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

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Unputdownable, this extraordinary work explores the awesome range of activities of fungi: enabling the first life on land; interacting in countless ways with other life forms; shaping human history and potentially safeguarding our future. Thus scientific names are “a necessary evil”, but that discovering the meaning behind them can be interesting, and even humorous – Spongiforma squarepantsii for example. This pocket-sized compendium is a lively combination of clearly explained science, entertaining cultural references and potted biographies of leading personalities in the world of mycology.

FernGully was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and it made me really think about the natural world and how humans interact with it. Extended summary: Centered (mostly) in the US Pacific Northwest, the book follow people of different ethnicity, immigration background, and cultural identification all united by one goal — to forage and trade matsutake mushrooms ( Tricholoma matsutake? This is a big book, with a great deal packed into it that you will not find in any other book about fungi. Unique features of Fascinated by Fungi that book reviewers have highlighted are the liveliness and readability of its entertaining and informative text; the author's tremendous enthusiasm that shines out from every page; and the wealth of superb pictures and clear diagrams – more than 1000 colour images of specimens at their very best and photographed in their natural habitats plus close-up pictures of gills, pores and other key identifying features.There is a sense that our civilisation is an out-of-control monster, heading towards catastrophe, both economic and ecological. They enabled the first life on land, can survive unprotected in space and thrive amidst nuclear radiation. The book is exceptionally well-structured, balancing scientific detail with accessible storytelling.

Each species here is reproduced at its actual size, in full color, and is accompanied by a scientific explanation of its distribution, habitat, association, abundance, growth form, spore color, and edibility.He is the co-author of New Naturalist: Fungi and is on the editorial boards of the journals Field Mycology, Mycological Progress, Czech Mycology, and Persoonia.