The Lives of Fungi: A Natural History of Our Planet's Decomposers

by Britt A. Bunyard

A fascinating and richly illustrated exploration of the natural history of fungi

We know fungi are important, for us as well as the environment. But how they live, and what they can do, remains mysterious and surprising. Filled with stunning photographs, The Lives of Fungi presents an inside look into their hidden and extraordinary world.

The wonders of fungi are myriad: a mushroom poking up through leaf litter literally overnight, or the sensational hit of umami from truffle shavings. Alexander Fleming cured infections with mold and spiritual guides have long used psychedelic mushrooms to enhance understanding. Then there are the tiny threads of fungi, called hyphae, that create a communications network for the natural world while decomposing organic matter. Combining engaging and accessible text with beautiful images, The Lives of Fungi lays out all the essential facts about fungi for the mycologically curious.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biology, Nature, Natural History

288 pages, Hardcover

Published April 26, 2022

Reviews

[Randy Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautiful volume which makes fungi look sexy and intriguing was a guilty purchase. It is both a coffee book with its beautiful photos and also encyclopedic covering how they reproduce, the nature of their chemistry, the various categories including saprobes, parasites, pathogens and how they relate to us.

My only complaint is that the focus as always in books for humans is on humans. How are fungus good for us? What terrible things have fungus done to us? What does the future hold for us regarding fungus? Frankly, I would turn the questions are their heads and ask what great things are humans doing for fungus?

[Brandy Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not expecting this to be a coffee table book. It's also poorly organized and the writing style is very inconsistent. However, it is fun and the photos are very pretty.

[Wing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accompanied by captivating photographs and illustrative diagrams, this well-written introductory text, aimed at the interested lay reader, is never boring and provides an overview of the fascinating world of fungi. The sections on their life cycles can at times be a bit daunting, but otherwise, the biology is easily understandable. The marvels of evolution—indeed, the phenomenon we call life itself—are poetically demonstrated throughout the book. Their relevance is also clearly highlighted. I’ve also read the volumes on algae and cephalopods from the same series; both are very good, but this one on fungi is superb.

[Amber Brodeur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures and detailed descriptions. Would recommend 👌

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hovering around 2 and 3 stars for this one--it's probably closer to 2.5/5 for me. I both liked and really disliked several parts of this book. To start with the things I liked: it was beautifully illustrated with full color photos of mushrooms, it was informative in many ways, and was interesting to read sometimes. I feel like I may have absorbed some information.

On the other hand, the parts that I didn't like overweighed the parts I did like. Despite being a book that claims to be for beginners, it was not accessible. The author used almost exclusively highly technical terminology and didn't bother to define it. There was a glossary in the back that also proved difficult to access. I have a few mushroom non-fiction books under my belt and it was even hard for me to get through and understand. It makes it hard to know who the audience for this book is--it's a primer on the natural history of fungi that any mycologist would know, but it uses highly technical terms that only specialists would know. So is it for beginners or specialists? It was poorly written in that it doesn't have that clear audience.

I also saw many formatting errors in this book, which is disappointing in a published book. On several pages it would say "see page **" -- I think the editors never went back and inputted the page number. They just left stars as space holders and never fixed it. It's a little unprofessional in a published book that nobody bothered to check that.

Also, on the page for Caesar's Mushroom there's some plain wrong information about Claudius and Caligula's reign. The author is not a classicist, so I can't hold it against him too much, but he should probably fact-check his information before he publishes it in his non-fiction book.

Anyway. Fine book, really lovely photos, I learned some things, but it was ultimately lacking in many ways.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine, but only fine.

Pros: intriguing information about fungi, the statement 'fungi are the puppet masters of life on earth,' beautiful photographs, a balanced approach to climate change, an appreciation for the strangeness of existence.

Cons: a lot of technical vocabulary paired with a scanty glossary, poor/strange/unclear organization, repetitive information, a few too many typos and grammar errors. Furthermore, the photos didn't always match up with the subject matter at hand. It is like this book was written by an expert in their field who had forgotten what it is like not to be an expert in their field and who had also never written a book before. And didn't have a very good editor.

So as a way to learn about fungi, decent; as a book, less decent ;) I just sailed by all the things I didn't feel the need to understand and dwelt upon the things I did, lol.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got the ebook version out of the library and I think maybe the formatting of it could have been better. Especially before it got updated by the library app, the text was so small, though the pictures were generally either lovely if a photo, or useful if they were a diagram. The info was very interesting and I would have loved to have easier access to the glossary rather than finding it at the end after I'd read the rest of the book.

Still a pretty good book for people who are interested in fungi but don't know all that much about them.

[phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this book had a bit more information in it. I felt there could have been more varieties of information from evolution to more chemistry information to reproduction, as I felt most of the topics covered in it were fairly surface level.

[Kelly Maust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning photos and great information!