Richard Fortey, FRS, OBE, has pursued a distinguished career in Palaeontology, but has been a devoted field mycologist since childhood. Drawing on decades of exploring the world of fungi, he shares the richness of this extraordinarily diverse kingdom in his latest book. Through special selected examples, he explores and explains their various and under appreciated roles in the world's ecology.

“In Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind, Fortey does mycology a great service by transcending the strange with science, and pushing aside fashionable nonsense about fungi with his eloquent writing and affable voice.” Nicholas P. Money, 'Nature review'.