Book Recommendation

[Gunnar]

I recently finished reading the illustrated edition of Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. It is about How Fungi Make our Worlds. I had previously learned something about fungi, but this book enhanced my knowledge and appreciation of fungi to a whole new level, and the illustrations were stunning and awe inspiring. I had not as fully appreciated how great the role of fungi for both good and ill in the web of life, both animals and plants. If all fungi were to disappear from the earth, the extinction of virtually every species on earth, including our species, would soon follow. Fungi were the first organisms to evolve the capability of surviving on land, rather than just in the seas of earth. The earliest plants could not have colonized and survived on dry land without the mycelial networks of fungal hyphae of symbiotic fungi that stretched out and brought water and nutrients to them. It was not until millions of years later that plants evolved their own root systems that served the same purpose. Even today, fungal mycelial networks, entangled with the plants' (especially trees) own root systems aid in nourishing and watering them.

It was once believed that fungi were only parasitical to plants and other organisms and only harmed them. This was disproven by an experiment in which they compared the growth of pine seeds planted in fungus-free soil to seeds planted in the natural, fungus-permeated soil of the forest. The latter grew twice as fast as the former. According to the book, a typical teaspoon full of natural soil contains mycelial networks which if stretched out and put end to end in a single, thin strand would stretch anywhere from 100 meters up to 10 kilometers long! One noteworthy difference between fungi and animals is that animals put their food inside their body, while fungi put their body inside their food. Some species of fungi are part of the microbial biome (along with bacteria) that lives symbiotically within our bodies and help to nourish us and protect our health. The specific species living within us not only help us to produce and assimilate the essential nutrients that keep us alive, they also help fight and destroy other species of fungi and microbes that would make us sick or even kill us.

Fortunately I was able to borrow a copy of the book from our local county library, so I didn't necessarily have to buy my own copy and wait for it to be delivered. It is a wonderful and very well-written book! You will be well rewarded if you get hold of a copy and read it!

[Jersey Girl]

Gunnar you got my attention on this! Thanks for the recommend! I'll see about how I want to source it. Our library system runs a book mobile to us out here in the sticks...maybe that.

[Gadianton]

So The Last of Us doesn't have the final word? Sounds interesting, Gunnar.

[Gunnar]

Another fascinating source about fungi is the video The life of the forest. Fungi. It covers much of the information also found in the book Entangled Life I recommended my OP. It is well worth watching.

3,089,343 views Oct 13, 2022 #mushroompicking #mushrooms #fungi
A forest is a place where thousands of different organisms meet, creating the most complex network of connections that can exist in nature. A forest is a system in which each organism plays a role and has an assigned function. It is worth considering the importance of fungi for the functioning of the forest – the most mysterious group of organisms in this forest puzzle.

Director: Michał Ogrodowczyk
Script and commentary: Tomasz Leski, Marcin Pietras
Year of production: 2020
Producer: Forest Film Studio, Polish State Forests