Includes bibliographical references and index.

The ecology and life cycle of cultivated mushrooms -- The seven basic stages of mushroom cultivation -- Choosing a mushroom to cultivate -- Choosing, handling, and storing spawn -- Cultivating mushrooms outdoors on logs, stumps, and wood chips -- Cultivating mushrooms on compost and livestock waste -- Cultivating mushrooms on pasteurized or sterilized media -- Cropping containers -- Natural pest control and disease management -- Recycling, composting, and vermicomposting with mushrooms -- Urban mushroom cultivation -- Shroomin' off the grid -- Mushroom products and cutting-edge applications -- Mushroom-infused beer, wine, and spirits -- Mushroom marketing -- Fungi in the classroom -- Basic laboratory construction, equipment, and procedures -- Starting cultures and spawn generation -- Culture collection maintenance -- Advanced cultivation and research strategies -- Morel cultivation: research update -- Introduction to mycoremediation -- The genus Agaricus (portabella mushrooms and relatives) -- The genus Agrocybe (black poplar) -- The genus Auricularia (wood ear) -- The genus Clitocybe (blewit) -- The genus Coprinus (shaggy mane) -- The genus Fistulina (beefsteak) -- The genus Flammulina (enoki, velvet foot) -- The genera Fomes, Fomitopsis, and Laricifomes (iceman polypore) -- The genus Ganoderma (reishi and other varnished polypores) -- The genus Grifola (maitake, hen of the woods) -- The genus Hericium (lion's mane, pom-poms) -- The genus Hypholoma (brick top) -- The genus Hypsizygus (elm oyster, shimeji) -- The genus Laetiporus (chicken of the woods) -- The genus Lentinula (shiitake) -- The genera Macrocybe and Calocybe (giant macrocybe, giant milky) -- The genera Macrolepiota and Lepiota (parasol) -- The genus Pholiota (nameko) -- The genus Piptoporus (birch polypore) -- The genus Pleurotus (oyster mushrooms) -- The genus Sparassis (cauliflower) -- The genus Stropharia (king stropharia, garden giant, wine cap) -- The genus Trametes (turkey tail) -- The genus Volvariella (paddy straw).