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

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The Kingdom of Fungi is a feast for the senses, and the ideal reference for naturalists, researchers, and anyone interested in fungi. Yet as amazing as mushrooms are, they are just the above-ground extensions of the fungi below. The fungal world is a wild and fascinating place, and has shaped our environment in ways that we are only beginning to understand. The eight books below explore the Fungi Kingdom, sketch out its relationship to the human world, and reveal its paramount significance to life on this zany planet. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets Collins Fungi Guide: The Most Complete Field Guide to the Mushrooms & Toadstools of Britain & Ireland The tips circulate “information”, and, in response, the mycelium makes advantageous changes to its behaviour. This is more than mere chemical reaction. Here is a responsive entity with interests that its actions can serve or harm. Sheldrake tries out the idea of swarm-intelligence, but a swarm consists of separate individuals, whereas the network of fused or entangled hyphae functions as a physical whole – or much more like a physical whole. Studying fungi makes these lines harder to draw.

Identification: A grey to fawn cap that is at first egg-shaped and then later bell shaped. The surface is smooth and splits into a few tiny scales from the apex, the edges are often wavy and split. Stem is white and hollow. Cap is around 4-8 cm across and stem is 5-15 cm tall. Eugenia Bone’s Mycophilia is a love letter to the fungal world and the mushroom foraging community. Having served as president of the New York Mycological Society, Bone knows this community intimately. Therefore, her book details the gamut of foragers: from amateur enthusiasts out on the trails to the hardcore finders who are part of the commercial industry. Along the way, she provides a social history of mushroom use in cooking and medicine. However, the best parts of Mycophilia are seeing Bone in action. She documents her travels with foragers, conversations with restaurateurs and those in the industry, and, most importantly, her unabashed love of mushrooms. The Way Through the Woods: On Mushrooms and Mourning by Long Litt Woon Some fungi cannot be identified without a microscope, however those in this blog can be identified using macro characteristics displayed by the fruiting body. Most are umbrella or mushroom shaped with gills on the cap underside. Below are some key characteristics to look out for when identifying:Identification: Are cup-shaped and scarlet, however can also be bright orange. Stems attach to the leaf litter making them appear as hollow bowls lying on the woodland floors. Cups are roughly 4cm across. How dazzling is the world of mushrooms? The fan-shaped cinnabar oysterling looks like something you would find undersea. The violet webcap is vibrant. These are among the more than 600 fungi described and illustrated in this scholarly and beautiful book.”— The New York Times Fungi possess microtubules composed of the protein tubulin. This protein consists of a dimer composed of two protein subunits. Microtubules are long, hollow cylinders approximately 25 nm in diameter that occur in the cytoplasm as a component of larger structures. These structures are involved in the movement of organelles, chromosomes, nuclei, and Golgi vesicles containing cell wall precursors. Mycelium, Sheldrake says, is the tissue that holds together much of the world. The filaments thread through the soil, and through living and decomposing bodies, plant or animal. Each exploring tip is looking for water and nutrients, which it will begin to absorb, sending chemical signals to other parts of the network. In some species, scientists have also detected electrical waves. Other filaments nearby that receive these messages turn towards the nourishment. The network can store information. Scientists have tried removing the food source and severing all the connections. New filaments appear and set out in the right direction. It is hard not to call this “memory”.

An up-to-date, comprehensive and brilliantly illustrated book on fungi foraging in Britain and Europe. It covers every known edible species, and all the poisonous groups, as well as a few other extremely common ones. Identification: Has a blue to violet tinged cap and gills when young, however older caps turn tan or grey from the centre. Gills are crowded and grow into the stalk and fade to brown as the mushroom matures. The cap is roughly 5-15 cm across, and the stem 5-10 cm tall.The rigid cell wall of fungi (see ch. 73, Fig. 2A) is a stratified structure consisting of chitinous microfibrils embedded in a matrix of small polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, inorganic salts, and pigments that provides skeletal support and shape to the enclosed protoplast. Chitin is a (β1–4)-linked polymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc). It is produced in the cytosol by the transfer of GlcNAc from uridine diphosphate GlcNAc into chains of chitin by chitin synthetase, which is located in the cytosol in organelles called chitosomes. The chitin microfibrils are transported to the plasmalemma and subsequently integrated into the new cell wall. Microtubules are the principal components of the spindle fibers, which assist in the movement of chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis. When cells are exposed to antimicrotubule agents, the movement of nuclei, mitochondria, vacuoles, and apical vesicles is disrupted. Griseofulvin, which is used to treat dermatophyte infections, binds with microtubule-associated proteins involved in the assembly of the tubulin dimers. By interfering with tubulin polymerization, griseofulvin stops mitosis at metaphase. The destruction of cytoplasmic microtubules interferes with the transport of secretory materials to the cell periphery, which may inhibit cell wall synthesis.

Petersen has been both a mycologist and a fine arts photographer for decades. His ability to capture minute fungal structures while maintaining a stunning aesthetic in the 800-plus photos makes this book an unsurpassed treasure. . . . [I]t would be a showpiece in any specialist's collection. The volume's spectacular images will captivate even the most disinterested individual."— ChoiceNearly 2400 species are illustrated in full colour, with detailed notes on how to correctly identify them, including details of similar, confusing species. Where to find: Usually found low on the trunk of old, living oak trees and sweet chestnut trees, and sometimes on their stumps. Recommended Reading/Guides: The lurid photographs and enticing, offhandedly witty descriptions make the reader want to go out collecting specimens right away."— Popular Science