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Entangled Life

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Member Reviews

A brilliant introduction to the significance of fungi, from the pathfinding and communications of complex mycelial networks, to their use in medicine and vital role in supporting all life on earth. Fungi support 90% of plan life but our current systems of farming and agriculture often inhibit and destroy them, just one reason why cross yields are declining despite the ever-increasing intensity of processes.

Sheldrake had an enviable clarity of writing that allows him to bring detailed concepts to life in his readers' minds and breed his own clear enthusiasm there. He tells us of a fascination that bloomed in childhood and digs deep into sensory depth to evoke connections and understanding.

He investigates how fungi work through mycelial networks operate, spreading fine filaments called hypae through the earth. These hyphael tips can navigate mazes, send messages and even appear to have "memory". These skills mean they have huge potential to solve human problems. But understanding fungi is difficult without anthropomorphizing them, do they have "memory" or "brains" or something like them? Do they share information and form relationships? Do they cooperate? The exchanges formed by some species are hard to separate from these human concepts and even feed into human political debates of mutual aid and competition. The fact that it is all but impossible to identify an "individual" in a fungal network makes the subject surprisingly type for political interpretation. Sheldrake acknowledges so the weaknesses of the metaphors used to explain how fungi work but manages to use them judiciously and with care.

This book is a fascinating gateway to a once-neglected discipline that is now on the rise, providing a clear and absorbing introduction to fungi and their impacts, past, present and future

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I find myself talking about or recommending this book surprisingly often. I'm not normally great with non-fiction — I always crave a story and resist dedicating a lot of time to a single point of view or theory. Most non-fiction feels either too broad or too narrow.

The magic of Entangled Life is that it is both all-emcompassingly broad and beautifully focused all at once. Narrow, because it’s all about fungi, just that. Broad because fungi are apparently relevant to all life on earth. As the blurb says: “Neither plant nor animal, they are found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. They can be microscopic, yet also account for the largest organisms ever recorded.” And that doesn’t even hint at the level of wow-factor revelations about fungi in this book.

Entangled Life genuinely changed how I see the world.

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This book is absolutely fascinating, as a devoted mycophile I knew from the moment this book was released that I would have to read it and I can honestly say that from the first chapter this book held my attention completely. Sheldrake manages to writes a scientific book and yet a keep the language simple enough for anyone to understand yet maintaining a eloquence. The research is so thorough and evident throughout this book and the referencing....insert fuzzy emotion here.
This thought provoking book is well worth the read the journey of discovery alone is something you should embark on.

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Whether you come to this book from an existing interest in mycology or are just sucked in by the cover, the revelatory nature of much of the book will keep you hooked throughout. From within the first few pages highlighting the essential role of fungi in the migration of photosynthesising plants onto land it becomes clear that the much overlooked kingdom of fungi hides a treasure trove of secrets that Merlin does an excellent job of uncovering and explaining. His writing style is easy and engaging, providing the right amount of detail for the casual reader who (like myself) is not well versed in professional biology.

Entangled Life is a rollercoaster ride of information from fungi’s mind-altering properties in the form of LSD, to the central role they play in the life cycles of leaf cutter ants and termites, to they’re many essential roles forming symbiotic relationships with plants.

Overall, Entangled Life is an excellent nature book for anyone with even a passing interest in the topic. Even those without a passing interest would be challenged not to come away from this book with a new, inspired interest in the field of mycology.

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My thanks to Random House U.K./Vintage Publishing Bodley Head for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake in exchange for an honest review.

The subtitle of this nonfiction work, ‘How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures’, sums up its contents well. Merlin Sheldrake has an engaging style sharing anecdotal material alongside scientific details about fungi.

Although I had heard of Merlin Sheldrake’s work via Robert Macfarlane’s ‘Underland’, this was my first experience of reading an in-depth work on mycology. Years ago I had read books by his father, Rupert Sheldrake, as well as Terence McKenna’s groundbreaking work with psilocybin. It was interesting to get updates on this area of research.

This proved a fascinating read though in places was rather sciencey, so uncertain how much went in on my initial encounter. However, my perception of fungi in general has certainly been changed and it’s a book that I expect to revisit.

It has extensive notes following the main text as well as a bibliography and index.

I accompanied my reading with its audiobook edition, read by the author, and found that this aided my understanding of the material.

