Entangled Life

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

Author: Merlin Sheldrake

Genre: Nonfiction, Science, Nature

Format: Digital purchase

Publish Date: May 2020

Read: July 2024

Favorite Quote: We are ecosystems, composed of—and decomposed by—an ecology of microbes, the significance of which is only now coming to light.

Synopsis: When people think of fungi, they mostly think of mushrooms. However, as Merlink Sheldrake eloquently presents, fungi are vast, ever-present, shifting, and nonbinary beings more closely related to humans than we may realize. With a little bit of insight, it’s easy to see how amazing fungi are. Entangled Life describes the incredible and often unseen world of fungi and the role the systems play in our ecology and daily human interactions. From nutrition to pharmaceuticals to agriculture, fungi are critical to life on Earth.

Why does this book beguile? Entangled Life has been sitting on my Kindle for ages and I’m so glad I read it. I was fully ensconced in this amazing world of fungi and learning about their networks and communication. Sheldrake takes a highly complex organism and makes it approachable for everyone. You don’t have to be a biologist or have any significant understanding of the natural world to appreciate and enjoy Entangled Life.

Rating: 5/5

Link*: Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

If you’re interested in this, read*: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer