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For his PhD at Cambridge, Merlin Sheldrake spent his days in the tropical forests of Panama studying fungal networks that live underground, in the roots of plants, as a predoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. His first book, Entangled Life (2020), turned that research into a wider story about how fungi decompose, ferment, feed forests and alter minds. It won the Royal Society Science Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize, and according to his own website it has been translated into 32 languages and sold more than a million copies. In 2023 he followed it with an abridged, illustrated edition. This guide covers his two key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 key books · 2020–2023 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Merlin Sheldrake has published two books: Entangled Life (2020), winner of the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize, and Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition (2023), an abridged version with more than 100 colour images. Start with the original Entangled Life; the illustrated edition is shorter and works as a second read or a gift.
Where to Start with Merlin Sheldrake
If you want the full argument
→ Entangled Life (2020) — his only full-length book, with all the science and the notes.
If you want a shorter, visual introduction
→ Entangled Life (2023) — abridged, with photographs of fungi at every scale.
If you liked Michael Pollan or Robert Macfarlane
→ Entangled Life (2020) — science, travel and personal experiment in one book.
2 Merlin Sheldrake Books, in Order
Entangled Life
A book about what fungi do: decomposing, fermenting, distributing nutrients between plants through underground networks, producing psilocybin, and helping plants move onto land in the first place. Sheldrake mixes the science with his own fieldwork in Panama, his own experiments and asides on music and philosophy. It won the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize and the 2021 Wainwright Prize for Global Conservation Writing, was shortlisted for the 2021 British Book Awards (narrative non-fiction) and was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.
Entangled Life
An abridged edition of the 2020 book, published by Random House in November 2023, with more than 100 full-colour images. It uses macro photographs of lichens and mushrooms and microscope images of spores and nematodes, including two of Sheldrake’s own photographs of fungi inside the roots of a tropical forest plant. Sheldrake told BookPage that abridging it meant rearranging the book’s themes, not only cutting words.
In What Order to Read Merlin Sheldrake
There is really one book here in two forms. The 2020 Entangled Life is the complete text, with the long notes and references; the 2023 illustrated edition is shorter and built around the images.
Read the original first if you want the full argument and the science behind it. Choose the illustrated edition if you would rather see the organisms he describes, or as a gift for someone new to the subject.
A reading path
1. Entangled Life (2020)
2. Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition (2023), for the pictures
3. Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind, for more on psilocybin
The years · 1987–2024
Quick facts about Merlin Sheldrake
- Known for
- Sheldrake is known for showing a general audience how fungi shape life on Earth, from the networks under forests to the yeast in bread and beer.
- 1987
- Born in London
- 2020
- Entangled Life
- 2024
- Fungi: Web of Life at BFI IMAX, London
- Born
- 1987, London; son of the biologist Rupert Sheldrake and Jill Purce
- Education
- University of Cambridge (Clare College): biological sciences, history and philosophy of science, PhD in tropical ecology
- Research
- Underground fungal networks in Panama, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
- Roles
- Research associate, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; UK policy lead, Fungi Foundation; works with SPUN
- Prizes
- Royal Society Science Book Prize and Wainwright Prize (2021)
- Film
- Presenter of Fungi: Web of Life, narrated by Björk
The red mark is 2020: Entangled Life, his first and so far only full-length book.
How Merlin Sheldrake Writes: The Scientist Inside the Story
Sheldrake writes as a working scientist. His PhD at Cambridge was on mycorrhizal fungi and plants in a Panamanian forest, and Entangled Life grows out of that fieldwork: the book explains how fungi break down matter, link plant roots and move nutrients, and it keeps long notes so readers can check the research behind each claim.
He puts himself in the story and tests things on himself. The book includes his own experiments and fieldwork alongside music and philosophy, and keeps returning to how hard it is to describe an organism so unlike us. Reviewers picked up on that mix: Jennifer Szalai in The New York Times called it an “ebullient and ambitious exploration”, and Eugenia Bone in The Wall Street Journal called it “a gorgeous book of literary nature writing”.
His work has spread well beyond books. He presented the Björk-narrated documentary Fungi: Web of Life, advised on Stella McCartney’s fungi-themed show in Paris in 2021, and works with the Fungi Foundation and SPUN on mapping and protecting underground fungal networks.
Frequently asked questions about Merlin Sheldrake’s books
How many books has Merlin Sheldrake written?
Two, both on this page: Entangled Life (2020) and Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition (2023), an abridged version of the same book. Entangled Life is his only full-length original book so far.
What are Merlin Sheldrake’s books in order?
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures (2020), then Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition (2023).
Where should I start with Merlin Sheldrake?
With the original Entangled Life (2020), which has the full text and notes. The illustrated edition is shorter and works better as a second read or a gift.
What is Merlin Sheldrake’s most famous book?
Entangled Life (2020). It won the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize and the 2021 Wainwright Prize for Global Conservation Writing, and his website says it has been translated into 32 languages and sold more than a million copies.
What is the difference between Entangled Life and the illustrated edition?
The illustrated edition (Random House, November 2023) is abridged from the original and has more than 100 full-colour images, from photographs of mushrooms and lichens to microscope images of spores. The 2020 edition is the complete text without the pictures.
What prizes has Entangled Life won?
The Royal Society Science Book Prize, announced on 29 November 2021 with a prize of 25,000 pounds, and the Wainwright Prize for Global Conservation and Climate Change Writing, announced on 7 September 2021. It also won the Guild of Food Writers First Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2021 British Book Awards.
Is Merlin Sheldrake related to Rupert Sheldrake?
Yes. He is the son of the biologist and author Rupert Sheldrake and Jill Purce. His brother is the musician Cosmo Sheldrake.
Is there a film of Entangled Life?
Not a direct adaptation, but Sheldrake presented Fungi: Web of Life, a giant-screen documentary narrated by Björk, which ran at the BFI IMAX in London from February 2024.
Was Entangled Life in Ted Lasso?
Yes. In season 2, episode 11 of Ted Lasso, Coach Beard is seen reading it.
Footnotes
- Merlin Sheldrake — Wikipedia
- Entangled Life — Wikipedia
- About Merlin — merlinsheldrake.com
- 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize winner — Royal Society
- 2021 winners announced — Wainwright Prize
- Entangled Life: The Illustrated Edition — Penguin Random House
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Fungi are everywhere but they are easy to miss.”
— Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life (2020)
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