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A review by sauvageloup
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
a really fascinating and informative book
pros:
- a lot of really interesting information throughout, on fungi (obviously), lichen, ecosystems, the history of evolution, and how mycology is studied and used today.
- 90% of it I didnt know, but was explained in very accessible terms, with everything clearly defined. the footnotes were more complex and required some googling, but were also very interesting.
- I liked how he talked us through the development of the field, and the history of how fungi helped the rest of the world grow, exploring older lines of thought before bringing us to the present.
- the environmental applications for fungi tech is huge, and theres still so much unknown, it creates both frustration and excitement, as Sheldrake says.
- the writing is poetic and striking, making use of visual language, his own experiences and emotions, complex and far ranging metaphors, and how they affect how we view fungi.
- I liked how he pulled from everything from neural networks, to queer theory to computing, it was interesting to view fungi from all different sides.
- I also really enjoyed the section on radical mycology, with the teams of amateur mycologists around the world coming together to help with discoveries and creating environmental solutions.
cons:
- I felt at times that Sheldrake's biases came through, that sometimes he gave options of different theories or thoughts, but not always, and he seemed to dismiss some very fast. I would have been interested to read some more contradictory arguments.
- sometimes I did get confused, the writing was academic in places, but I think that's fair, it's an in depth book. the metaphors were maybe a little strong at times, but mostly I enjoyed them.
- I would have enjoyed more pictures or illustrations (though the ones we got were great), so I can understand why he's put out an illustrated version.
overall, fascinating facts and exploration of a huge range of topics - fungi is really so wide and Sheldrake did a great deep dive into lots of aspects. would certainly read other books like it, or more of his work.
pros:
- a lot of really interesting information throughout, on fungi (obviously), lichen, ecosystems, the history of evolution, and how mycology is studied and used today.
- 90% of it I didnt know, but was explained in very accessible terms, with everything clearly defined. the footnotes were more complex and required some googling, but were also very interesting.
- I liked how he talked us through the development of the field, and the history of how fungi helped the rest of the world grow, exploring older lines of thought before bringing us to the present.
- the environmental applications for fungi tech is huge, and theres still so much unknown, it creates both frustration and excitement, as Sheldrake says.
- the writing is poetic and striking, making use of visual language, his own experiences and emotions, complex and far ranging metaphors, and how they affect how we view fungi.
- I liked how he pulled from everything from neural networks, to queer theory to computing, it was interesting to view fungi from all different sides.
- I also really enjoyed the section on radical mycology, with the teams of amateur mycologists around the world coming together to help with discoveries and creating environmental solutions.
cons:
- I felt at times that Sheldrake's biases came through, that sometimes he gave options of different theories or thoughts, but not always, and he seemed to dismiss some very fast. I would have been interested to read some more contradictory arguments.
- sometimes I did get confused, the writing was academic in places, but I think that's fair, it's an in depth book. the metaphors were maybe a little strong at times, but mostly I enjoyed them.
- I would have enjoyed more pictures or illustrations (though the ones we got were great), so I can understand why he's put out an illustrated version.
overall, fascinating facts and exploration of a huge range of topics - fungi is really so wide and Sheldrake did a great deep dive into lots of aspects. would certainly read other books like it, or more of his work.