‘Astonishing … it seems somehow to tip the natural world upside down’ Observer

‘Completely mind-blowing … reads like an adventure story’ Sunday Times

*WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2021*
*WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING 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.

‘Dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing’ Robert Macfarlane
‘Urgent, astounding and necessary’ Helen Macdonald
‘Gorgeous!’ Margaret Atwood (on Twitter)
‘Wonderful’ Nigella Lawson
‘This book is like one surprise after another’ David Byrne
‘Uplifting’ Jeanette Winterson

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2021*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021*

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

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.

Winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize 2021
Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing 2021

‘Reads like an adventure story… Wondrous’ Sunday Times

‘Urgent, astounding and necessary’ Helen Macdonald

Perfect for fans of Peter Godfrey-Smith’s Other Minds and The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

*A NEW STATESMAN, DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE TIMES, BBC SCIENCE FOCUS, EVENING STANDARD, MAIL ON SUNDAY AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020*

‘A dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing book. I ended it wonderstruck at the fungal world. A remarkable work by a remarkable writer’ Robert Macfarlane

The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.

Neither plant nor animal, they are found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. They can be microscopic, yet also account for the largest organisms ever recorded. They enabled the first life on land, can survive unprotected in space and thrive amidst nuclear radiation. In fact, nearly all life relies in some way on fungi.

These endlessly surprising organisms have no brain but can solve problems and manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. Their ability to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the ‘Wood Wide Web’, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into a spectacular and neglected world, and shows that fungi provide a key to understanding both the planet on which we live, and life itself.

‘Reads like an adventure story … wondrous … beguilingly weaves together lived experience and scientific research’ Sunday Times

‘An astonishing book that could alter our perceptions of fungi for ever. It seems somehow to tip the natural world upside down’ Observer

‘Dazzling … reveals a world that’s both more extraordinary and more delicate than could be imagined’ Daily Mail