  EMOTION Dylan Evans

  EMPIRE Stephen Howe

  ENGELS Terrell Carver

  ENGINEERING David Blockley

  ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate

  THE ENLIGHTENMENT John Robertson

  ENTREPRENEURSHIP Paul Westhead and Mike Wright

  ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS Stephen Smith

  EPICUREANISM Catherine Wilson

  EPIDEMIOLOGY Rodolfo Saracci

  ETHICS Simon Blackburn

  ETHNOMUSICOLOGY Timothy Rice

  THE ETRUSCANS Christopher Smith

  THE EUROPEAN UNION John Pinder and Simon Usherwood

  EVOLUTION Brian and Deborah Charlesworth

  EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn

  EXPLORATION Stewart A. Weaver

  THE EYE Michael Land

  FAMILY LAW Jonathan Herring

  FASCISM Kevin Passmore

>   FASHION Rebecca Arnold

  FEMINISM Margaret Walters

  FILM Michael Wood

  FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak

  THE FIRST WORLD WAR Michael Howard

  FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin

  FOOD John Krebs

  FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY David Canter

  FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser

  FORESTS Jaboury Ghazoul

  FOSSILS Keith Thomson

  FOUCAULT Gary Gutting

  FRACTALS Kenneth Falconer

  FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton

  FREE WILL Thomas Pink

  FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons

  THE FRENCH REVOLUTION William Doyle

  FREUD Anthony Storr

  FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven

  FUNGI Nicholas P. Money

  GALAXIES John Gribbin

  GALILEO Stillman Drake

  GAME THEORY Ken Binmore

  GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh

  GENES Jonathan Slack

  GENIUS Andrew Robinson

  GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and David Herbert

  GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds

  GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle

  GERMAN PHILOSOPHY Andrew Bowie

  GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire

  GLOBAL ECONOMIC HISTORY Robert C. Allen

  GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger

  GOD John Bowker

  THE GOTHIC Nick Groom

  GOVERNANCE Mark Bevir

  THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway

  HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson

  HAPPINESS Daniel M. Haybron

  HEGEL Peter Singer

  HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood

  HERMENEUTICS Jens Zimmermann

  HERODOTUS Jennifer T. Roberts

  HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson

  HINDUISM Kim Knott

  HISTORY John H. Arnold

  THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin

  THE HISTORY OF LIFE Michael Benton

  THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS Jacqueline Stedall

  THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE William Bynum

  THE HISTORY OF TIME Leofranc Holford‑Strevens

  HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside

  HOBBES Richard Tuck

  HORMONES Martin Luck

  HUMAN ANATOMY Leslie Klenerman

  HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood

  HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham

  HUMANISM Stephen Law

  HUME A. J. Ayer

  HUMOUR Noël Carroll

  THE ICE AGE Jamie Woodward

  IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden

  INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton

  INFECTIOUS DISEASE Marta L. Wayne and Benjamin M. Bolker

  INFORMATION Luciano Floridi

  INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and David Gann

  INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary

  INTERNATIONAL LAW Vaughan Lowe

  INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION Khalid Koser

  INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Paul Wilkinson

  INTERNATIONAL SECURITY Christopher S. Browning

  IRAN Ali M. Ansari

  ISLAM Malise Ruthven

  ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein

  ITALIAN LITERATURE Peter Hainsworth and David Robey

  JESUS Richard Bauckham

  JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves

  JUDAISM Norman Solomon

  JUNG Anthony Stevens

  KABBALAH Joseph Dan

  KAFKA Ritchie Robertson

  KANT Roger Scruton

  KEYNES Robert Skidelsky

  KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner

  KNOWLEDGE Jennifer Nagel

  THE KORAN Michael Cook

  LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Ian H. Thompson

  LANDSCAPES AND GEOMORPHOLOGY Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles

  LANGUAGES Stephen R. Anderson

  LATE ANTIQUITY Gillian Clark

  LAW Raymond Wacks

  THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS Peter Atkins

  LEADERSHIP Keith Grint

  LIBERALISM Michael Freeden

  LIGHT Ian Walmsley

  LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo

  LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews

  LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler

  LOCKE John Dunn

  LOGIC Graham Priest

  LOVE Ronald de Sousa

  MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner

  MADNESS Andrew Scull

  MAGIC Owen Davies

  MAGNA CARTA Nicholas Vincent

  MAGNETISM Stephen Blundell

  MALTHUS Donald Winch

  MANAGEMENT John Hendry

  MAO Delia Davin

  MARINE BIOLOGY Philip V. Mladenov

  THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips

  MARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix

  MARTYRDOM Jolyon Mitchell

  MARX Peter Singer

  MATERIALS Christopher Hall

  MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers

  THE MEANING OF LIFE Terry Eagleton

  MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope

  MEDICAL LAW Charles Foster

  MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths

  MEDIEVAL LITERATURE Elaine Treharne

  MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster

  METAPHYSICS Stephen Mumford

  MICHAEL FARADAY Frank A. J. L. James

  MICROBIOLOGY Nicholas P. Money

  MICROECONOMICS Avinash Dixit

  MICROSCOPY Terence Allen

  THE MIDDLE AGES Miri Rubin

  MINERALS David Vaughan

  MODERN ART David Cottington

  MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter

  MODERN FRANCE Vanessa R. Schwartz

  MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta

  MODERN JAPAN Christopher Goto-Jones

  MODERN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE Roberto González Echevarría

