Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition - by Merlin Sheldrake (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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 the mind-bending, "gorgeous" (Margaret Atwood), "brilliant [and] entrancing" (The Guardian) Entangled Life, Sheldrake introduced us to this mysterious but massively diverse kingdom of life. This new edition, abridged from the original, features over 100 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. In vivid, surprising images, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms--and our relationships with them--are changing our understanding of how life works."--Dust jacket.

Book Synopsis

Merlin Sheldrake's New York Times bestseller, Entangled Life, is now a lavish visual journey into the hidden lives of fungi.

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 the mind-bending, "gorgeous" (Margaret Atwood), "brilliant [and] entrancing" (The Guardian) Entangled Life, Sheldrake introduced us to this mysterious but massively diverse kingdom of life. This new edition, abridged from the original, features over 100 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. In vivid, surprising images, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms--and our relationships with them--are changing our understanding of how life works.

Review Quotes

Praise for Entangled Life

"[An] ebullient and ambitious exploration . . . Reading [Entangled Life] left me not just moved but altered, eager to disseminate its message of what fungi can do."--The New York Times

"A gorgeous book of literary nature writing, ripe with insight and erudition. . . . Food for the soul."--The Wall Street Journal

"Nearly every page of this book contained either an observation so interesting or a turn of phrase so lovely that I was moved to slow down, stop, and re-read. . . . [Entangled Life] reminded me that fungi are, like the Universe, sublime."--Science

"An exuberant introduction to the biology, ecology, climatology, and psychopharmacology of the earth's 'metabolic wizards.'"--Harpers Magazine

"A poetic, mind-bending tour of the fungal world."--Scientific American

"Wondrous . . . Humans should consider fungi among the greatest of earth's marvels."--Time (Books of the Year)

"An astonishing book."--The Observer

"Completely mind-blowing."--The Sunday Times

"A magical journey deep into the roots of Nature by an expert storyteller . . . a must-read."--Paul Stamets

"Reading this book, I felt surrounded by a web of wonder. The natural world is more fantastic than any fantasy, so long as you have the means to perceive it. This book provides the means."--Jaron Lanier

"Urgent, astounding, and necessary."--Helen Macdonald

"Grand and dizzying in how thoroughly it recalibrates our understanding of the natural world."--Ed Yong, author of An Immense World

"I fell in love with this book. Merlin Sheldrake is a scientist with the imagination of a poet and a beautiful writer."--Michael Pollan, author of How to Change Your Mind (Bay Area Book Festival, 2020)

"Dazzling, vibrant, vision changing."--Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland

"Gorgeous."--Margaret Atwood, author of Old Babes in the Wood

"Not just for mushroom heads . . . science at its most uplifting."--Jeanette Winterson, The Times

"This book is like one surprise after another."--David Byrne, Rolling Stone

About the Author

Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist and author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures, a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and winner of the Royal Society Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize. Merlin is a research associate of the Vrije University Amsterdam and works with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks and the Fungi Foundation. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms.