Entangled Life

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

Paperback, 368 pages

Published April 13, 2021 by Random House Trade Paperbacks.

ISBN:
978-0-525-51032-1
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4 stars (5 reviews)

When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave.

In Entangled Life, the brilliant young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world from a fungal point of view, providing an exhilarating change of perspective. Sheldrake’s vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the “Wood Wide Web,” to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.

Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence …

10 editions

Entangled Writing

3 stars

On the whole, I found Merlin's book an okay read. I have listened to him talk on various podcasts, and it was interesting to visit the source of his thoughts. I feel it is a confession of a mycophilic, heavily spun from reference material, doctoral studies, and associates in the field. It was more like a thesis than a text on field research. But, and there is a big but, I can't fault Sheldrake's bringing all this material together in one text, peppered by his boyish enthusiasm. It is lovely to indulge in someone's own passion, regardless of how they present it.

Sometimes, I felt the adulation for psilocybin to be laboured and at times pontifical. I think if one is going to dip into social science, there might the other side of the coin mentioned when psilocybin has caused psychosis, or done nothing at all in the way of …

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.