The ideal portable companion, the world-renowned Collins Gem series returns with a fresh new look and updated material.This is the perfect pocket guide for nature and foraging enthusiasts keen to identify the most commonly found mushrooms and toadstools in Britain and northern Europe.Authoritative text, beautiful photographs and detailed illustrations show the distinguishing features of each mushroom and toadstool, including details of size, habitat and when it can be found...

During the long, cold December weeks leading up to Christmas, as we spend our time frantically panicking about the financial side of the festive season, it's all too easy to forget the traditional nativity story. The real meaning of Christmas and the traditions that have existed for generations are shunted aside as we worry about how many shopping days we have left and how we're going to fit that monster turkey into the oven.In this charming book, Patrick Harding breathes new life i...

This one-stop practical guide will show you how to identify, pick and cook edible mushrooms. To make your progress easier, it comes in a handy format with colour photos and expert advice throughout.From identifying and picking edible mushrooms to growing your own mushrooms, from recipes for seasonal dishes to important information on poisonous species, this book provides all the helpful information you need to relish the exhilarating experience of collecting wild mushrooms....

Mushroom collecting is becoming increasingly popular, and while a comprehensive identification guide is essential, the folklore, facts and fables, recipes and stories that have accumulated since ancient times create part of the charm of these strange organisms. Oddly, these facts have never been compiled in one book.Collins Mushroom Miscellany is a compilation of all of the fascinating biological facts – a mushroom holds the record for the largest spreading single organism covering...

When you’re a forty something old male, newly single and looking to meet mature women on-line, you need to understand the rules of engagement. What women are looking for and how they approach such connections may surprise you. Behind these digital personas are women who are more complicated and evolved than those you will have met before. Through such encounters you will learn something about life.Steve Palmer had lived the archetypal middle-class life. After graduating from UC Ber...

'Roger Phillips has written the best mushroom book I know.' - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, author of River Cottage Veg Every Day!The culmination of over thirty years' work, Roger Phillips's authoritative and superbly illustrated reference work is packed with information and original photographs. The essential illustrated mycological encyclopedia, this book is also clear, user friendly and will appeal to a wide range of readers.Unsu...

'This book deserves a place in your bookcase next to Harari's Sapiens. It's every bit as fascinating and is surely destined to be just as successful' Julian NortonFrom the plains of ancient Mesopotamia to the vast sheep farms of modern-day Australia, sheep have been central to the human story. Since our our Neolithic ancestors' first forays into sheep-rearing nearly 11,000 years ago, these remarkable animals have fed us, clothed us, changed our diet and language and finance...

An in-depth guide to life in medieval England, including class, housing, spirituality, fashion, grooming, food, commerce, jobs, health, law, war, and more.Imagine you were transported back in time to Medieval England and had to start a new life there. Without mobile phones, ipads, internet, and social media networks, when transport means walking or, if you're fortunate, horseback, how will you know where you are or what to do? Where will you live? What is there to ...

In Is It True?, Max Cryer explores the truth or otherwise of facts and beliefs we may have always been told are true, but which on closer examination may not be. In a wide-ranging book encompassing social history, language, music, politics, the natural world and much more, we discover the truth behind some of our most cherished beliefs. Always fresh and amusing, Max Cryer will take you on a journey through your acquired knowledge, testing whether it is really up to scratch.

Latin names – frequently unpronounceable, all too often wrong and always a tiny puzzle to unravel – have been annoying the layman since they first became formalised as scientific terms in the eighteenth century.Why on earth has the entirely land-loving Eastern Mole been named Scalopus aquaticus, or the Oxford Ragwort been called Senecio squalidus – 'dirty old man'? What were naturalists thinking when they called a beetle Agra katewinsletae, a genus of fis...

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUNKENNESSDiscover the unpredictable origins and etymologies of our Christmas customs this festive season.For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas.We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away, ...

A humorous second chance romance!Physicist Kate Lewis is shocked when the man she left behind travels one thousand miles to crash the physics department’s holiday party and ask for a second chance. Kate doesn’t do long-distance relationships. But she does do Ian. Multiple times. Small problem—she has a boyfriend. Too bad love isn’t a science.Clover Park Charmers SeriesAlmost Over It (Book 1)Almost Married (Book 2)Alm...