"Entangled Life" Discussion Post

[matsushima]

OK, everybody let's turn on some music, drop acid in a clinically controlled environment, and talk about mushrooms! 🍄

Q1: Have you read microhistory before? If this is a genre you're familiar with, what do you like about it? If this was your first, will you read more? *If you want to read more, I've got some recommendations where this came from.

Q2: Merlin Sheldrake obviously likes mushrooms, like, a lot. If you were going to write a book in this genre, what would you write about? It doesn't have to be science-y, either; there are lots of books like this about history, society, etc.

Q3: What's the most interesting fact you learned from this book? Why is that what stood out to you?

Q4: Sheldrake writes, My hope is that this book loosens some of your certainties, as fungi have loosened mine. What (if any) certainties were loosened by reading Entangled Life?

Q5: Pop-sci books like Entangled Life have to balance scientific accuracy and accessibility to a lay audience. How do you feel Sheldrake did? If you're a scientific expert, was the information correct? If you're not, was the book readable and did you feel like you understood what was being communicated?

Q6: Has reading Entangled Life changed the way you think about other everyday, apparently mundane, things?

Q7: OK, but… does anyone else want to try LSD after reading Entangled Life?

Comments

[zhelana]

The book was mostly readable, but I often found I had no idea what I had just read after I read it, and how it differed from what I had read the day before in the same book. Like he maybe took too long to say what he was trying to say and I got distracted mid thought instead of finishing a thought? I'm not entirely sure. But this has definitely not been my favorite sciencey book even so far of 2026.

[seleneheart]

I wish I would have gotten it in a physical copy to be able to flip back and check things.

[firecat]

This book really stayed with me. I was searching my book notes for it, thinking I’d read it last year, but it turns out I read it all the way back in 2021. I confess I didn’t re-read the book for the bookclub, but I’m really interested to learn what others thought of it.

I listened to the audiobook. I recommend the audiobook especially because Sheldrake narrates it himself and he has a beautiful voice. (To my ear, he sounds somewhat like Tom Hiddleston.)

I really enjoyed the book although it was a bit longer than it needed to be. I like that Merlin wrote about fungi in so many ways — their biology, how they fit into their ecosystems, the ways they behave that mimic aspects of intelligence, how humans have used them and might be using them in the future — as food, building material, and for mind expansion. He makes a convincing case that they can stand as a sort of symbol for the interconnectedness of the modern era (as in the book title).

I love pop science books that give me a sense of awe about the world around me, and what we humans have figured out, but especially how much we don’t know yet and are just beginning to glimpse. Entangled Life really scratches that itch for me.

In the years since this book came out, the popularity of “mushrooms” as a nootropic dietary supplement seems to have exploded. I wonder if that’s largely because of the book and Merlin’s other fungus-promoting activities (fungus-themed fashion shows, an IMAX movie, etc.) or if fungi are just something Whose Time Has Come.

Also I really want slippers made out of fungi.

And speaking of mind expansion, I experimented with psilocybin in my misspent youth and the book made me want to start those experiments back up again

[ofearthandstars]

I really enjoyed this book, but I confess that I am a little fanatical about all things mushroom, moss, trees, and forest—mycelial science is just fascinating.

Q1: Yes, I quite like reading microhistories based on ecology and climate. I appreciate a good book that is able to mix research, story-telling, and philosophy.

Q2: Oh, I'm not quite sure I have the knowledge base for this - but I'd probably write a book on climate.

Q3: Honestly, it's been a while since I read it, by my previous review specifically mentioned the intelligence of slime molds, and I did find that quite fascinating! Slime molds in general seem understudied.

Q4: This book probably made me somewhat more aware of the array of mutualistic relationships between forest and fungi. Forest Euphoria (Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian) also blew my mind a little bit with delving into the thousands of diverse biological sexes that are present among fungi.

Q5: I felt the book was quite readable, but again, I am someone who already had an immense interest in these topics and was probably the intended audience.

Q6: In general the microhistories I have read over the last few years have only reinforced my view of the planet as a meta-complex, interconnected ecosystem of interdependent species (something that humans like to try to extricate themselves from, and yet, I seem to remember that Entangled Life revealed the way we have been manipulated by fungi, particularly in propagating specific species.