Highly recommended.

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This is a non-fiction book about fungi and their place and effects on the natural world. It's very detailed, sometimes a bit too much. It was definitely interesting, well researched and well told.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

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I'm a big fan of Merlin's brother Cosmo's music, and was initially introduced to the book via Cosmo. The pair worked together on a track of the same name where the sound of oyster mushrooms devouring a copy of the book can be heard. Bonkers, but SO cool. As a self-proclaimed bad vegetarian who can't face eating mushrooms, I was convinced that I probably wouldn't enjoy reading this that much, but upon release, the brilliant reviews started to roll in. I'm trying to read more nature books (the genre is thriving at the moment!) so I gave it a chance, and I'm very glad that I did.

I feel changed by what I've read in this book. Each sentence, as Merlin's pal Robert MacFarlane wrote in his own review of the book, stopped me short. I caught myself rereading passages to check that I hadn't misread things. From crazy facts about the world of fungi and the world itself (the two are far more interconnected that you probably realise) and various projects involving mycelium, the book never failed to engage and excite me. I am particularly mesmerised by the idea of alternate packaging & building materials (etc) made from mycelium - google it!

Merlin really knows his stuff - and while he admits that his book essentially raises more questions than it gives answers, I think that's the beauty of it. I have SO many questions and I'm inclined to carry on reading... I hope that this is just the start of Merlin's writing career.

Thanks to Random House for the ARC on Netgalley!

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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 into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life’s processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works.

This is a fascinating, comprehensive and accessible exploration of a highly misunderstood organism and is capable of being understood by a layperson as well as those with prior knowledge of this area. The book is filled with interesting factual information and anecdotes pertaining to the life of fungi and how exactly they fit into the bigger picture. Concise yet considered, complex yet comprehensible, you will turn the final page with sadness and a completely altered mindset on life itself. Many thanks to Bodley Head for an ARC.

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Make room for the mushrooms...
A concise and comprehensive overview of the flourishing world of mycology, previously relegated to an uneasy taxonomic position – neither flesh nor flower.
Fungi may well have been responsible for the spread of life on earth, they connect and help regulate natural processes via what has been termed the 'wood-wide web', are near-infinitely adaptable and, quite possibly, helped some early hominids to become us.
Not only that but they use other creatures – plant and animal, both symbiotically and parasitically, to help themselves flourish. They are both the oldest and largest organisms on the planet and may well help us to clear up the mess we have made of the planet, as certain fungi can break down plastics, harmful chemicals and even radioactive material.
As if this wasn't enough, fungi have been used in medicine and ritual for thousands of years and are becoming widely used in neuroscience and brain-mapping. Slime moulds are used as predictive networking systems, and forward-thinking businesses are using mycology to create biodegradable packaging and construction materials.
As this book shows, perhaps even more than insects, algae, lichens and mushrooms are fundamental to the past, present and future of both us and our planet.

Thanks to Vintage and Netgalley for this ARC.

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Too wordy for me, would have enjoyed more illustrations. Certainly more for the expert market rather than someone with just a keen interest like me.

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This book is a detailed, informative, enthusiastic account of how fungi affect the natural world. I had previously read about the Wood Wide Web and mycorrhizal networks but I was not prepared for just how influential fungi are. A joy to read and packed full of interesting anecdotes and facts.

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Kingdom Fungi is one of the most fascinating from the five with various possibilities in medicine and other fields.

Lyrically written this book is a gorgeous exploration about the life of fungi. Its includes incredible facts about them.

If you are a biology student, trust me you want this book!

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[Gifted]
A beautifully written romp through the world of fungi, mushrooms, truffles, yeasts and rot. Some great anecdotes and stories, as well as a look at the world of current and historical fungi scientists.

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Fascinating fungi.

Engagingly written exploration of this keystone organism. Sheldrake draws on biological and evolutionary theory, ecology, ethnobotany, anthropology, religion, mysticism, history, literature, medicine, brewing, bioindustry, culture and counterculture in this paean to fungi.

Accessibly written in layperson’s terms, Entangled Life is a mine of remarkable information. Just one example from the multitude of truly engrossing facts and theories, is the drunken monkey hypothesis, which explains the fondness for alcohol in humans as being the result of our primate ancestors’ descent from the trees. The smell of alcohol was ‘a reliable way to find ripe fruit as it rotted on the ground’.

