The Secret Life of Fungi: From Tables, Factories, Labs, Battlefields to Farms, and How Humans Have Been Enchanted, Dependent On, or Feared Them (Bestselling Revised Edition)

Delicious mushrooms are not plants, but fungi, a type of "eukaryotic organism" belonging to the "kingdom Fungi." Besides appearing in our daily lives as "mushrooms," fungi also exist in various places we often overlook but are crucial for survival and have even altered human history. When fungi's tenacious mycelia start running wild, beware—they can shake the foundations of a nation, turn the tide of war, destabilize territories, and even assassinate leaders. They can make people happy, intoxicated, and dance non-stop! The smallest fungi are invisible to the naked eye, while the largest occupy an area equivalent to thirty-seven Daan Forest Parks in Taipei. They are very likely the first complex organisms to emerge from the ocean onto land. Dr. Gu Xiaozhe, a researcher in fungal cell biology, leads these fascinating organisms, inextricably linked with humanity, onto the stage. A series of fungal historical dramas, by turns hilarious, acclaimed, terrifying, or tear-jerking, is about to unfold.

"There are two kinds of people in this world: those who like mushrooms and those who don't." —Ethnobotanist Robert Gordon Wasson

What made Britons abandon coffee and drink only tea ever since? Water bamboo isn't naturally shaped that way, but is infected by fungi? Fungi are responsible for turning beans into delicious soy sauce, rice into sake, and creating kingly wines, blue cheese, and stinky tofu. The discovery of Penicillium chrysogenum helped the Allies win World War II. Trichoderma viride, which looks like a Christmas tree under a microscope, is the "tree doctor" of nature. Trichoderma reesei gives your jeans that stonewashed effect, and ergot can send people to heaven or hell. The Irish potato famine, witch hunts, and even the culprit behind the Roman tyrant Nero were all fungi. Of course, one cannot overlook the many delicious fungi, from button mushrooms, enoki, shiitake, and matsutake all the way to truffles, as well as cordyceps and lingzhi, considered miraculous elixirs.

Features exquisite full-color illustrations hand-drawn by ecological artist Lin Che-Wei. If you love mushrooms, if you love microbes, if you care about the environment, or if you are simply full of curiosity, you cannot miss this unique popular science book that combines fun, knowledge, and collectibility!