Entangled Life

How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

By: Merlin Sheldrake

Narrated by: Merlin Sheldrake

Brought to you by Penguin.

The million-copy bestseller that will transform your understanding of our planet and life itself.

*WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2021*
*WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRTITING 2021*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2021*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021*

The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. They can change our minds, heal our bodies and even help us avoid environmental disaster; they are metabolic masters, earth-makers and key players in most of nature's processes. In Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake takes us on a mind-altering journey into their spectacular world, and reveals how these extraordinary organisms transform our understanding of our planet and life itself.

'Astonishing ... it seems somehow to tip the natural world upside down' Observer
'Completely mind-blowing ... reads like an adventure story' Sunday Times
'Dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing' Robert Macfarlane
'Urgent, astounding and necessary' Helen Macdonald
'Gorgeous!' Margaret Atwood (on Twitter)
'Wonderful' Nigella Lawson
'A magical writer' Russell Brand
'This book is like one surprise after another' David Byrne
'Uplifting' Jeanette Winterson

* A Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Times, Evening Standard, Mail on Sunday, BBC Science Focus and Time Book of the Year *

©Merlin Sheldrake 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Critic reviews

After this book, nothing will seem the same again . . . beautifully written and illustrated . . . dazzling . . . reveals a world that's both more extraordinary and more delicate than could be imagined

Riveting and surprising at every turn . . . A sensory as well as an intellectual pleasure

Wondrous . . . Humans should consider fungi among the greatest of earth's marvels

Mind-boggling . . . It's tempting . . . to see fungi as the biological model for a better world

Truly astounding . . . An engrossing, captivating journey

Gorgeous, intelligent, utterly absorbing . . . it expands our world, and makes us look up from the page with renewed wonder

One of those rare books that can truly change the way you see the world around you . . . revelatory . . . astounding . . . and brimming with infectious joy (HELEN MACDONALD, author of H is for Hawk)

A true masterpiece, a thrilling and fascinating insight into the living world . . . I hope and trust that it will become an instant classic (GEORGE MONBIOT)

Blew my mind . . . Essential reading. Go and get swept up in a new world (ANDREA WULF, author of The Invention of Nature)

Astonishing . . . it's impossible to finish this book without feeling awestruck (ANDREW MOTION, TLS Books of the Year)

Deeply inspiring

A deeply inspiring book that changes one’s perception of the world just below the leaves

A book for our times

We now know how strongly narratives permeate our lives and society - but very few books ever truly illustrate how the many threads of all those stories, facts and discoveries are intertwined, by example, while educating and entertaining with the ease of a genuine master. Merlin is not just a supremely knowledgeable mycologist, but also an elegant and insightful master of his field. I have been informed, entertained and motivated to learn more. And there could be no better narrator. The mushroom talks!

Fascinating info

I find the new (meaning since my high school biology class) on fungi and the interdependence between them and plants fascinating. This book is a good overview with many perspectives on the topic. Unfortunately the author is not the best narrator for his book - his voice is a bit soporific.

Extremely entertaining education

Warning, this book may well change your life. Don't let that stop you. 😊

Extraordinary

Sheldrake's fungal presentation delivers winding connections that motor our world, and thoroughly challenges the myopia of strict identities on the way. This is a book I wouldn't be surprised to find as becoming a hallmark of thinking for a healthy future.