Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival

by Maria Pinto

Naturalist, forager, and educator Maria Pinto offers a stunning debut book that uncovers strange and beautiful fungal connections between the natural and human worlds. She mingles reportage, research, memoir, and nature writing, touching on topics that range from Black farmers’ domestication of the unforgettable aroma of truffles to the possibility that enslaved people wielded mycological poisons against their enslavers.

Pinto brings a new perspective and a distinctive literary voice to this mix of environmental and lived history, and every page sings with her enthusiasm for the networks in which we are fungal, ecological, ancestral, and communal. Join her in pursuit of beautiful, perplexing, delicious, and deadly mushrooms as she explores this understudied kingdom’s awe-inspiring diversity and discovers how fungi have been used by people, especially those on the margins, for survival, pleasure, revelation, and revolution.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Biology, Essays

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about fungi, I thought this could be very boring or very interesting. I did not realise this book wove information about fungi, history and exploration of current day issues. Each chapter feels like a workshop talk about a different mushroom related topic. At times I felt angry at stories of injustice and brutality, these were at times historical and other of current day which is just shocking that people can behave in such cruel ways. As someone coming from Wales even the part about some parts of the USA making foraging illegal felt shocking. I can’t go for a 5 minute walk from my house at this time of year without snacking on an apple, a blackberry while I work out how much longer the nuts will be!
I made myself read this slowly because it does feel like this is a book to savour rather than binge. I think if you are interested in fungi you will love this and if you’re not and you want to read a book written about someone moving into their true self and into their passion then you will love this. It’s totally inspiring. I absolutely loved the thoughtfulness of the author from page one I felt I was in safe hands. It’s written in a way that makes you feel the authors passion about the subject.
She talks so movingly about her sadness as a child, the sense of it is so visceral. This book is incredibly personal and the author gives everything to the telling of the story. There is a darkness in the chapter about “zombie ants” that might be triggering for some people with some discussion around suicide and self harm. I think this is skilfully handled but worth being aware of. I did love the analogy of being a zombie and capitalism very pertinent. This was not an easy chapter but it was the one that hooked me into the book.
In another chapter there is explicit details of how we could react if we ate a poisonous fungus which actually, I think, serves as a pretty strong reminder that they need to handled with care which shows the care of the author. The end of the book has references which you can also read, again showing an attention to detail that is very pleasing.
Each chapter covers a different type of fungi and the writing style feels like you are listening to an excited friend explaining their thesis, in language that you can understand. There is an enthusiasm which is backed by knowledge. I loved the ending of the book, I won’t say what it ends with but it’s the subject of my favourite sleep story that I listen to most nights which made it feel even more special.
Would I go out and eat my local fungi after reading this book? No I managed to poison myself as a child and I’m so slap dash I would probably do it again. Will I seek fungi out and pay them attention, as we move into Autumn.. yes and I have this book to thank for my renewed excitement for that. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the natural world and history and I think it would be an excellent present for someone who loves a book that just oozes the passion of a specialist subject.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book for my consideration this is all my own rambling, honest and personal opinions

[claudesbookcase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!
I’ve been in my nonfiction area this year and this book was the perfect addition. It’s a series of essays by a Jamaican American mushroom forager. Pinto seamlessly blends mycology and important discussions on injustice, racism, environmentalism, etc. some essays stood out to me more than others but all are worth reading.
4 stars!!

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this memoir weaved with history and fungi love. This book showcases how mushrooms and human life are so deeply entwined. I appreciated that the author also ties in colonial history to show how communities developed phobia of mushrooms while still staying connected to mushrooms on some levels and reclaiming their historical foraging practices and diets.
This stream of conciousness writing was sometimes hard to stay focused on, though I still enjoyed the ride and found myself swept up in each essay. For mushroom lovers, readers who are curious about history and foraging, and for those who like The Mushroom at the End of the World, this is a must read.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an ecopy of this book.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.

Is there anything so incredible as fungi? The sheer range, the abilities, the fascination that humans hold for them. Pinto weaves her own experience as a lover of mushrooms with the mushrooms themselves in this book. Which makes it so much the better as she provides a perspective that isn't in the normal mushroom books you see out there.

Drawing from her Jamaican heritage, she turns the notion of foraging and mushrooms being a white person's world to one that spans cultures and people. She breaks the book out into several sections - not just focusing on edible mushrooms but spanning a variety of types. From the kind that zombifies bugs, to some edible, to some that can survive fire, all fungi types are represented.

From a sociological, ecological, and explorer mindset, this book does a great job of bringing mushrooms from a different viewpoint.

Review by M. Reynard 2025

[Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wildly extravagant mix of mycology, memoir, history, and nature writing – captivating, magical, and lyrical.

The naturalist and forager Maria Pinto is clearly very intelligent, very curious --- and extremely ADHD . Sometimes I had to quit reading because it was just too much, but I kept coming back and finding more lines to copy or at least reread.

Pinto writes fluently, enthusiastically lushly, and includes lots of interesting information. If you are up for a surreal ride chasing her stream of consciousness, if you are curious about mushrooms and mycology, if you are interested in colonial history especially of the Caribbean, if you appreciate wide-eyed awe, give this book a try.

