By coincidence, the book I read before this one was Robert Macfarlane’s Underland, which is so closely related to Entangled Life that author Merlin Sheldrake is featured in one chapter. I think Entangled Life is an even more engaging exploration of life underground, from the perspective of fungi. We mostly know them through mushrooms, but those are of course only the equivalent of a plant’s fruit, and most of their structure and operation is rarely directly visible to us. This makes fungi elusive but also exciting objects of research.

Sheldrake’s fascination for fungi really transpires from the pages of this book. His writing is confident enough that he can write about real research and sound neither condescending nor overly academic. (There’s also a large number of references and endnotes, which I really appreciate.) What really struck me, though, is how fungi seem to defy our existing classification systems. Throughout the book you’re presented with a variety of ways people have tried to understand fungi and how they relate to their environment: symbiosis, parasitism, mycelium as a brain, wires connecting a forest, and even a sort of marketplace for nutrients – and while these are all fascinating they also show how weird fungi are. Even the notion of an organism seems to be inadequate. If you think you have a good grasp on what life is you should definitely read this.