Entangled Life

Merlin Sheldrake is a writer and a biologist. He earned a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from the University of Cambridge for his studies on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute predoctoral research fellow. He is a musician as well as an avid brewer. Entangled Life, one of the best books on biology, is his debut novel.

When most people think of fungi, they think of mushrooms. However, mushrooms are merely fruiting bodies, similar to apples on a tree. Most fungi live in the shadows, but they comprise a vastly diversified kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains practically all living systems. Fungi hold the key to comprehending our planet and the ways humans think, feel, and conduct.

The bright young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world through the eyes of fungi in Entangled Life, delivering a thrilling change of viewpoint. Sheldrake's vivid investigation takes us from yeast to psychedelics, from fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that connect plants in complex networks known as the "Wood Wide Web," to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.

Fungi call into doubt our notions of identity and even intelligence. They are metabolic masters, earth builders, and essential players in the majority of life's processes. They have the power to modify our thinking, heal our bodies, and even help us recover from environmental disasters. Sheldrake demonstrates how these amazing organisms—and our interactions with them—are transforming our knowledge of how life works by exploring fungus on their own terms.

Author: Merlin Sheldrake

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Entangled-Life-Worlds-Change-Futures/dp/052551032X/

Ratings: 4.8 out of 5 stars (from 5673 reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #2,555 in Books

#3 in Mushrooms in Biological Sciences

#8 in Ecology (Books)

#13 in Biology (Books)