BK 38: (Aug 3, 2021) Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

 

Hi Everyone...

Our Aug 3rd discussion will be on the book Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake (May 12, 2020). 

With 226 reading pages it will be approximately 7.5 pages a day. 

Check out the Bio, & Video below: 

"When we think of fungi, we likely think of mushrooms. But mushrooms are only fruiting bodies, analogous to apples on a tree. Most fungi live out of sight, yet make up a massively diverse kingdom of organisms that supports and sustains nearly all living systems. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel, and behave.

In Entangled Life, the brilliant young biologist Merlin Sheldrake shows us the world from a fungal point of view, providing an exhilarating change of perspective. Sheldrake’s vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the “Wood Wide Web,”  to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision.

Fungi throw our concepts of individuality and even intelligence into question. They are metabolic masters, earth makers, and key players in most of life’s processes. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disaster. By examining fungi on their own terms, Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works."

Documentary: Fantastic Fungi

Discover Magazine: Magic Mushrooms

BBC: Fungi & Bacteria Digest Plastic

Ottawa International Writers Festival

Bookpage Interview with Merlin Sheldrake on Illustrated Edition

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Here is what we discussed at the meeting...

*Lichen and how they eventually decomposed trees, rocks etc. 

* Paul Stamets' work/TED Talk/his hat

* Style of Book

* Fungal Spores

* Yeast/Alcohol

* Hyphae

* Mushrooms: Shiitake, Psilocybin, Turkey Tail, Stinkhorn/Truffles/Stinkhorn

* Fantastic Fungi Documentary

* Discover Magic Mushroom Article: Amanita Muscaria

* Termites/Carpenter Ants/Bees

* Voyria tenella & Monotropa uniflora

* Anthropomorphic Language Redefining & Terminology (Communicate, Learn, Make Decisions, Remember etc.) vs. Phytomorphism (Blossom, bloom, robust, root sappy, radical...)

* Using Brain/Computer Models

* Mycelium/Mycorrhizal/Fungi/Mushroom

* Kingdom classifications

*  Growing Mushrooms

* Slime Mold and Labyrinths

* Bioluminescent

* Suzanne Simard's work (Our next book!)

* Fungi detecting light (direction, intensity or color), temperature, moisture, nutrients, toxins and electrical fields...Opsins (rods & cones)

* Algae

* History of Fungi

* History of Penicillin 

* Symbiosis/Parasitic 

* Star Trek Discovery/Lord of the Rings/The Witcher

* Eukaryotes/

* Ecovative Company

* Coal

* Author in Compost pile/Leaves as kid

* Oyster Mushrooms growing in used cigarette butts

* Pleurotus mycelium/Oyster Mushrooms growing on used diapers after plastic removed and decomposing about 85% of the mass of the diaper

*  Microfiltration

* Degrade pesticides, synthetic dyes, TNT & RDX, Crude oil, some plastics, many human and veterinary drugs from waste water

* Mycotopia.net

* West African bringing termites to French army outpost

* Fungal Leather/Stella McCartney

* DARPA

* FUNGAR

* Electrical circuits

* Newton Apple Trees/History

** If I have forgotten anything please email me and let me know!