There is much we don’t yet know about fungi and, while Sheldrake doesn’t have the answers for all the questions he posits, I would not be surprised if his book inspires others to take up this field of research, such that, in time, our knowledge of the fungi kingdom grows.

Read this if you have an interest in fungi. Read this even if you do not. It is mind-altering.

With thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the ARC.

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Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

I LOVED this book. Since finishing reading I have become a fountain of fungal facts. They splurge out of me whenever I’m outside and close to another human.
“Oooo did you know.....?”
My partner has started making up facts so that we can pretend we’re having an actual conversation!

But honestly the facts are fascinating.... From slime mould that can find the quickest route out of IKEA, to worm hunting fungi. From spores influencing the weather, lichens digesting rocks, zombie fungi controlling ants to the ways mushrooms can be used to save the planet.
Merlin writes in such an engaging way that you’ll forget this is a science book. He’s also illustrated the book with botanical drawings rendered in.... ink made from mushrooms!

As a long standing fungi fanatic I nearly fell over with delight when I realised my nature writing favourites turn out to be as connected as a web of mycelium. Merlin was first introduced to me as a passionate mycologist in Robert Macfarlane’s award winning book, Underland. Merlin is the son of Rupert whose work on morphogenetic fields had me fascinated in my twenties. As a child Merlin’s family go on holiday to visit Terence McKenna (famous for his ‘heroic’ doses of psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in fungi). Later in the book Merlin meets Paul Stamets ( if you haven’t seen the world saving mushroom TED talk go and look it up now!), he also quotes Galadriel from Lord of the Rings and Robin Wall Kimmerer.

There’s so much in this book and yet it doesn’t feel dense. It’s technical, science packed and yet also bursting with enthusiasm from a very earnest and genuine human.

This book is published in September 2020. Huge thanks to @vintagebooks and @netgalley for my eARC.

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Fungus is everywhere. In everyone and everything. Yeasts on your skin, penicillin in your medicine cabinet, in the lichen all over the coast to the mycocelic webs that thread the earth. Merlin Sheldrake loves fungus, and has two jobs here. To spread the love, and to get more people to love them more. As he says, there are departments of animal biology, plant biology but fungus is usually just an offshoot of some of these. He convinces that much more work needs to be done, but he doesn't always spread his breathless excitement as well as he could. Like computers? The fungal networks in forests are basically a Wood Wide Web (his line) connecting everything, spreading information, energy and chemicals. Like food? Wait til you see the truffle pigs snuffling away at this unique fungus. Like booze - like drugs? Sheldrake sure does, and fermentation and psychobilin seem to explain away much of his gateway into fungus.

Sheldrake wants you to think fungi are interesting. That he manages with ease, he quickly elucidates the size of the field and how little is known about so much of how fungi work, There are stories of co-operation, altruism and long term evolutionary gambles which seem counter to most theories. There are so many unanswered questions that he could probably set up about 100 PhD's with the propositions here. But he also wants you to think fungi are cool. And he tries a little too hard with that, with his drink, and his drugs, and his "Last Of Us" and "Girl With All The Gifts" references. You want to join a cool counterculture - become a fungus hacker, and you too can get a Star Trek character named after you. He tries a little too hard on that front, and often lost me in the process. Interesting is plenty cool enough for me.

What I did like though, through this battle of interesting vs cool (vs fungus) was the broader idea in the book that the way we tell our stories, the way we interact with the world guides our research and thinking. The idea that fungi may altruistically spread nutrients and energy around their network seem alien to a capitalist, as does the idea of symbiotic relationships (ie in lichens) where neither partner is dominant. The fact that fungi act intelligently in certain ways without having anything that looks like a brain may make it difficult to empathise with what is actually going on in those networks - and that scientists need to find ways of doing that to try to make with breakthroughs. So whilst it didn't inspire me to get into the myco world, and get my mushroom hacking hat on, it did make me think more about how stories are told - and why. And if the huge size and incomprehensibility of fungi might also make a perfect book about the subject nearly impossible.

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A phenomenal exploration of a misunderstood classification of life. Lyrically written, this book is figuratively like walking through an autumnal glade. One to read if you want to understand and identify with the natural world in a whole new way.

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