1 Cool hat, floating ball, smelly pillar

What comes to mind when you think of mushrooms? ㆍ 8
Odd shapes, strange names ㆍ 10
Incredible Stories, Amazing Facts ㆍ 14
The True Identity of the Mushroom I Really Want to Talk About ㆍ 16

2 Let's go meet the mold

The World Under the Mushrooms ㆍ 20
Mold also grows ㆍ 24
When mold meets mold ㆍ 28
Mushrooms rising from the ground ㆍ 36
Superman Mold ㆍ 40

3 Empire in the Dark

Establishing Order ㆍ 44
The History of Mold ㆍ 46
Where does this fungus belong? ㆍ 50

4. Clean up the trash and make it rain

Who will clear the forest? ㆍ 60
I like fresh wood ㆍ 64
Meat-loving fungus ㆍ 68
Edible Mold ㆍ 74
Dirt, Rainwater, and Mold ㆍ 76

5 Strong Friendship

Fungi that live with plants ㆍ 80
Fungi that live with animals ㆍ 91

6 Mold and People

Fungi that cause disease and poisoning ㆍ 98
Give me a bottle and medicine ㆍ 104
Mushrooms on the Table ㆍ 110
Making medicine, working in a factory ㆍ 114
Guns and Drugs ㆍ 118
Fungal Research and Protection ㆍ 120

7 Mushroom Research with My Own Hands

Let's Find Mushrooms ㆍ 124
Mushroom Collection and Research ㆍ 128
Final Test ㆍ 130

Fungus Mushroom Dictionary ㆍ 132
Search ㆍ 134

Amazing new facts appear every time you turn the page.

A new book must contain new content.
That makes it worth taking the time to read.
Have you ever heard a story like this?

ㆍThe foul-smelling oyster mushroom attracts flies.
ㆍThe mulberry mushrooms that grow in our country glow like fireflies.
ㆍThere are mushrooms that are more expensive than gold.
ㆍFungal hyphae, thinner than a hair, can penetrate hard wood and even human toenails.
ㆍFungi feel gravity.
So we can distinguish between the top and the bottom.
ㆍMold hyphae on bread grow up to 9 centimeters per day.
ㆍFungi digest food outside the body, not inside, and then eat it.

These are stories you've never heard or seen before, right? They're all facts in this book.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg! From ink mushrooms that grow through asphalt to fungi that turn ants into zombies, each page reveals surprising new knowledge.
Discovering new things while reading a book is exciting enough, but the author's sincere and witty writing, written with such devotion that he believes we must overcome ignorance and indifference to protect nature, is also witty.
The illustrations make knowledge that might be a little difficult to understand clear, and the humor hidden throughout adds to the enjoyment of reading the book.
It's so surprising and entertaining from beginning to end, you can open it to any page and read it.
Of course, if you read it carefully from the beginning, you can get another kind of fun and meaning.

"If there were no mold, we wouldn't exist!"
The fungal network that supports and nurtures life on Earth

One of the keys to understanding natural life is networks.
It is a network where no one stands alone, but rather we live together in a network of interconnected people.
If you read this book carefully from the beginning, you will discover that fungi are at the center of nature's network.
You find it hard to believe? I'm telling you, it's true.
Let me tell you a few things about what fungi do in nature, as told in this book.

ㆍFirst, let’s start with a story from the past.
450 million years ago, plants moved from the sea to land.
At that time, plants had no roots, but fungi served as roots.
ㆍFallen leaves in autumn, animal droppings, dead animals.
It is fungi that clean up all the waste in nature.
How do plants absorb the water they need to survive? Answering "from the roots" is only half the answer.
In reality, the water absorbed by the fungi in the soil is transferred to the roots.
ㆍThe trees in the forest exchange information and help each other.
This is possible because the fungal hyphae network that lives underground acts as a passageway and transports nutrients.
ㆍCows cannot digest grass, but they survive by eating it.
The fungus that lives on the cow breaks down the grass, allowing the cow to absorb nutrients.

Without fungi, plants would not have made it onto land.
Then, animals that eat plants would not have been able to leave the sea either.
There probably weren't any people there.
That's why the author of this book speaks boldly.
"If there were no mold, we wouldn't exist!"

Mold is being treated unfairly

It's really, really unfair.
It's because people don't know you well and they hate you.
Isn't mold what spoils food and makes clothes smell musty? Well, I can understand that a little.
Because what you did was right.
But he also wants people to know that he does a lot of really, really good things.
Things like this.

ㆍPenicillin, a drug that has saved countless lives, is made from an antibiotic produced by blue mold.
ㆍCamembert cheese, Brie cheese.
Delicious, mouth-watering cheese cannot be made without mold.
ㆍSoy sauce and soybean paste, which are essential ingredients in Korean food, cannot be made without mold.
ㆍTo make fluffy and delicious bread, you need the work of single-celled fungi yeast.
Beer and wine, which adults enjoy, are also the result of yeast working hard.