Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation 2021
Winner ofthe Royal Society Prize 2021
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year 2021
The more we learn about fungi,the less makes sense without them.
Neither plant nor animal,they are found throughout the earth,the air and our bodies. They can be microscopic,yet also account for the largest organisms ever recorded. They enabled the first life on land,can survive unprotected in space and thrive amidst nuclear radiation. In fact,nearly all life relies in some way on fungi/
These endlessly surprising organisms have no brain but can solve problems and manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread,alcohol and life-saving medicines,fungi have shaped human history,and their psychedelic properties have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. Their ability to digest plastic,explosives,pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies,and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks,the'Wood Wide Web',is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.
Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into a spectacular and neglected world,and shows that fungi provide a key to understanding both the planet on which we live,and life itself.
Publisher: Vintage PublishingISBN: 9781784708276Number of pages: 368Weight: 340 gDimensions: 196 x 128 x 34 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
''A dazzling,vibrant,vision-changing book. Sentence after sentence stopped me short. I ended it wonderstruck at the fungal world - the secrets of which modern science is only now beginning to fathom - and the earth-shaking,hierarchy-breaking implications of Sheldrake's argument. A remarkable work by a remarkable writer.'- Robert Macfarlane,author of Underland
'One of those rare books that can truly change the way you see the world around you,Entangled Life is a mercurial,revelatory,impassioned,urgent,astounding,and necessary read. It's fearless in scope,analytically astute,and brimming with infectious joy.'- Helen MacDonald,author of H Is for Hawk
'Few books blew my mind like Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life. The research,passion,writing,insights...Not sure if I've ever learned so much from ONE book. Here is to another scientist who celebrates imagination. Essential reading. Go and get swept up in a new world.'-Andrea Wulf,author of The Invention of Nature
'A true masterpiece,a thrilling and fascinating insight into the living world,beautifully written,entertaining,funny and inspiring,while representing the science carefully and responsibly. I hope and trust that it will become an instant classic.'-George Mombiot
'I fell in love with this book. Merlin is a scientist with the imagination of a poet and a beautiful writer...This is a book that,by virtue of the power of its writing,shifts your sense of the human...It will inspire a generation to enter mycology.'-Michael Pollan (Bay Area Book Festival,2020)
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