Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, reviewed

Review of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake. Available to buy here.

When we think of fungi, we probably 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 support and sustain nearly all living systems. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. 

Sheldrake’s mind-bending journey into this hidden world ranges from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that sprawl 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 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.

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, reviewed

This is a book that we had been looking forward to reviewing, and thankfully it did not disappoint. It follows in the footsteps of some other great authors, explorers and scientists in this field; Gordon Wasson, Richard Schultes (check out the excellent One River by Wade Davis, an all time favourite), Terrence McKenna and several more that were new to us also.

Sheldrake is clearly well versed in who has come before him and also knows several of the other leading mycologists on a personal and engaged level. He has done his own research, homework, and tried to see the world and think as a fungi might. The book begins evocatively at the stunning research station on an island in Panama (visit one day if you can, it is in a truly stunning location and the scientists are doing great work there). We meet Sheldrake digging a hole into the ground to follow the thread of a fungi root.

The book continues a successful blend of the personal insights and anecdotes along with globally shared wisdom and research from other enthusiasts in this field. Fungi occupy a truly unique place in the world, seemingly closer related to animals than to plants, and capable of doing much much more than we once realised they were capable of. Each chapter covers different aspects of what has been discovered and what we are still only just uncovering.

Sheldrake’s approach is open and ready to embrace as many diverse elements of what is happening around the world, augmented by the fact that he has also visited and spent time in British Columbia at the very unique locations of some of his fellow enthusiasts. If the name Paul Stamets starts to ring a bell, along with Mycelium and tardigrades, especially if you have been watching the recently rebooted Star Trek series Discovery on Netflix. Then you be entertained as we were to realise his character has been named after a real life fungi enthusiast.

Sheldrake’s book yields many pleasant surprises like this, as well as nudging you to look at the world in a more open, and less human or even plant centric world. Again and again, based on data and scientific results, the book raises fascinating questions. Definitely one of the books of 2020, read it as soon as you can.

Here is a video of me eating the mushrooms that sprouted from my book, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, & Shape Our Futures.

They were delicious: I couldn’t taste any off notes, which suggests that the #fungus had fully metabolised the text. pic.twitter.com/wjhLdfvU4c

— Merlin Sheldrake (@MerlinSheldrake) June 23, 2020

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