Very authoritative and well put together book with comprehensive overview of innovative uses for mushrooms, beyond nutritious food, including medicinal applications, forestry and agricultural support, habitat remediation and restoration, pesticides, etc., and also an overview of mushroom cultivation techniques.
If you are interested in getting a view into current knowledge and understanding of mushrooms and their future this is the book to get. 

Essential book for mushroom lovers. Paul Stamets' presentation is comprehensive and engaging.

Paul Stamets’ Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World is an informative text, written by a true believer. While it contains a lot of practical information, the author’s unbridled enthusiasm sometimes makes you doubt how valid the more fantastic claims are. That being said, it certainly provides some concrete and believable examples of situations where the strategic use of fungi can have beneficial health and environmental effects.
After providing some basic information about the biology of fungi, Stamets covers four different kinds of ‘mycorestoration.’ He shows how patches of mycelium (the tangled, stringy mass that makes up the bulk of fungi) can be used to filter water flowing through – an application that might have particular value downslope from farm animals. The section on mycoforestry shows how mushrooms can accelerate the breakdown of debris from logging, allowing nutrients to return to the soil. It also addresses the ways in which mycorrhizal fungi on the roots of plants can enhance their growth and health. In a section on mycoremediation, Stamets highlights the ability of different fungi to digest or absorb toxic materials ranging from crude oil to nerve gas to radioactive strontium. Finally, a section on mycopesticides describes ways in which insect-attacking fungi can be used to prevent and cure insect infestations.
In addition to the sections outlining the potential of fungi in general, the book includes a lot of practical information about different types of mushrooms, their uses, and how to grow them. It covers different ways of going from spores to a mushroom patch, at scales ranging from a small garden installation to the very large scale. The last hundred pages is a species-by-species catalogue of different mushrooms: how they look, how to grow them, nutritional information, etc. The assertions about mushrooms having intelligence (partly on the basis of mycelium looking like neurons in a brain), I definitely have my doubts about. The step-by-step instructions on producing mushroom patches, I have no doubt could be invaluable to someone wishing to put fungal theory into practice.
Fungi are probably the class of organisms least well understood by most people, and it is rewarding to gain a deeper understanding of the roles they play in ecosystems. More information can be found on Stamets’ website, which also sells various types of mushroom kit and spawn.
Originally at:
http://www.sindark.com/2008/10/18/mycelium-running/ 

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Being that I am extremely interested in becoming a mycologist I found this book absolutely fascinating. I love the comparisons of how mycelium is like the Internet or a humans nervous system with ... Read full review

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

First impression, photos are wonderful, intro ordinary. I pass on the mystical side of things but the obligatory glance further into the book looks as though there ideas to look forward too. There is ... Read full review

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Surprisingly interesting and fun book about mushrooms. Helping to save the world might be a little overblown. It does cover plenty of beneficial and tasty aspects of mushrooms, plus some numerous ... Read full review

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

You never knew there was this much to know about mushrooms. Read full review

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Awesome information and he knows what he's talking about but a lot of science and jargon that will turn people off. Also very self-promoting of his business, books, and website. Still worth it though if you're at all interested in mushrooms or cultivation. Read full review

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

so many good ideas for integrating the fungal kingdom into gardens and increasing soil health. Read full review

Review: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

terrific how to save the world with mycological techniques. brilliant, prescient and timely. Read full review