The Secret Life of Fungi cover art

The Secret Life of Fungi

Discoveries from a Hidden World

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The Secret Life of Fungi

By: Aliya Whitely
Narrated by: Alison Larkin
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About this listen

Fungi are unlike any other living thing - they’re almost magically unique. Welcome to this astonishing world....

Fungi can appear anywhere, from desert dunes to frozen tundra. They can invade our bodies and live between our toes or our floorboards. They are unwelcome intruders or vastly expensive treats, and symbols of both death and eternal life. But despite their familiar presence, there’s still much to learn about the eruption, growth, and decay of their secret interconnected world.

Aliya Whiteley has always been in love with fungi - from her childhood taking blurry photographs of strange fungal eruptions on Exmoor to a career as a writer inspired by their surreal and alien beauty. This love for fungi is a love for life, from single-cell spores to the largest living organism on the planet; a story stretching from Aliya’s lawn into orbit and back again via every continent.

From fields, feasts, and fairy rings to death caps, puffballs, and ambrosia beetles, this is an intoxicating journey into the life of an extraordinary organism, one that we have barely begun to understand.

©2021 Aliya Whitely (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing
Botany & Plants Ecosystems & Habitats

What listeners say about The Secret Life of Fungi

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Enlightening listen

Beautifully read with a soft feminine voice. Very well researched and poetically presented. A very enjoyable journey through the world and history of fungi

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Didn’t find the narrator suites this

I found the narrator’s voice jarring and unsuitable for this book. The writer is fairly young, as is a lot of the recent research referred to. Narrator didn’t sound like who would wake up hung over after a dance party in the forest. Narration made listening to this difficult.

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Not my usual genre

This was a chance decision to listen to. Non-fiction, biology. The author’s passion for her subject, intertwined with personal anecdotes, along with her passion for language made this an interesting journey. I liked finding out interesting facts on the every day and the unusual.

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inspiring

This was written so amazingly that i didn't feel like it was a clinical description given of the fungi and the author did an amazing job of incorporating it into her telling of her life story and her love of this amazing organism. I would recommend this to everyone

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Not really what I expected

Having previously read other secret life or hidden life type books I expected more detail about fungi and instead it was more a compilation of the author’s experiences in searching out fungi.

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Enjoyable

Very informative and entertaining.Wished it was a longer but enjoyed every bit of this book.

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A pleasure to hear the voice of this lady tell about all the fascinating facts.

At the beginning this topic seemed a bit nerdy and I suspected I will not really keep me but the speaker made me think of my grandmother telling me stories. It is very relaxing and interesting. Nobody else could have read this better than her, except maybe Sr Attenborough.

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A must listen synopsis on the life of Fungi

Beautifully narrated and eloquently told story of how fungi envelop every part of our existence from birth to death and everything in between.

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Recommended

Really enjoyed this book, the information wasn't to scientific, but definitely covered it, the personal stories lending lovely images. The author has a good humour and I found myself smiling or giggling at the way she put something together. The Narrator has a wonderful charm and suited the book well. Definately recommend

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difficult listen

author is enthusiastic but lacks enough substance to be engaging, performance affected by text quality

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