Modern Mycology , 3rd ed by J.W. Deacon, is a useful introduction to the fungi for advanced undergraduates and grad students in botany, biology or horticulture; a lay person would have to have an unusually good background in biology to get much from the book. A very brief survey of modern classification is given to the level of division, with the rest of the text focusing on various aspects of the biology of the fungi. Various biochemical aspects of fungi are particularly well covered and there are interesting treatments of decomposer communities, mycorrhizae and fungi as pathogens. The book is copiously illustrated with clear line drawings and black and white photos and there are 23 beautiful color plates. I would like more systematic information, but I understand that this is the area of mycology most in flux.