ENTANGLED LIFE How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Author Merlin Sheldrake delivers his love letter to fungi in a smooth British-accented voice. He clearly admires the problem-solving behavior of slime mold and other life-forms without a central brain. Sheldrake explains how the study of fungal networks has applications for transportation systems and the World Wide Web. When he tells how Easter Islanders compared lichen to leprosy when cleaning the famed statues, his emphasis brings home his defense of tiny life forms. Sheldrake also takes a deep dive into his subject, participating in a scientific test of LSD, the famous fungal hallucinogen. At times, his descriptions of life in the "fungal fast lane" can be slow, losing his work's scientific points in the resulting haze. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2020]