Poisonous mushrooms have fascinated scientists and laypersons alike for thousands of years.
Almost all mushroom fatalities are due to the genus Amanita whose poetic common names (death
cap destroying angel) attest to their lethality. In his classic 1986 book Theodor Wieland
covered the state of our knowledge about the chemistry and biochemistry of the toxins of
Amanita mushrooms up until that time with a particular focus on the decades of chemical
research by him and the Wieland dynasty (including his father brother brother-in-law and
cousin). Wieland's book is now mainly of historical interest with its exhaustive overview of
the early chemical studies done without benefit of methods taken for granted by modern
chemists. This book is a complete top-to-bottom revision of Wieland's 1986 book. The material
covers history chemistry and biology with equal thoroughness. It should be of interest to
natural products chemists and biologists professional and amateur mycologists and
toxicologists. The three scientific fields that are most relevant to the book are natural
products chemistry mycology and fungal molecular genetics. Dr. Walton is an expert in all
three. To maximize the broad utility and appeal of the book care has been taken to define all
technical terms specific to a particular discipline so that for example mycologists will be
able to understand the relevant chemistry and chemists will be able to understand the relevant
fungal biology.
