Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our FuturesNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “brilliant [and] entrancing” (The Guardian) journey into the hidden lives of fungi—the great connectors of the living world—and their astonishing and intimate roles in human life, with the power to heal our bodies, expand our minds, and help us address our most urgent environmental problems. “Grand and dizzying in how thoroughly it recalibrates our understanding of the natural world.”—Ed Yong, author of An Immense World ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Time, BBC Science Focus, The Daily Mail, Geographical, The Times, The Telegraph, New Statesman, London Evening Standard, Science Friday 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 the first edition of this mind-bending book, Sheldrake introduced us to this mysterious but massively diverse kingdom of life. This exquisitely designed volume, abridged from the original, features more than one hundred full-color images that bring the spectacular variety, strangeness, and beauty of fungi to life as never before. 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. Winner of the Wainwright Prize, the Royal Society Science Book Prize, and the Guild of Food Writers Award • Shortlisted for the British Book Award • Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize |
Contents
A LURE | 25 |
LIVING LABYRINTHS | 45 |
THE INTIMACY OF STRANGERS | 70 |
MYCELIAL MINDS | 94 |
BEFORE ROOTS | 123 |
WOOD WIDE WEBS | 149 |
RADICAL MYCOLOGY | 175 |
MAKING SENSE OF FUNGI | 202 |
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Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures Merlin Sheldrake No preview available - 2021 |
Common terms and phrases
ability able accessed October 29 Adamatzky alcohol algae animals ants arbuscular mycorrhizal Astrobiology bacteria behavior biologists Biology bodies brain cells chemical communities complex compounds cultivate cultures decompose described Ecology ecosystems electrical evolution evolutionary evolved experience field forest fungal fungal hyphae fungal networks fungal partners fungal species fungus genetic global Goward grow growth horizontal gene transfer human hundred hyphae hyphal tips insects interactions Journal Kiers known lichens lignin living Macrotermes McKenna metabolic microbes Microbiology microbiome Monotropa mycelial networks mycelium mycologists mycology mycoremediation mycorrhizal fungi mycorrhizal relationships Nature nutrients Olsson Ophiocordyceps organisms parasites Paul Stamets percent phosphorus photosynthesis Phytologist plant roots plants and fungi Pleurotus Pollan produce Prototaxites psilocybin mushrooms psychedelic researchers role Sapp Science sense shared mycorrhizal networks signals Simard slime molds smell soil spores Spribille Stamets symbiosis symbiotic termites tion trees truffle types Voyria white rot fungi wood wide webs yeast