  MODERN WAR Richard English

  MODERNISM Christopher Butler

  MOLECULES Philip Ball

  THE MONGOLS Morris Rossabi

  MOONS David A. Rothery

  MORMONISM Richard Lyman Bushman

  MOUNTAINS Martin F. Price

  MUHAMMAD Jonathan A. C. Brown

  MULTICULTURALISM Ali Rattansi

  MUSIC Nicholas Cook

  MYTH Robert A. Segal

  THE NAPOLEONIC WARS Mike Rapport

  NATIONALISM Steven Grosby

  NELSON MANDELA Elleke Boehmer

  NEOLIBERALISM Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy

  NETWORKS Guido Caldarelli and Michele Catanzaro

  THE NEW TESTAMENT Luke Timothy Johnson

  THE NEW TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE Kyle Keefer

  NEWTON Robert Iliffe

  NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner

  NINETEENTH‑CENTURY BRITAIN Christopher Harvie and H. C. G. Matthew

  THE NORMAN CONQUEST George Garnett

  NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green

  NORTHERN IRELAND Marc Mulholland

  NOTHING Frank Close

  NUCLEAR PHYSICS Frank Close

  NUCLEAR POWER Maxwell Irvine

  NUCLEAR WEAPONS Joseph M. Siracusa

  NUMBERS Peter M. Higgins

  NUTRITION David A. Bender

  OBJECTIVITY Stephen Gaukroger

  THE OLD TESTAMENT Michael D. Coogan

  THE ORCHESTRA D. Kern Holoman

  ORGANIZATIONS Mary Jo Hatch

  PAGANISM Owen Davies

  THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT Martin Bunton

  PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close

  PAUL E. P. Sanders

  PEACE Oliver P. Richmond

  PENTECOSTALISM William K. Kay

  THE PERIODIC TABLE Eric R. Scerri

  PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig

  PHILOSOPHY IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD Peter Adamson

  PHILOSOPHY OF LAW Raymond Wacks

  PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Samir Okasha

  PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards

  PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins

  PILGRIMAGE Ian Reader

  PLAGUE Paul Slack

  PLANETS David A. Rothery

  PLANTS Timothy Walker

  PLATE TECTONICS Peter Molnar

  PLATO J
ulia Annas

  POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY David Miller

  POLITICS Kenneth Minogue

  POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young

  POSTMODERNISM Christopher Butler

  POSTSTRUCTURALISM Catherine Belsey

  PREHISTORY Chris Gosden

  PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY Catherine Osborne

  PRIVACY Raymond Wacks

  PROBABILITY John Haigh

  PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent

  PROTESTANTISM Mark A. Noll

  PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns

  PSYCHOANALYSIS Daniel Pick

  PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and Freda McManus

  PSYCHOTHERAPY Tom Burns and Eva Burns-Lundgren

  PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer

  THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion

  QUANTUM THEORY John Polkinghorne

  RACISM Ali Rattansi

  RADIOACTIVITY Claudio Tuniz

  RASTAFARI Ennis B. Edmonds

  THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Gil Troy

  REALITY Jan Westerhoff

  THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall

  RELATIVITY Russell Stannard

  RELIGION IN AMERICA Timothy Beal

  THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton

  RENAISSANCE ART Geraldine A. Johnson

  REVOLUTIONS Jack A. Goldstone

  RHETORIC Richard Toye

  RISK Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany

  RITUAL Barry Stephenson

  RIVERS Nick Middleton

  ROBOTICS Alan Winfield

  ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway

  THE ROMAN EMPIRE Christopher Kelly

  THE ROMAN REPUBLIC David M. Gwynn

  ROMANTICISM Michael Ferber

  ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler

  RUSSELL A. C. Grayling

  RUSSIAN HISTORY Geoffrey Hosking

  RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly

  THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION S. A. Smith

  SCHIZOPHRENIA Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone

  SCHOPENHAUER Christopher Janaway

  SCIENCE AND RELIGION Thomas Dixon

  SCIENCE FICTION David Seed

  THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Lawrence M. Principe

  SCOTLAND Rab Houston

  SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier

  SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt

  THE SILK ROAD James A. Millward

  SLEEP Steven W. Lockley and Russell G. Foster

  SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY John Monaghan and Peter Just

  SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Richard J. Crisp

  SOCIAL WORK Sally Holland and Jonathan Scourfield

  SOCIALISM Michael Newman

  SOCIOLINGUISTICS John Edwards

  SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce

  SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor

  SOUND Mike Goldsmith

  THE SOVIET UNION Stephen Lovell

  THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR Helen Graham

  SPANISH LITERATURE Jo Labanyi

  SPINOZA Roger Scruton

  SPIRITUALITY Philip Sheldrake

  SPORT Mike Cronin

  STARS Andrew King

  STATISTICS David J. Hand

  STEM CELLS Jonathan Slack

  STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING David Blockley

  STUART BRITAIN John Morrill

  SUPERCONDUCTIVITY Stephen Blundell

  SYMMETRY Ian Stewart