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

One of the BEST BOOKS I’VE EVER READ!
You don’t need to have a particular interest in biology to appreciate the fascinating world of fungi. The writing is clear, beautiful, entertaining, and engaging. The myriad aspects of the unseen, little understood fungal world, and the prospects for what discoveries lay in wait, is truly mind-bending.

Fascinating and fun
This is a great read – fascinating and insightful.The author educates and entertains with humor and grace. He describes fungi in intimate detail and explains a huge chunk of the microcosm on which we, as humans, depend. If you’re interested in nature, in medicine or just in how things work in the world, you won’t be disappointed.

Explore the Hidden World: Entangled Life – How Fungi Shape Our World and Minds
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake offers a fascinating exploration into the often-overlooked world of fungi. This book delves into the profound impact that fungi have on our environment, health, and even our cognitive processes.Sheldrake’s writing illuminates how fungi form complex networks that influence ecosystems and interact with a wide range of organisms, including humans. The book is a captivating blend of science and storytelling, revealing the crucial role fungi play in everything from decomposition and nutrient cycling to medicine and mental health.Richly detailed and engaging, Entangled Life invites readers to rethink their understanding of nature and the interconnectedness of life. It’s a compelling read for anyone interested in biology, ecology, or the hidden wonders of the natural world.

Read this book.
Fascinating book. Should be read by everyone.

As someone who has always been fascinated by the hidden machinery of the natural world, picking up Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures felt less like reading a book and more like embarking on a vital expedition. I came to the book with a deep interest in the micro-level living world, and what I found was a profound, paradigm-shifting account of how fungi—this vast, silent kingdom—doesn’t just influence our lives, but fundamentally is our life.What immediately captivated me, beyond the sheer scale of the subject matter, was Sheldrake’s genius for storytelling. The book is written not as a dry scientific treatise, but as a series of utterly engrossing narratives. The author possesses a rare ability to translate complex biological processes, like fungal networks communicating across continents or spores surviving in the most extreme environments, into compelling, almost mythical tales. He makes the mundane, like the mycelial mat under our feet, feel like an infinitely intricate neural network waiting to be deciphered. This narrative flair kept me engaged, making the educational experience feel personal and exciting, like a whispered secret about the nature of reality.The core reason I loved this book is how forcefully it enlarges our worldview. Before reading it, I understood the concept of ecology intellectually, but Sheldrake’s work forces a meaningful, visceral change in perspective. Before diving in, I thought I knew the basics of fungi. Yet, the revelation that the largest organism on Earth is a single fungal colony—the massive Armillaria ostoyae in Oregon—was a fact I simply did not know, and it completely shattered my previous, limited perspective on life’s architecture. It challenges the notion of individual autonomy, showing how all life, from plants to humans, is stitched together by fungal threads. Suddenly, my life felt less like an independent existence and more like a participant in a vast, subterranean, biochemical collaboration.One quote that deeply resonated with me was Sheldrake’s description of the mycelial networks as ‘nature’s internet,’ constantly trading, sharing, and reacting. He writes, “Life is a relationship, not a possession.” This simple, elegant sentence serves as the book’s thesis, transforming the way I view every organism—including myself—not as an independent unit, but as a node in an immense, ancient web. The book is a powerful argument against a purely anthropocentric view, revealing that we are not the masters of our environment, but rather integrated components within a much larger, fungal-driven system.The benefits of knowing this world, as the book illuminates, are enormous. Fungi hold solutions to pressing global issues—from being nature’s original recyclers, breaking down pollutants, to their potential in developing new medicines and sustainable food sources. I also found his discussion on their chemical power incredibly impactful. As Sheldrake notes, “Fungi are metabolic wizards. They can eat anything.” This immediately highlights the practical benefits of studying this kingdom, suggesting solutions for everything from plastic waste to global resource scarcity. The book doesn’t just ask us to look at fungi; it demands we look at ourselves differently. By highlighting the interconnectedness, the book suggests a path toward more meaningful changes in our own world view—one that prioritizes cooperation, decomposition, and symbiotic relationships over relentless, isolated competition.Entangled Life is ultimately a powerful invitation to humility. It makes the world feel infinitely stranger and richer than I ever imagined. By placing the mycelial network at the center of the story of life, Merlin Sheldrake delivers a book that is not just essential reading for biologists, but for anyone seeking a more profound, interconnected understanding of their place on Earth. It’s a book that truly gets under your skin, in the best possible way.

This book arrived much earlier than I thought it would and in perfect condition. What is more important is that this book is amazing! I have not finished it yet, but every day I find out something cool from it..I cannot recommend this enough…

Highly informative