Q7: Yes and no. I would be interested in the promising psychological effects on PTSD/trauma, but also, I do not generally enjoy the feeling of disassociation that often accompanies a high.

[seleneheart]

Q1: I confess that I didn't know what microhistory was and had to google it. It turns out that I've read books in the genre before. I highly recommend First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human by Jeremy Desilva.

Q2: I'm not really sure, something to do with trees. Maybe the natural history of the birch-beech-maple forests in North America.

Q3: At the beginning of the book, when Merlin first mentioned Paul Stamets, I sort of said to myself, "Isn't that the name of the officer on Star Trek: Discovery who controlled the mycelial network?" I finally looked it up on IMDB and found I was correct. Then much later in the book, we learn that the real scientist consulted on Discovery.

Q4: The whole argument about individual versus community was fascinating and recontextualizes how humans fit into the world.

Q5: I think he made the book pretty accessible - he referenced Alice's Restaurant and LSD trips in the prologue. Gave me the idea that I was in for a wild and entertaining ride. He put a lot of other pop cultural references in there, like Lord of the Rings if I recall. He hooked his ideas to social/political commentary, allowing non-scientist people to get an idea of what he meant.

Q6: I have a fraught relationship with mushrooms due to a childhood story, Babar I think. I definitely appreciate them more. And understand why truffles are such delicacies.

Q7: LOL, yeah a little bit.

[lexicalcrow]

Q1: I'm not all that familiar with the term 'microhistory' but it was a fun read. My 'tism is very fond of information sharing, so books about someone's pet subject that go into a deep dive into it are my kind of books. :D I definitely would read more if I came across them, but it's not a genre I necessarily explicitly seek out. I just look for books that interest me. And yeah, I read more nonfiction than fiction. I just like people talking about their special interests. :D

Q2: Ancient Egyptian religion would be mine. Maybe not necessarily completely academic, but I could talk for hours about my own personal experiences and rituals and what I've done and what I've looked into and how I make it work in a modern day setting.

There might be a few fandom things I could write about as well, but I'm not sure I'd get a whole book out of them though. They might be good long essays though. Not that I write much meta, but I do enjoy exploring things and seeing where they take me.

Q3: The thing that stuck with me was one of the researchers saying they were looking at queer theory as a reference for how to look at nonbinary things, to help them expand beyond a binary mode of thinking. I found that so cool as someone who's nonbinary myself.

Q4: I'm not sure, really! I broadly knew a lot of the material he covered, but it was nice to dig much deeper into it and find out so many new things. I've never been a big fungi person, but I love that there's this lifeform out there that keeps defying classification and understanding. Love that for them. Keep going lil fungi. :D

Q5: I found it really easy to read! I felt very much like the author was taking me on an adventure, and showing me all these things he'd learned along the way. I enjoyed the mix between him relaying his own experiences and interviews and chat with other researchers. It felt like a nice balance in terms of the tone of the book. I'm no expert so I can't speak to its accuracy, but it was a good fun read. I've lent it to my mother because it's also her kind of book, so. I'm hoping she'll like it too.

Q6: I'm ngl I'm still thinking about queer fungi lol. I was out on a train, I think, when I read that passage about queer theory and took a photo of it, so it's still there in my phone for me to look at and think about. My thoughts haven't gone anywhere yet, but I do still think about it and what it might mean for me. Not that I'm a fungi, of course. But idk. My brain is ruminating and maybe one day I'll have some kind of answer as to why that particular passage has stuck in my brain so much. I think it was also the uniqueness of it. That I wasn't expecting to find queer theory referenced, but I can totally see why you would bring it in to help expand your thinking that can encompass an organism like fungi that are so difficult to get your head around. idk I just thought it was neat. :D

Q7: Intellectually, yeah kinda lol. I'm not sure my body would love it for complicated 'my brain loves collecting migraine triggers' kind of ways, but sometimes I think it would be fun to experience at least once in my life, if I was around people I felt comfy with and was in a safe place.