• The Mushroom Hunters

  • On the Trail of an Underground America
  • By: Langdon Cook
  • Narrated by: Kevin Free
  • Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (368 ratings)

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The Mushroom Hunters  By  cover art

The Mushroom Hunters

By: Langdon Cook
Narrated by: Kevin Free
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Editorial reviews

Editors Select, September 2013 - Self-described amateur forager and mushroom hunter Langdon Cook goes into the woods as Thoreau once did – seeking knowledge, perhaps enlightenment – and comes out with a vast knowledge for the little known world of wild mushrooms and those who seek them. The mushroom is not the star of this book, merely a muse, with the focus on the hunters in at times pursuing an illegal trade. If you’ve ever wondered about the story behind your chanterelles, The Mushroom Hunter serves up a wild, fascinating ride, reading more like a suspense novel than a book about mushrooms, providing an eye-opening look into a world many don’t even realize exists. —Jessica, Audible Editor

Publisher's summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

In the tradition of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, and Mark Kurlansky’s Cod - a renowned culinary adventurer goes into the woods with the iconoclasts and outlaws who seek the world’s most coveted ingredient...and one of nature’s last truly wild foods: the uncultivated, uncontrollable mushroom.

Within the dark corners of America’s forests grow culinary treasures. Chefs pay top dollar to showcase these elusive and beguiling ingredients on their menus. Whether dressing up a filet mignon with smoky morels or shaving luxurious white truffles over pasta, the most elegant restaurants across the country now feature an abundance of wild mushrooms.

The mushroom hunters, by contrast, are a rough lot. They live in the wilderness and move with the seasons. Motivated by Gold Rush desires, they haul improbable quantities of fungi from the woods for cash. Langdon Cook embeds himself in this shadowy subculture, reporting from both rural fringes and big-city eateries with the flair of a novelist, uncovering along the way what might be the last gasp of frontier-style capitalism.

Meet Doug, an ex-logger and crabber - now an itinerant mushroom picker trying to pay his bills and stay out of trouble; and Jeremy, a former cook turned wild food entrepreneur, crisscrossing the continent to build a business amid cutthroat competition; their friend Matt, an up-and-coming chef whose kitchen alchemy is turning heads; and the woman who inspires them all.

Rich with the science and lore of edible fungi - from seductive chanterelles to exotic porcini - The Mushroom Hunters is equal parts gonzo travelogue and culinary history lesson, a rollicking, character-driven tour through a world that is by turns secretive, dangerous, and tragically American.

©2013 Langdon Cook (P)2013 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"The thrill of the wild mushroom hunt is audible in Kevin Free's performance of this exposé… Listeners gain respect for the mushroom harvesters as Cook learns about their relationship with nature and the broad environs they traverse." ( AudioFile)

Featured Article: Mushroom Mania—11 Fantastic Listens About Fungi


Mushrooms are so much more than just a pizza topping. With new information and applications cropping up constantly, the world of fungal research is as deep and complex as mushrooms themselves. These seemingly innocent bundles of caps and stalks are just the fruiting body of a complex underground network of fungal threads called mycelia. Neither plant nor animal, the fungal kingdom lives mostly out of sight, but these days, never out of mind.

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What listeners say about The Mushroom Hunters

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Intriguing and full of fun!

What did you love best about The Mushroom Hunters?

This book is full of mini adventures as the author meets all sorts of unusual people in search of mushrooms. Every stitch of the book is interesting and colorful. A wonderful read!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Just What the Mycologist Ordered!

What made the experience of listening to The Mushroom Hunters the most enjoyable?

I'd only recently taken up mushrooming. Meant to learn about mushrooms for years, and finally joined the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society. I'm a nature freak, always have been, but I didn't know much about fungus until I got involved with the club. The east coast is not the mushroom mecca that the west coast is, but you can still find almost all of the species covered in the book, if not in such astonishing abundance (less so with the droughts that are hurting us all where ever we are).

I've had a taste of the way your heart pounds when you find a flush of chanterelles or trumpets, sprinted under the canopy to pounce on a king bolete (as if it could run away). So to listen to the buzz of finding hundreds of them, oh my!

This was the right book at the right time for me.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Mushroom Hunters?

When the author gets lost trying to navigate through the fallen trees on a burn site.

What about Kevin Free’s performance did you like?

He sounded like the kind of guy you'd go mushrooming with.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me hungry for MUSHROOMS.

Any additional comments?

I actually listened to this while I was out in the woods looking for mushrooms. Found a nice big flush of Hydnum repandum with my earbuds in!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

really cool stories!

learned a lot of really cool little things you may not pick up in educational books

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing story and narrator!

Probably the best narrator I’ve listened to thus far, with a great story to tell by Langdon Cook. If you like food, foraging or just a good story about humans and their environment, this is a must read.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Professional and amateur mushroom hunters

Where does The Mushroom Hunters rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Midway, I doubt I will seriously hunt mushrooms in the wild, but I am more likely to ask for and try more with meals.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Mushroom Hunters?

The unquenchable demand for exotic mushrooms by NYC.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was surprised at the Sierra Clubs opposition to mushroom picking treating it the same as a shrub, tree or an animal.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • CJ
  • 11-29-16

lots of stories to keep you busy

loved every morsel. it took me several months to listen to it because of the variety of characters. well worth the mouth watering descriptions of the harvests.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Who Know There Were So Many Kinds

Read three chapters and became bored. May be of more interest to someone who loves mushroom.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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A disappointment

Should have been good. Wasn't. Interesting topic made dull. Narrator tries too hard, author tries too hard. Should have been written in a briefer, more experienced style. Maybe the author will get advice and improve for his next one.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

could not read this tried 3 times

What would have made The Mushroom Hunters better?

I am unable to follow this story. In fact I am not sure is this is a cooking book or a mystery

Has The Mushroom Hunters turned you off from other books in this genre?

see above

Would you be willing to try another one of Kevin Free’s performances?

no

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

did not finish

Any additional comments?

no

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great

As a native PNW avid forager I appreciate the work and knowledge of the book. First saw Mr. Cook speak at the Port Angeles, WA Fungi Festival. I may or may not drool when listening to the recipes🤔😊

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