John Cage: A Mycological Foray

“I began using chess and the hunting of wild mushrooms as a balance to my involvement with chance.” Cage began his mushrooming in Carmel, in 1934, when he was a starving artist and local dishwasher. His hunting lasted his entire career, across the country, in dozen of States. The first volume gathers, like foraging, assorted writings and photographs by Cage involving mushrooms. The second volume is a reproduction of a 1972 portfolio, The Mushroom Book, that Cage did with Lois long and botanist Alexander Smith. Superb color illustrations of mushrooms, folded within excerpts and notes. “Much can be learned about music by devoting oneself to the mushroom.”