{"id":94763,"date":"2023-03-02T12:12:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T16:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=94763"},"modified":"2023-03-13T12:29:39","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T16:29:39","slug":"entangled-life-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/entangled-life-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Entangled Life: Book Overview and Takeaways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s the book Entangled Life<\/em> about? How do fungi improve humanity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Entangled Life<\/em>, Merlin Sheldrake argues that fungi are an understudied group of organisms that challenge our imaginations. Additionally, they offer promising solutions to modern-day problems such as mental illness and environmental destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read below for a brief overview of the Entangled Life<\/em> book to get the main ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not long after publishing the Entangled Life<\/em> book, biologist Merlin Sheldrake made a meal out of two copies of the book. He dampened the pages of the first copy, inoculated it with fungal spores, and feasted on<\/a> the mushrooms that burst from its pages. He then macerated the pages of the second copy and fermented them into a beer<\/a> he drank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheldrake\u2019s process of transforming these copies of his book embodies the themes he explores throughout its chapters. He examines what we know and don\u2019t yet know about fungi, these mysterious organisms that transform their surroundings\u2014and us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheldrake is a British biologist who specializes in fungal biology. Entangled Life, <\/em>published in 2020, is his first book. It\u2019s not only a book for fans of eating and foraging<\/a> for mushrooms: It\u2019s for anyone interested in biology, environmentalism, biotechnology, and philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout this article, we\u2019ll present Sheldrake\u2019s insights on what we know\u2014and still don\u2019t know\u2014about fungi. In Part 1, we\u2019ll examine the basics of fungal biology, from the structure of their cells to their partnerships with other organisms. In Part 2, we\u2019ll explore why fungi matter by describing how they challenge our imaginations and offer solutions to pressing, modern-day problems such as mental illness and environmental destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 1: Fungal Biology<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fungi are their own kingdom of organisms\u2014they\u2019re neither plants nor animals. Although the field of mycology (the study of fungi) is growing, Sheldrake argues that many aspects of fungal biology remain a mystery. <\/strong>Experts estimate that we\u2019ve only formally described 6% of all fungi species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sheldrake, fungi are understudied for two main reasons. <\/strong>First, fungi are hard to access because many of them live underground. Second, the study of fungi requires various types of biologists to collaborate since fungi\u2019s lives are deeply intertwined with those of other organisms\u2014but it\u2019s rare for biologists to collaborate with researchers outside their own subfield (such as microbiology).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this section, we\u2019ll explore Sheldrake\u2019s insights on what we know and don\u2019t yet know about fungal biology. We\u2019ve organized this information into six subsections, one for each property of life<\/a>. Biologists generally agree that all living things possess these six properties of life: organization, growth, response to stimuli, reproduction, energy processing, and homeostasis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property 1: Organization<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All living things have internal organization<\/a>\u2014structures such as cells, roots, and organs that organize their matter. Sheldrake explains that the cell is the main structure in unicellular fungi, such as yeast. However, most fungi are multi<\/em>cellular organisms whose cells form larger structures.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Some fungi are dimorphic<\/em><\/a>: They switch between being unicellular yeasts and multicellular organisms. They make this switch in response to environmental changes, suggesting that this ability to transform is an adaptation that enables their survival.)In this section, we\u2019ll explore three structures found in multicellular fungi. First, we\u2019ll describe hyphae<\/em>\u2014long chains of cells surrounded by a cell wall. Then, we\u2019ll examine two larger structures made of hyphae: mycelia<\/em> (which typically grow underground) and mushrooms<\/em> (which typically grow above ground).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property 2: Growth<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All organisms grow cells and larger structures<\/a> according to genetic instructions. We\u2019ll begin this section by examining the overall process of fungal growth. Next, we\u2019ll explore two types of growth: branching and fusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Process of Fungal Growth<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

According to Sheldrake, multicellular fungi grow by lengthening their hyphal tips\u2014<\/em>the ends of their mycelia. <\/strong>By contrast, most other multicellular organisms grow by building layers <\/em>of cells, like a 3-D printer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Sheldrake elaborates that fungal growth is both fast and forceful. <\/strong>Let\u2019s further explore these two ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fungal growth is fast:<\/strong> Small packets containing the materials for cell growth travel through a fungus\u2019s mycelium, arrive at a hyphal tip, and add new cells to the chain\u2014at a rate of over five hundred packets per second. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fungal growth is forceful: <\/strong>Fungi eat by digesting organic matter in their surroundings, so they need a method for inserting themselves into this matter. They use specialized hyphae that build up a high internal pressure so they can bust through cell walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Types of Fungal Growth: Branching and Merging<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

According to Sheldrake, when hyphae lengthen, they either <\/strong>branch<\/em><\/strong> into new territory or <\/strong>fuse<\/em><\/strong> with the fungus\u2019s existing mycelium.<\/strong> Let\u2019s further explore both types of fungal growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Branching: <\/strong>Sheldrake explains that mycelia branch radially from a spore (a fungi\u2019s first cell<\/a>). This radial branching allows a mycelium to expand into vast territories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fusing:<\/strong> Whereas branching is all about expanding a fungi\u2019s territory outward<\/em>, fusing is about creating a density of connections within<\/em> a mycelium. When one hyphal strand fuses with another, it creates a shortcut, allowing materials (such as water and nutrients) and chemical signals (which we\u2019ll explore later) to travel rapidly from one part of a fungus to another part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property 3: Response to Stimuli<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All living things react to environmental stimuli<\/a>, such as light and the presence of other organisms. According to Sheldrake, multicellular fungi\u2019s responses to stimuli are closely connected to their growth, as outlined in these two steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Expansion and investigation. <\/strong>As a mycelium radiates from its spore, its many hyphal tips sense stimuli it encounters. A single mycelium might contain between a hundred and a billion hyphal tips that can detect a range of stimuli, such as light and gravity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Directional growth. <\/strong>When a fungus\u2019s hyphae sense a desirable stimulus (such as a nutrient source), its mycelium continues branching and merging its hyphae to surround that source. Meanwhile, it retreats from areas with no stimuli or undesirable stimuli (such as toxins).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Property 4: Reproduction<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All life forms reproduce by replicating their DNA and passing it to the next generation<\/a>. We’ll outline the multicellular fungi\u2019s typical process for reproduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Attraction. <\/strong>According to Sheldrake, fungi release sex pheromones (a chemical signal) to attract mates. (Shortform note: According to other researchers, fungal sex pheromones don\u2019t only attract<\/em> mates. These sex pheromones can also induce the creation of fungal sex organs<\/a>\u2014specialized hyphae that produce gametes (the equivalent of sperm and eggs).)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Sex. <\/strong>After attraction, two fungi start having sex when a hypha from one mycelium fuses with the hypha of another. Their genetic material meets and combines in this fused channel.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Spore dispersal. <\/strong>After sex, one of the fungi grows flesh that develops into spores\u2014cells containing the new genetic material. Then, this fungus disperses those spores. Although not all fungi use mushrooms for this step, Sheldrake focuses on describing several of the ways mushrooms spread spores:<\/p>\n\n\n\n