Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

by Merlin Sheldrake

We all live and breathe fungi, thanks to the prolific abilities of fungal fruiting bodies to disperse spores. Some species discharge spores explosively, which accelerate 10,000 times faster than a Space Shuttle directly after launch, reaching speeds of up to a hundred kilometres per hour – some of the quickest movements achieved by any living organism.

While writing and editing the book I would read these numbers and double take. It happened frequently. On one occasion, convinced that I must have made an appalling clerical error, I contacted the world expert on these fungal species to check the figures. They were correct, he confirmed. Despite my familiarity with these statistics I had stumbled over my disbelief — yet again. It remains a hazard. Fungal behaviours frequently defy our expectations even if we’re expecting them to do so.