Summary of Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 Truffles are the underground fruiting bodies of several types of mycorrhizal fungi. They are spore-producing organs that evolved to allow fungi to disperse themselves, but underground their spores can’t be caught by air currents. Their solution is to smell.

#2 The human sense of smell is extraordinary. We can detect virtually all volatile chemicals, and we outperform rodents and dogs in detecting certain odors. Smells are woven into our memories.

#3 Truffles have long been associated with sex, and they are not the only fungi that attract animal attention. Orchid bees, for example, collect scents from the world and amass them into a cocktail to court females.

#4 Humans wear perfumes produced by other organisms, and it is not uncommon for fungal aromas to be incorporated into our own sexual rituals. Truffles, which are harvested for their aroma, are worth more than diamonds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669383239

IRB Media

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Insights on Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Truffles are the underground fruiting bodies of several types of mycorrhizal fungi. They are spore-producing organs that evolved to allow fungi to disperse themselves, but underground their spores can’t be caught by air currents. Their solution is to smell.

#2

The human sense of smell is extraordinary. We can detect virtually all volatile chemicals, and we outperform rodents and dogs in detecting certain odors. Smells are woven into our memories.

#3

Truffles have long been associated with sex, and they are not the only fungi that attract animal attention. Orchid bees, for example, collect scents from the world and amass them into a cocktail to court females.

#4

Humans wear perfumes produced by other organisms, and it is not uncommon for fungal aromas to be incorporated into our own sexual rituals. Truffles, which are harvested for their aroma, are worth more than diamonds.

#5

The chemical basis of truffles’ allure remains unclear. In 1981, German researchers found that both Piedmont white truffles and Périgord black truffles produced androstenol, a steroid with a musky scent, in non-negligible quantities.

#6

The smell of a truffle is made up of a flock of different molecules that drift in formation. They are energetically costly, and they don’t seem to have evolved just to smell good. They serve a purpose.

#7

The truffle hunter must read the dog’s body language to find signs that indicate whether or not there are truffles buried in the ground. A

Reviews for Summary of Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life

[Tina Castanares · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I loved the full book itself, read months before, and wanted to review it …so I read I this summary. The summary is terribly disappointing…ambiguous, misleading in parts. I was glad to be reminded by it of the full book, but so many of the summarized “highlights” didn’t even make sense. I won’t try synopses again from this source.

Updated review: I reread the full book afterwards, and remain astonished to realize HOW awful the synopsis /summary listed at Scribd is.