“It’s not the flavor of a truffle that grabs you by the collar... it’s the aroma.”

When the ships pushed back from shore, there were already spores nestled in their sails. The spores teemed against the woven linen, seething with future. Their forebears had sent them soaring on cool, polyphonic breezes from gills and pores and teeth and cups; the whistling wind told them where and how to live and what to eat.... These spores were germs of breathing sculpture, of labor and movement in obscurity, of the souls of strange trees and grasses, of rock eaters, of bug hijackers, of flesh that savors like an animal’s.

I was once very struck when someone remarked, ‘Thank God fire burns visibly.’
Wait, is the universe random? Does fire also burn invisibly?...Is this a prayer of gratitude to our laws of physics – are you supposed to be grateful for those? Is gravity pissed I don’t regularly thank it? Do coincidences happen on planet Earth? What is the nature of visibility? Did we just happen to get a fire that we could see? ...This place where thanking God makes sense – this portion of a broader spectrum – this skin of our teeth – does it suggest the existence of an entire incalculable shadow world inside our own...?

The subtitle of the book warns you of what is inside: Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless. What Fungi Taught Me About Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I picked up, and within a few pages, realized I was going to need a pencil and some tabs so I could keep track of all the little parts that made me go 'huh' or prompted me to go look something up later. It's a pretty freeform blend of memoir, science, and passion, the intentional medley of which only became clear in the second-to-last essay, which passionately discusses the need for science to make itself more 'slutty', to loosen up and be more willing to mingle with pop culture and personal experience if it wants to make itself more accessible to the layman- which it should. At that point, I realized that the book itself was written almost as a proof of concept to that ideal. The blend of folktale, personal experience, race and politics and mushroom hunting and fun facts with business and art ventures doesn't feel nearly as overwhelming as it sounds, because it's all so well blended- all these formal and informal sources touching and mingling and connecting together, because like a mycrobial network, they are all connected, and Pinto does an incredibly impressive job of getting you familiar and cozy with that fact before tipping her hand to the point.

It's a great book for curious people, it doesn't necessarily go deep on any one subject, but it does stretch wide, and will give you plenty of things to follow up on afterward, with a convenient bibliography at the back to get you started.

[Bee Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All Mushrooms Are Edible. Some Only Once."
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5/5 stars)

🌿 Maria Pinto's Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless is so much more than a field manual—it's a deeply personal exploration of how fungi connect us to ecology, history, and humanity.

Pinto's stream-of-consciousness narrative style organically mirrors the mycelial networks—characters drift in and out like the people who shape us during formative years, leaving their mark before dissolving back into the background. Although distracting at times, it cultivates an organic flow that resembles the wilderness and captures the spontaneity of lived experience. 🌱

This book waltz’s a razor's edge between nourishment and poison, offering much more than fascinating historical footnotes. Pinto represents a new generation of Americans rejecting capitalism in favor of the simplicity of hiking through the woods and foraging for nature's treasures. It's a profound meditation on finding one's place in the world and gracefully touches on teen and young adult suicidal ideations.

Pinto explores how the fungal networks beneath our feet mirror the human networks we're all embedded in—ecological, ancestral, and communal connections that sustain us in ways we're only beginning to tune into. 🍄

A huge thank you to University of North Carolina Press for providing me with an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review! 🙏

[Jolie Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cool book! Great blend of science and memoir elements, nonfiction and personal stories. I love reading books that expose me to new perspectives and ideas, and always forget how ubiquitous and understudied fungi are. It’s so hard to wrap my head around the fact that an entire KINGDOM of organisms is basically ignored, how is that possible?? This book inspired me to make mushroom centered dishes for christmas even and christmas dinner (sausage rolls and ragù, both turned out amazing and even my sister who does not like mushrooms came back for seconds) I really enjoyed the writing style of this book and the fourth wall breaks where you can tell the author is trying to stay objective but just can’t. Real. To be fully honest the pace definitely slowed for me after the psilocybin chapter, that was such a good section and it was a bit slow from there to the finish. But I learned a lot and am really glad I read this book!

[Kelly Maust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. The author is Black and Jamaican-American and brings a much-needed voice and perspective to the world of mushroom foraging, which can be very white-dominated. The book is constructed as a series of personal essays that tie mushrooms and mushroom foraging into a range of topics, including linguistics, family heritage, identity, contemporary protest movements, environmentalism, and more. This is no dry facts book, but is very personal and readable and would be interesting even for someone who is not already a mushroom fan. Sure to spark lots of interest and discussion!

[Walter S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to categorize, hard to put down. Nature writing up there with Robert Macfarlane's, reported narrative up there with John McPhee's, brilliance of thought up there with Maggie Nelson's, James Baldwin's, and Eula Biss's. Taught me fascinating, haunting things about mushrooms and the people who love them.

[Samantha Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t write many reviews, so this will be short and sweet but this book is a treasure. It’s the kind of book that sparks an interest and then makes you look at the world around you in new, refreshing and challenging ways. Absolutely recommend. I will definitely be re-reading it at some point, and I highlighted several sections for future reference.