‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake
In ‘Entangled Life’, author and biologist Merlin Sheldrake writes about his quest to understand the vastly understudied field of mycology. Fungi are neither plants nor animals, they can solve problems without a brain, and are in complex relationships that influence our lives and have impacted human history in significant ways. You don’t need to be a scientist to be fascinated by this world below our feet—the depth of knowledge and the range of ideas that we are introduced to is surprising and entertaining as we dive in to explore this hidden kingdom.
To complement your spooky explorations, read about the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis as it conducts a very precise and macabre operation. It parasitically compels an ant to leave the nest to climb a tall stem and clamp its jaws to the underside of a leaf, from where mycelial threads emerge from the feet to bind the ant to the plant. The fungus then digests the ant! In a similarly grisly story, the fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis parasitises the Swift Moth Caterpillar in the Indian Himalayas. Its demand in the international market as an aphrodisiac has changed the fortunes of many high-altitude villages. These are just some examples of the surprising ways in which fungi inhabit our world.
‘Entangled Life’ has amassed many prizes—it won the Wainright Prize for Global Conservation, the Nautilus Book Awards Grand Award, as well as the Gold award in the Ecology and Environment category. It has also inspired the Spring 2021 couture collection by Iris van Herpen—not many books have influenced fashion, but as you discover the colours, shapes, and smells evoked in ‘Entangled Life’ you can see why!
This November, ‘Entangled Life’ is our Book of the Month, in our Champaca Book Subscription.
