Trade Paperback
Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind
By Richard Fortey
This is a book about fungi, a biological Kingdom of equal status to the Kingdoms of animals and plants, but one that has never attracted blockbuster television treatments accompanied by a full symphony orchestra.
Richard Fortey will focus on a selection of the larger fungi (macrofungi), the kind that might be spotted on a country walk. He will delve into a handful of microfungi that have particularly caught his attention – focuses on just a few of those species that have made him think or wonder – his own Close Encounters – on a lifetime’s journey through a vast Kingdom. Some science will be introduced, particularly where DNA sequencing has cast new light on old problems, but it is the unique charm of the mushrooms themselves that is centre stage.
PRAISE FOR A CURIOUS BOY -
'Truth and courage are what memoirs need and this one has them both in spades … He never forgets that the small boy, watching his father’s effortless casting on the waters of the Itchen, somehow remains permanently present inside the great, famous and lauded scientist. The unforgotten boy: that is what makes this a book a revelation' -
Adam Nicolson, winner of the 2018 Wainwright Prize -
‘A wonderful, absolutely beguiling glimpse into the formative life of a great scientist. I learnt a lot and really loved it’ -
Richard Holmes -
‘Wonderfully lyrical … funny and entertaining … I would also suggest that the real revelation is something other than the way these multiple childhood paths converge … [but rather] his ability to see and interpret the complexities of the living world, as if from a great height, and then to compress all the technical material into a scientifically accurate form that is also full of poetry and music … The most compelling insight of the book: the way in which its author has striven to fuse and harmonise, often against career typecasting, professional constraint and simple circumstances, to become the whole person he wished to be … Both the book and the life it recounts amount to a singular triumph’ -
Mark Cocker, Guardian -
‘A gloriously evocative account of the childhood that created the scientist’ -
Daily Mail -
‘[A] wonderful, wry memoir’ -
BBC Wildlife -
‘[Fortey’s] book’s punning title distils both its irresistible charm and a deep truth about science’ -
Nature -