Book Review: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

This is probably one of the best popular science books I’ve read - it made me want to change my field of research! This book is about the fascinating world of fungi. Mixing personal experiences with research findings, Sheldrake enthralls the reader by peppering the narrative with mind-blowing facts about these remarkable organisms throughout the book (e.g., the largest living organism on Earth is a fungus; the amount of spores produced yearly by fungi is equivalent to the weight of 500,00 blue whales; when hyphae felt to make mushrooms, they produce enough force to lift an object weighing 130 kg; and fungi are more closely related to animals than plants).

Fungi form spores, hyphae, mycelium, tubers, and the mushrooms we are more familiar with (such different structures, but made of exactly the same cell, unlike in humans, where for example, the liver, the kidney, the heart are all made of very different cells). They are cultivated by ants, were eaten by neanderthals, thrive in the harshest environments, and can solve complex problems; but the most fantastic aspect of fungi is the “Wood Wide Web” - an underground network of hyphae that can spread over a large forest and regulate the transfer of chemicals between different plants and trees. Fungi are so crucial, the reader is compelled to agree, that plant life cannot exist without fungi. As hinted by the dramatic prologue, this aspect forms the crux of this book.

The chapters are organized by increasingly complex questions about fungi. Why should a truffle, a form of fungi, taste so good to humans? And why is it so hard to cultivate? How do some fungi hunt nematodes? How do fungi find the most efficient path to a nutrition source? How is information transmitted in fungi over large distances, when there is no organ like a nervous system? How did fungi influence most of the evolution of life? How do fungi trade phosphorus in exchange for sugar with plants? How do they decide whether to reward their plant partners or hoard resources, when they have no brain? (Fun fact- strawberries taste and feel different depending on which fungus they’re grown with.) Fungi were the original roots - algae made it to land only because of them. Without fungi, land plants would not have been possible. Think about it - no land plants means no oxygen and therefore no life as we know it! Fungi, it turns out, are still puppet masters of the forests, controlling all plant life through their criss-crossing highways of hyphae - shuttling toxins, loaning resources against future payback with nutrients, rewarding “good” behaviour, transmitting warnings about parasite attacks, and so on.

Despite the fact that life as we know it could not have existed without fungi, numerous unanswered questions about fungi remain. Are the electrical signals zipping through fungal hyphae for sensing? Lichens are revolutionary organisms (they ignited a revolution in evolutionary biology) - fungi-algae symbioses. These organisms literally changed Earth by mining minerals, breaking down rocks and releasing nutrients essential for life. But what do fungi do for the algae in this partnership? And hold on - bacteria are also part of the symbiosis. What role do they play in this three-cornered cooperative? Fungi produce psychedelics and entheogens. What evolutionary benefit could that provide to fungi? Could zombie fungi that control behaviour of infected organisms be the answer? On the practical side - can the electrical signals in fungi be used to make fungal computers that can sense the environment? Can fungi be the solution to our food security problems? Can they be used for bioremediation?

Sheldrake ponders on what our culture can learn from fungi - the binary understanding of gender (fun fact - fungi have thousands of mating types, equivalent to gender in humans), and the queer theory of lichens. He also highlights how various traditions across the globe are connected to mushrooms - the cave paintings in Algerian Sahara dating from 9000-7000 BCE depicting god-like beings with mushrooms growing out of their arms, hot fermentation baths in Japan, and a fungal infection of the agarwood trees in India that makes one of the most expensive scents. He compares the polyphonic song “Women gathering mushrooms” from the Central African Republic to the ostensibly independent but harmonious existence of the numerous hyphae and mycelia of fungi.

The author also discusses deeper questions. Is it correct to anthropomorphize fungi? Is it accurate to say that fungi can “think”, “decide”, or have “intelligence”, when they have no brains? Sheldrake argues for it, saying we need to rethink intelligence and decision making. The long-held view that humans (animals) are the most intelligent organisms on Earth is not true. Is a brain really necessary for intelligence? In flatworms, for example, it has been shown that memory resides outside the brain. In this sense, fungi can be intelligent and make decisions without having a brain. He also questions what constitutes an individual. For example, is a human being an individual separate from its microbiome, when the body cannot survive without it? Individuality becomes fluid. Finally, he wonders about how best to understand the Wood Wide Web - is it “socialism in the soil” or “fungal feudalism”? More research is needed to answer these questions.

Reading this book, there is no doubt that Sheldrake is (rightly) captivated by fungi. He waxes lyrical about their strange behaviour, lifestyle, and metabolism. He does the same for psychedelics as well. Yes, it is fascinating why fungi should produce them and the intense effects they have on the human brain. But he doesn’t talk about their negative effects, merely stating they were banned “for legal reasons”. This is my one criticism of the book - this could have been a perfect place to provide a balanced narrative about these drugs, especially in comparison to other addictive and dangerous ones.

I would recommend reading this book to everyone. It is especially great for undergraduate students interested in research. It is impossible to read this book and not want to study fungi.