Entangled Life

How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Hardcover, 384 pages

English language

Published May 11, 2020 by Random House Publishing Group.

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4 stars (3 reviews)

There is a lifeform so strange and wondrous that it forces us to rethink how life works…

Neither plant nor animal, it is found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation.

In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. They can solve problems without a brain, stretching traditional definitions of ‘intelligence’, and can manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties, which have influenced societies since antiquity, have recently been shown to alleviate a …

8 editions

Great introduction to fungus!

4 stars

It was really enlightening to learn about the incredible impact that fungus has on all parts of the world.

I was especially intrigued at how plant roots and mycelium work together. It was also very surprising to hear about the impressive effects that truffles have on humans. I hadn't known that they had such an effect on people.

Subjects

  • Botany